Compare and Contrast Billy Budd versus Bartleby

A Comparison/Contrast Analysis of "Billy Budd" and Bartleby"

Several comparisons and contrasts can be made concerning the two stories, Billy Budd and Bartleby, written by Herman Melville. The setting of the two stories reveals an interesting comparison and contrast between the British Navy on the open sea, and the famous Wall Street of New York. The comparison and contrast of characters, Billy Budd, Captain Vere, and Claggart in Billy Budd, and the `narrator' and Bartleby in Bartleby, at times are very much alike, and also very different. The conflict, climax and resolution of the two Melville stories contain similarities and differences. These two stories, on the exterior, appear to be very different, and on the interior are alike, especially if trying to analyze the stories by interpreting the symbolism that Melville may be trying to reveal in his writing. This essay will analyze the similarities and differences in Billy Budd and Bartleby.

The first analysis of these stories will be comparing and contrasting the setting. To compare the setting of the two stories, much like the decline of the British naval supremacy in the world due to over-expansion, and especially mutinies, which were taking place throughout the Navy, mostly because of over worked conditions, extended enlistments, and impressments of non-volunteers, on Wall Street, there was a conflict between wage laborers and capitalists in the form of strikes and violence in the street. The conflict leads to the forming of trade unions to resist the methods of factory production and wage labor. The setting can also be compared because of the limited mention of the surroundings, until the very end when Billy Budd, after being hanged, has hi...

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In conclusion, this essay analyzes the similarities and differences of the two stories written by Herman Melville, Billy Budd and Bartleby. The settings, characters, and endings in the two stories reveal very interesting comparisons and contrasts. The comparison and contrast also includes the interpretation of the symbolism that Melville used in his two stories. The characters, Billy and Bartleby, could even be considered autobiographical representatives of Herman Melville.

Work Cited

Harris, Laurie Lanzen, ed. Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism.

Detroit: Gale Research, 1983.

Herzberg, Max J., ed. The Reader Encyclopedia of American Literature.

New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1962.

Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories. Beaver, Harold, ed.

Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1972.