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Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—Cicero:
While the Lawyer’s office is primarily unadorned, he does have a bust of Cicero on display—an allusion to the ancient Roman philosopher and statesman. The Lawyer mentions the sculpture in the scene in which he asks Bartleby about himself, and Bartleby refuses to share anything:
“Will you tell me any thing about yourself?”
“I would prefer not to.”
“But what reasonable objection can you have to speak to me? I feel friendly towards you.”
He did not look at me while I spoke, but kept his glance fixed upon my bust of Cicero, which as I then sat, was directly behind me, some six inches above my head.
Though this allusion is a subtle one, it is clearly important—there is a reason (or possibly reasons) that Melville has Bartleby “[keep] his gaze fixed upon” the bust of Cicero while engaging in his passive resistance. Melville had intensively studied Cicero’s writings before the publication of “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and was even a member of the Ciceronian Debating Society as a young man, so he is clearly making an informed choice to include Cicero here.
While scholars continue to debate Melville’s intentions in including Cicero in the story, one theory is that, as an early proponent of humanism, Cicero represents the Lawyer’s commitment to respecting Bartleby in spite of his rebelliousness. The same way that Cicero sought to respect people of all different opinions and temperaments, the Lawyer tries to respect Bartleby.
A very different interpretation is that, like Cicero, the Lawyer is comfortable with the class divisions in society. Cicero came from a wealthy family and believed that the educated aristocratic class had the right to govern (and enslave) those from lower class backgrounds. The Lawyer’s bewilderment over Bartleby’s refusal to answer his questions may be due to the fact that he believes, as an employee, Bartleby should do whatever the Lawyer, as the boss, asks of him.
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