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The Lawyer is the narrator of “Bartleby the Scrivener,” and the entire story is told from his point of view. Normally, this would mean that the reader has access to every aspect of the narrator’s life. However, this is not the case in “Bartleby the Scrivener”; the Lawyer keeps the reader at arm's length. We do not learn anything about the Lawyer’s personal life, we do not know the trajectory of his career or how he ended up running his Wall Street office—we do not even learn his name. Instead, the Lawyer only discloses information required to tell Bartleby’s story. This narrow narrative frame alienates the reader from the storyteller and forces the reader to form their own conclusions about the Lawyer’s character.
It is no surprise, then, that the ambiguity surrounding the Lawyer’s characterization has inspired much discussion among scholars and literary critics ever since the story was originally published in the mid-nineteenth century. Of particular interest is the question of whether the Lawyer is ultimately a friend or foe to Bartleby. His treatment of Bartleby can be read both as sympathetic, pitying, or cold, depending on one's interpretation.
Critics who offer a more sinister view of the Lawyer have characterized him as a "collector" of sorts; that is, he collects "characters" in the form of strange scriveners, with Bartleby being the ultimate prize. If the Lawyer is a collector, then Bartleby is the "prize" of the Lawyer's collection, the finest tale. This reading renders the Lawyer rather detached, possibly cold and unfeeling in his relationship to Bartleby, whom he seems to consider little more than a specimen to be studied.
However, other Melville scholars and critics see the Lawyer in a more sympathetic light. These individuals characterize the Lawyer as an awkward but generally well-meaning man who just does not know how to connect with others. For example, his inability to communicate with Bartleby causes a rift in their relationship but, when Bartleby is threatened with imprisonment, the Lawyer immediately offers to let Bartleby to stay in his own home. For some readers, this moment can be interpreted as the ultimate act of charity.
Other scholars, however, are hesitant to place the Lawyer in either category. Instead of debating whether the Lawyer is a friend or foe to Bartleby, these readers maintain that “Bartleby the Scrivener”’s narrator does not fit neatly into either category and, instead, exists in some liminal gray area between the two. This particular interpretation of the Lawyer aligns with Melville’s traditional writing style because most of Melville’s characters are deeply complex individuals who can not be set in such black-and-white terms.
