Diana Castillo

Professor Scanlan

English 2001

29 October 2020

Redemption

Gothic literature is a style of writing that encompasses many elements of horror and death. The overall mood of this writing is gloomy for the most part, but it can also include romance within natural events, individuality and intense emotion of fear and suspense. A major theme of gothic literature that I noticed was redemption. Redemption is present in the character of Emily Grierson in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and character Bartleby in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.” 

Emily Grierson is the main character in “A Rose for Emily”. It is a short story about a woman who appeared to be in denial over the death of her father, who was in complete dominance over her life. An example of this is, “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such.” (Faulkner 3) This death causes a stir of events towards her redemption.   The particular type of redemption Emily Grierson sought out was absolution to redeem her character. Her redemption was sought through killing her husband, Homer. The towns people had already begun to pity her after her father’s death and when she married Homer, then everyone knew she was marrying beneath her and she appeared not of sound mind. She bought arsenic and the townspeople’s reaction indicated she may have been suffering from mental illness. “She will kill herself… and we said it would be the best thing. When she has first begun to be seen with Homer Barron…” (Faulkner 5) On the contrary, she had intended to use on her husband to keep him forever. He had no intention of staying with her so it drove her to such a rash decision. Emily stated “What was left of hum, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon hum and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust.”

Another example of redemption seen in the gothic literature stories is that of Bartleby in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby: The Scrivener.” In this story, Bartleby is a copyist for a real estate lawyer who began the job with excellence and slowly drove the other employees crazy. Similar to “A Rose for Emily,” Bartleby appears to have sought out redemption when he refused to examine a document when asked by the lawyer by stating “I would prefer not to”. The second example of his attempt to redeem his character was his response of “I would rather not” during a meeting at his work to a request to make copies. This makes it clear that he was not a very motivated employee and may have had a goal and could possibly have been religious. In another instance, Bartleby also had refused to eat while he was in jail. This was the most serious of his attempts at redeeming his character because it ultimately caused his death. He had shown multiple attempts to seek something other than his complacent position in life. 

In conclusion, redemption was a common theme between the two main characters Emily Grierson and Bartleby of “A Rose for Emily” and “Bartley’s Scrivener.”  Both of these characters presented an absolution type of redemption. Emily Grierson did so through the murder of her husband, Homer. Bartleby may have desired a new life as he was not content with how he was living his current one and did so through his attitude in his job and eventually with his in his final times in a jail cell.  Although not a lot of information is given by the narrator on Bartleby, so we can only assume he may have sought out to redeem his character.