Meet the Cast
The Narrator of "The Piazza"
The narrator of "The Piazza" is sort of Melville; the house he talks about is Arrowhead, a home he purchased in 1850 in Massachusetts. The piazza is Arrowhead's porch, where Melville sits and dream...
Marianna ("The Piazza")
"A lonely girl sewing by a lonely window", (1.41) Marianna lives in a cottage in the mountains, waiting for her brother to come home. Or does she? The narrator says his trip to see her is "a true v...
Bartleby ("Bartleby")
Ah, NobodyBartleby is one of the most famous characters in all of American literature. And what is he famous for? Nothing! He's famous for nothing. He does nothing. He is nothing. He works as a cop...
The Narrator of "Bartleby"
Right up front, the lawyer who narrates Bartleby tells you:I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best. (2.2) He's an...
Minor Characters in "Bartleby"
TurkeyA copyist; he works well in the morning, but in the afternoon is cranky, possibly because he drinks at lunch.NippersA copyist. He works well in the afternoons, but in the mornings is cranky b...
Captain Amaso Delano ("Benito Cereno")
The Naïve ReaderCaptain Delano is really just an observer in "Benito Cereno". But…the story is all about the observer. It's a tricky, twisty, oh that's not what you thought kind of story. It's b...
Babo ("Benito Cereno")
You don't learn a whole lot about Babo directly. Through most of the novella, you see him supporting Don Benito, apparently servile and helpful. And then, all of a sudden, at the end, you learn tha...
Don Benito Cereno ("Benito Cereno")
The story is named after Benito Cereno, but he doesn't actually get to do a whole lot. Delano thinks that "had Benito Cereno been a man of greater energy, misrule would hardly have come to the pres...
Minor Characters in "Benito Cereno"
Don Alexandro AranaOwner of the slaves and friend to Don Benito. He is killed and his skeleton tied to the front of the ship after the revolt.Luys GalgoA Spanish sailor who tries to tell Delano abo...
Lightning-Rod Man
"The Lightning-Rod Man" is more a parable than a character-driven story. Which is to say—the characters aren't much. The Lightning-rod man is a pompous charlatan who wants to scare people into bu...
The Narrator of "The Lightning-Rod Man"
The narrator in this story is the voice of reason; the good guy who isn't scared of lightning and exposes frauds and bounders. He makes classical allusions to Jupiter, Greek God of the sky, because...
The Narrator of "The Encantadas"
"The Encantadas" is not so much a story as a travel sketch; as such, it doesn't have much in the way of characters. There are a handful of individuals who figure in brief anecdotes, but they barely...
Hunilla ("The Encantadas")
Hunilla is less a character than a secret. Melville says that "two unnamed events" (5.147) befell Hunilla on the island after her husband and brother died, leaving her alone. What are those events?...
Oberlus ("The Encantadas")
Oberlus is a mad hermit who lives on Hood's Isle; a thief, a bandit, and a murderer. He's kind of out of a horror movie; the spooky, slimy, hunchbacked guy who leaps out at you from the corner and...
Minor Characters in "The Encantadas"
Creole ruler of Charles's Isle, or the Dog KingA man who helped in the Peru revolt against Spain and was given an island as payment. He started a colony which he ruled with the help of vicious dogs...
Bannadonna ("The Bell Tower")
Bannadonna is pretty much the only character in "The Bell Tower". And that's how he likes it, because Bannadonna thinks Bannadonna is awesome. If he were in a comic, Bannadonna would even talk abou...