Beyond Comprehension: Bartleby, the Lawyer and the Limitations of Rational Thinking

Abstract

Socrates, more than any earlier philosopher, was preoccupied with the idea of using reason and observation to understand the world, a practice that not only underpins the scientific method today, but also laid the foundation for Western thinking. Later, in the 17th century, the Enlightenment further championed reason, science, and individualism over religious authority and tradition. Intellectuals of this period posited that human progress could be realized through the use of reason, critical analysis, and the integration of scientific knowledge. In response, Romanticism emerged toward the end of the 18th century, in part, as a reaction to the Enlightenment’s elevation of reason, logic, and scientific thought as the foundational sources of knowledge and societal advancement. Thinkers and artists of the Romantic movement sought to challenge the supremacy of reason by foregrounding other dimensions of human experience: emotion, intuition, imagination, and the sublime. This study argues that Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” explores the limitations of rational thought. While most critics discussing this text have entered their analyses of Bartleby in an effort to interpret his perplexing behavior, examining the causes behind his sudden refusal to engage in any form of work and his passive withdrawal from life, this study intends to shift the focus to the lawyer’s inability to understand Bartleby. The paper argues that his failure stems from his almost obsessive reliance on intellectual reasoning which eventually prevents him from confronting the deeper complexities of the human experience as embodied by the copyist.