Molly Farrell-Savage

22 February, 2018
Critical Writing
Prof. George Wallace
Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” tells the story, of a new scrivener
at a law office on Wall Street who has been hired by the narrator. At first, Bartleby is a good
worker but then he starts responding with “I would prefer not to” when asked to perform basic
tasks. As time goes on, he does less and less work until all that he does is stare at the brick wall
outside. He never leaves the office and eventually has to be forcibly removed. The narrator
discovers that he’s been imprisoned in “The Tombs” (the Manhattan Detention Complex) and
eventually dies of starvation due to having preferred not to eat. Later, the narrator discovers that
Bartleby had once worked in a dead letter office, which he attributes Bartleby’s depression to.
This story utilizes elements of Gothic Horror both in plot and in setting. However, Melville’s
intent with “Bartleby the Scrivener” was not necessarily to frighten the reader but to satirize the
bleakness of bureaucratic existence.
Common motifs of Gothic Horror are obsessive behavior and isolation, both of which are
significant to the plot of “Bartleby the Scrivener.” Bartleby practices passive resistance in
response to his boss’s requests. Instead of outright refusing to do these tasks, he simply expresses
his desire to not do them. This is likely what keeps the narrator from firing Bartleby after the first
or second time he didn’t do what was asked of him. Bartleby’s lack of desire, or motivation, to
do his work diminishes more and more, causing him to retreat deeper inside his own gloomy
headspace until his life is completely devoid of any joy or purpose.
Not only does Bartleby exhibit obsessive behavior, but the narrator does as well. He goes
from being perplexed by Bartleby to being fixated on him. For some reason, he allowed Bartleby
to keep his job without actually doing any work for a substantial amount of time. Even after he
no longer worked for him, the narrator offered to allow Bartleby to stay with him. He also visited
him several times in jail, even bribing a turnkey to make sure he got enough food.
He even bribes a turnkey to make sure Bartleby gets enough food.
Despite not taking place in an old Victorian mansion, the setting of this story is still very
much exemplary of the Gothic Horror genre. The story takes place in an office on Wall Street in
Manhattan, and walls are especially symbolic in the story. The narrator describes putting up a
folding screen between himself and Bartleby in his office as well as notes that the window to the
outside looks out onto a brick wall. These literal barriers create metaphorical barriers between
the characters so they are all disconnected.
The narrator's final words to the reader are, “Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!” Bartleby is a
representation of humanity and this story is a representation of the increasing isolation in our
society and the toll it takes on people. The monotonous cycle of the working man can eat away at
the soul. By the end, death was just a formality for Bartleby, as his life had no real meaning and
he had no meaningful connections with others. “Bartleby the Scrivener” is an iconic, and
distinctly American, Gothic Horror.

Summary of story
gothic elements
 setting
how it differs from nix
Conclusion-message it sends

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” tells the story of a reverend, Mr.
Hooper, in a small puritan community. Mr. Hooper has taken to wearing a black veil over his
face at all times. This veil causes more people to listen to his sermons however it also causes him
to lose his friends and the love of his life. Even on his death bed, he refuses to remove his veil
and points out that everyone around him is also wearing black veils. Hawthorne uses classic
literary devices of the Gothic Horror genre to effectively tell this story. Obsessive behavior,
mysterious actions, and dark, gloomy circumstances that obscure vision are all present in “The
Minister’s Black Veil.”
Mr. Hooper’s obsession with wearing the black veil is both fascinating and concerning; to
the townspeople, as well as the reader. He will not show his face to any living being, not even his
fiancée Elizabeth. She asks him why he wears it and he does not tell her. He does promise that
she will see his face again in the afterlife if she promises to spend her life with him. This answer
disturbs Elizabeth and she leaves him. Nothing, not even his own death, prompts Hooper to
remove his veil, which shows just how deep his obsession is.
Although no other character in the story directly asks about the veil until Hooper is on his
deathbed, many wonder why he chooses to wear it. Some think he wears it out of shame for
committing a grave sin, others speculate that he’s simply gone insane. Hooper’s reason for
wearing the veil is never revealed. This unsolved mystery makes the story terrifying as well as
memorable because it leaves the reader to draw its own conclusion about the veil’s significance.
If he does wear it out of shame, what could he have done that was so terrible that he felt the need
to hide his face forever?
The veil itself acts as an obscuration. It not only hides Mr. Hooper’s face but creates a
barrier between himself and the rest of the world. What’s interesting about this story is that
unlike other Gothic Horrors, Mr. Hooper isn’t imprisoned in a cellar or an old mansion. What
isolates him is something as small and flimsy as a piece of cloth. This could indicate that if Mr.
Hooper did commit a sin, it wasn’t as depraved as one would expect, but because he was so
fixated on it, the simple sin consumed his whole life.
Hawthorne’s story is an icon of the American Gothic Horror genre. It not only utilizes
elements of classic Gothic fiction but it satirizes the very real Puritan obsession with sin. By
drawing from real life and applying motifs of Gothic Horror, Hawthorne is able to tell a story
that is scary, in part, because if its relation to real life.

Obsessive behavior, atmosphere of mystery and suspense, mist or darkness

• obsessive behavior
The main character or other characters in the story display behavior which is compulsive,
inexplicable, driven or maniacal.
• entrapment and imprisonment
a favorite device of the Gothic finds a person confined or trapped, such as being shackled to a
floor or hidden away in some dark cell or cloister
• setting in a mansion or castle
the action takes place in and around an old castle, sometimes seemingly abandoned, sometimes
occupied.
• ghosts and other supernatural occurrences
the hero or victim is visited by a ghost or other supernatural being
• fallen aristocrats
Characters may be part of a formerly aristocratic or multi-generational well off family which has
gone into decline

His story "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) explores these 'terrors of the soul' while
revisiting classic Gothic tropes of aristocratic decay, death, and madness.[42]

Fall of the House of Usher

The narrator is summoned to the remote mansion of his boyhood friend, who is of an old
decaying aristocratic family and is suffering from a disease of the mind, on a “dull, dark, and
soundless day. the ancient decaying castle is eerie and moldy and the surrounding moat seems
stagnant; before long the narrator has a sense of being confined

Works Cited
Chinchilla, Christopher. In Defense of Brom Bones: Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Coffee Together, wordpress.com, 2 Mar. 2015, “https://
christopherchinchillawrites.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/in-defense-of-brom-bones-irvings-the-
legend-of-sleepy-hollow/ Accessed: February 13, 2018

“Headless Horseman”. Mythical Creatures Guide, 5 Sept. 2011, http://

www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Headless+Horseman. Accessed: February 13, 2018

“Rip Van Winkle”. Literature and Its Times. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2018 <http://
www.encyclopedia.com>.