The Lawyer's Unchanged Outlook

Throughout the story of Bartleby, the lawyer’s character remains the most consistent. He is a static character who remains largely unchanged throughout the story’s events. The reader's understanding of the lawyer's innermost feelings and ideas is restricted because the story is given solely from his point of view. It is hard to see any of his real character changes throughout the story because we are not exposed to his inner life. There isn't much evidence to support the idea that he goes through a lot of change. The lawyer maintains a lot of the same attitudes and actions throughout. “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" (Melville 158). The story's opening pages introduce the lawyer and outline his view of life, emphasizing his preference for simplicity and comfort. This belief holds true throughout the story, illustrating his unchanging character. He presents himself from the start as a detached and realistic narrator, and he remains the same after the events with Bartleby. His main interest is keeping things stable and orderly in his office. At first, he goes to considerable measures to make accommodations for Bartleby's bizarre behaviors, but in the end, he puts the needs of his other workers and the efficient running of his company first. "Poor fellow! thought I, he means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence" (Melville 167). Although the lawyer has a brief moment of sympathy for Bartleby, his general attitude towards him does not change.