The power of Bartleby s resistance lies, paradoxically, in its irresistability. There is no law against it, as there was against Billy Budd's assault of Claggart. Nor can it be in good conscience escaped, as Benito Cereno escaped the bloodthirsty wrath of Babo. The narrator in Bartleby describes how the scrivener's passive resistance plays on his imagination, confounding his understanding and thereby getting the better of him (17): Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance. If the individual so resisted be not of a not inhumane temper, and the resisting one perfectly harmless in his passivity, then, in the better moods of the former, he will endeavor charitably to construe to his imagination what proves impossible to be solved by his judgement.
The opposite situation arises in Billy Budd. In that story, the resistor is the one incapable of fathoming his opponent. As has already been noted, this is why his resistance fails.
Bartleby's resistance, unlike that of Billy Budd and Babo, does not explicitly fail; however, it comes to a tragic end once the scrivener is "removed to the Tombs as a vagrant." At this point, passive resistance is no longer applicable. For Bartleby to oppose his arrest would constitute a form of active resistance. Thus, it is his passivism itself - manifested in his incessant negative preferences - that ultimately results in his demise and, therefore, constitutes his fatal flaw.
Before meeting his end, Bartleby experiences what appears to be a momentary flash of insight about himself and his situation. Indeed, he appears to pass through a moment of self-revelation in which he tells the narrator, "'I know where I am'" (43). However, unlike in Billy Budd and Benito Cereno, nothing of this apparent epiphany is revealed. Instead, Bartleby beseeches the narrator and, by implication, the reader to seek the truth from within: "'Do you not see the answer for yourself?'" he asks. Paradoxically, by revealing nothing of the nature of his epiphany, Bartleby appears to have the most profound and lasting impact of the three tragic characters. Indeed, because the passive scrivener's influence does not depend on his own ability to act - to reveal truth - it's power over the lawyer lingers long after his death. This is evident in the lawyer's decision to relay Bartleby's story, and
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