The Theme of Power in Yellow Wallpaper and Bartleby -- The Yellow Wallp

The Theme of Power in jaundiced W altogether subject and Bartleby Many texts create verbally in the nineteenth century have a very homely theme of power. Authority can be seen very unalikely depending on the view of the transcript the audience is presented with. By looking at different transcripts within the text the reader has more realistic exposure to the defense of power in that text. This paper will prove that transcripts of differing views allow for different interpretations of the power struggle itself. Using James C. Scott this paper will visualise the transcripts of both Charlotte Perkins Gilmans, The Yellow Wallpaper and Herman Melvilles Bartleby. These two texts are opposite in many ways, which make them fascinating to study through Scotts eyes, because together they extensively cover the four situations he focuses on. The first transcript which Scott discusses is that of the overts view. He describes that the public transcript is to put it crudely, the self-port rait of dominant elites as they would have themselves seen(18). Since the narrator of Bartleby is a member of the dominant elite this text is a great casing of how the public transcript is used to show resistance and power. Text indite from this point of view, focus on trying to make the elite face wide-cut, retributory, and noble. The narrator of this text did a wonderful job at doing just that. At one point while talking about Bartleby he told the audience Not only did there seem to lurk in it a certain calm disdain, but his perverseness seemed ungrateful, considering the undeniable good usage and indulgence he had received from me(Melville 18). The narrator was basically saying, I was so good to Bartleby, how dare he not appreciate all my kindness. It is... ...isplay, how within texts there could be many different forms of resistance and views of authority, depending on the transcripts used to understand them. Each text read in this class, on the surface value, provides an entertaining chronicle, however the same text through deeper denotation are able to decode much more complex plots. On the surface Bartleby is just a very strange employee, and the narrator of Gilmans story is just an insane woman, but by digging further this paper was able to display much more intensity to them both. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and other Stories. Mineola, NY Dover Publications, Inc., 1997. Melville, Herman. Bartleby and Benito Cereno. 3rd ed. NY Dover Publications, Inc., 1990. Scott, James C. control and the Arts of Resistance Hidden Transcripts. New Haven Yale University Press, 1990.