Evil In The Writings Of Herman Essay

, Research Paper

The definition of evil, though very broad, is said to be morally reprehensible or the bringing of suffering and misfortune: for example, the opposite of good. Evil serves as everything that a person fears and hates. It serves as a foil to the qualities of good. Where good brings love, evil spawns hate; where good brings hope, evil creates despair.

The conflict between Good and Evil can be traced back to Biblical times and can be characterized by the conflict between God and Satan. As the books of the Bible progress, we see Satan or evil attempt to influence or corrupt innocent people. This seems to be one of the earliest examples of evil in writing.

Throughout literary history, the conflict of Good versus Evil has tended to dominate the classical literary trend and has been utilized by numerous authors; Herman Melville poses as no exception in the long array of writers on this topic. He was an extremist of this comparison and brought forth new ideas about the whole subject in itself. In the writings of Herman Melville, the intellectual and moral world appeared as consisting not merely in a duality of good and evil, truth and falsehood, but in endless and soul-defying ambiguities. These uncertainties would bring about the whole suspense of the novels in themselves. They were also the very reason why the contemporaries of the time isolated his writings as precarious.

In fact, Melville expands upon this idea with his method of presenting his characters as symbols of things much larger and more complex. In his writings, Melville portrays aspects of nature as evil or destructive. This use of representation and detail help to note Melville as one of the most respected authors of all time.

The majority of Melville s writings are based upon his own personal experiences or some related occurrence Melville s life appears to follow his writings very closely and with much detail which help to appeal to his readers. Through having done this, he has provided a bridge between fantasy and reality.

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st 1819 to Allan Melville and Maria Gansevoort Melville. His father was a middle class merchant and his mother was born to a wealthy family. Melville s father had become bankrupt due to the depression that had taken place at the time. Soon after his bankruptcy, Allan Melville died in 1832. His father s death would greatly affect him and he would reflect upon it in his writing of Pierre.

Following his father s death, Herman abandoned his position at the bank and moved to Pittsfield where his uncle had owned a farm. During winter of 1835, Melville leaves the farm to assist his brother in the fur business. He had served as a clerk and attended classes at the Albany Classical School and had earned a membership of the Albany Young Men s Association which was a club for reading and debating.

By 1837, Herman s brother, Gansevoort had fallen into bankruptcy like his father. Herman was forced to move back to Pittsfield where he took a position as the schoolmaster where he had taught until Christmas when he had moved back to Albany. Upon his return, the Melville family had lost a significant amount of money and moved from Albany to the neighboring town of Lansingburgh. Melville began to take steps toward a career and would attend the Lansingburgh Academy for surveying and engineering. Melville would produce his first known composition for the Democratic Press and Lansignburgh Advertiser on May 4th and May 18th, 1839.

Searching for a direction in life, Melville joins the crew of the St. Lawrence and sets sail on the adventure that would inspire some of his most celebrated writings. Four weeks later, the St. Lawrence anchored in Liverpool and would set sail again on August 13th for New York. The ship would dock in New York on October 1st.

Upon his return, Melville decided that he did not desire a maritime career and began work as a schoolteacher in Greenbush, New York until it s closing when he began to teach in Brunswick. Melville would soon join the crew of the Acushnet, a whaling ship that had set sail January 3rd, 1841. The opening of the Acushnet s sails would prove to be for literature one of the most important voyages of all time.

Melville would see much of the South Seas and would eventually escape from the Acushnet with a companion of his. They would eventually stumble upon a group of unfriendly cannibals known as the Taipis. His stay with the Taipis would inspire his first work Typee. Several months later, he would escape to another whaling ship, the Lucy Ann, where the crew would threaten mutiny. Melville s adventures in the South Seas would have great inspiration on his writings, especially with Typee, Omoo, and Moby Dick.

On August 17th, 1843, Melville would enlist in the U.S. Navy and would begin the framework for White Jacket. Melville s absence would prove fortunate on his family s wealth. Following his return, Melville began his work on Typee in 1846 and Omoo in 1847. Also, in 1847, he would marry Elizabeth Shaw in Boston, Massachusetts.

In Typee, Melville examines the question of who the savages are in the world. He begins to compare the lifestyle and customs of the Taipis to American customs. He examines the differences of the savage life when compared to the civilized life. In his first two novels, he writes of p