Life is a pic-nic en costume : theatrical motif of Melville's The confidence-man

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Life is a pic‑nic en costume : theatrical motif of Melville's The confidence‑man

著者（英） Kanako Matsumoto

journal or

publication title

Core

number 27

page range 1‑24

year 1998‑03‑10

URL http://doi.org/10.14988/pa.2017.0000015028

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Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume 1

L i f e I s a P i c ‑ n i c en Costume:

Th e a t r i c a l M o t i f o f M e l v i l l e ' s The C o n f i d e n c e ‑ M α n

Kanako Matsumoto

1 : I n t r o d u c t i o n

Elements of drama and dramatization， which were once used as strategic devices in Moby‑Dick/ have become thematically more and more eminent through the works after Moby‑Dick. The tragedy of Melville's Pierre resu1ts from the protagonist's destructive self‑ dramatization as a mortal savior for the oppressed， a Christ‑like sole resistant among the hypocritical society in which the people boldly act out their false roles. The failure of Pierre's attempt is inevitable: he imposes a role on himself in order to disclose the true nature behind the theatrical masks of the others， and falls in an irreconcilable dilemma in which he himself puts a deceptive mask that he furiously accuses as falsehood. In contrast to Pierre who is absorbed in and finally engulfed by his fatal self‑dramatization，2 the protagonise of The Conβ，dence・Mαn lacks tragic seriousness at all， and lightly and ingeniously acts his various roles in the masquerading comedy: he neither resists the theatrical nature of the world which Pierre abhors nor is overwhelmed by the devastating self‑dramatization， but freely selects his own roles， changes them without any restraints， and keeps his own pace; moreover， he suggestively and even exaggeratedly embodies the idea of theatrical

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2 Life 18 a Pic‑nic en Costume

self with full awareness of his own acting.τ'he purpose of this essay is to examine the theatrical motif in The Confidence‑Mαn and show how far Melville's nihilism about the world and literature has proceeded since he wrote Moby‑Dick in which the monomaniac struggle against the mask began.

I I : The World a s a S t a g e

W here there is a self‑conscious actor who is seen， there supposes to be the audience who sees him. In The Confidence‑Man， those who encounter the central character are compared to the audience at the theater. At the beginning of the work， passengers on the Fidele interestingly watch a placard wanting a mysterious impostor，[als ifit had been a theatre^聞bill"

の):it is a significant comparison that picturizes the opening of the drama in which either a serie日ofimpostors or various disguises of a single impostor appear and the passengers are the audience. The theatrical supposition of the passenger as audience is repetitiously mentioned throughout the work; for example， the crowd who listen a herb‑doctor's advertisement are called auditors" (84) and the cripple clamors句ikea fellow in the pit of a sixpenny theatre" (98). Those who see the confidence man are not only limited to the passengers but readers as well: the narrator， who occasionally intrudes into the story， defends the unrealistic oddity of the confidence man and directly gives instruction to his readers that they should sit down to a work of amusement tolerantly as they sit at a play， and with much the same expectations and feelings" (182). Together with the images of audience scattered in the work， the self‑ conscious narrator's comparison between his readers and the audience constructs the double‑structured theatrical diagram that readers are the

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Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume 3 audience sitting at the play， in which the passengers on the ship take the part of audience. 1n this way， the work keeps readers conscious of the sense of drama， although it is not intended to actually put on the stage.

On the level within the work， the theatrical motif reaches its culmination when the famous passage from As You Like It occurs to Egbert's mind:

"All the world's a stage，

And all the men and women merely players， Who have their exits and their entrances， And one man in his time plays many parts." (224)

On board the Fidele as a stage， passengers enter and play their roles for a while， and then exit: we cannot know where they truly come from and where they go. All seven personages such as a lamb‑like mute， Black Guinea， a man with the weed， a man in gray， an official of Black Rapids Coal Company， the herb‑doctor， and a P. 1. O. man disappear from the ship when the next ones enter: while it remains a lurking possibility that they are different disguises of a single person， the disappearances are mostly supposed to be the disembarkation at the stop according to the professed explanation made by the following personages (29， 102). While Shakespeare used the imagery of the stage as a thematic metaphor to express human 1ife， Melville adopts the imagery not only as a mere thematic metaphor but also in the artistic practice of representing human life itself: the theatrical view alluded in the exaggerated world as a stage may cause the same or even more conspicuous and ironical effect than the original utterance of a character in the drama did.

Although F. O. Matthiessen attributes the weakness of the work to

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4 Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume

the fatal ease with which Melville could get rid ofhis many characters by the mechanical device of having them disembark at the ends of chapters， and could thus dodge the necessity of sustaining the implications of any of them，，，4 instable and temporary identity of character is not only due to the fai1ure of setting but partly underlies the peculiar idea of self in the work， which is presented as purely theatrical， or performative.，，5

Characters and actions presented in the work approximate the actual conditions of the staging of the play rather than establish the verisimilitude of the real world. First， as we have seen before， all actions represented to us are strictly limited within the small extent on board the Fidele just as the play is on the boards at actual theater: we can never see and confirm what happens and how are the circumstances outside the limited extent.

Secondly， each character's self is identified only through the external elements such as temporal costume and his own confession in the dialogue， not by the distinctive and coherent characterization founded on internal dispositions. The idea of external personality is exaggeratedly demonstrated by a soldier of fortune，" who shows the whole process of his deception to the cosmopolitan， and readers consequently:

[Tlaking off his rag of a cap， and arranging his tattered regimentals the best he could， off he went stumping among the passengers in an adjoining part of the deck， saying with a jovial kind of air.... (97)

Here the readers see the play in which the cosmopolitan watches the play in which the soldier acts his role before the passengers as audience. The double structure of theatrical audience functions not only as offering the

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Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume ₅ same dramatic effect to the passengers and readers， both of which are the audience watching the play， but also as causing the ironical gap between their cognitive scope.

Imagery of costume， with its association and original characteristics， functions at two levels. On the symbolical level， various disguises of the confidence man casually choose and discard their characteristic personality as if changing their costumes; for example， the allusion between external personality and costume is well expressed in the transformation of the man with the weed， who th[re]w off in private the cold gαrb of decorum， and... seemed almost transformed into another being勿[Italicsmine] (25). At the same time， the material costume plainly hides the spiritual inside and fakes up different appearance which is accepted as more genuine in the world of masquerade Similar notion that the outward costume supersedes the inner personality is ironically embodied in a gentleman with gold sleeve‑buttons" who is perfectly dressed in innocent and spotless white (36): his figure caricaturizes the world in which the genuine interior has been replaced by outward appearances and gestures， in other words，[t]he noumenal has been fully replaced by the nominalア6

The world in The Confidence‑Mαn is an exaggeratedly theatrical space in which performative personalities are created with costumes and stage properties， and various masks instead of hidden faces behind them are accepted as more genuine" than the possible inner selves. Although hypocritic masks of the passengers are merci1essly unmasked by the confidence man， the narrative tone does not accuse only those who disguise themselves: these deceivers are impelled to do so in the society which is always sympathetic to the hypocritic nominal rather than the

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noumenal. The soldier of fortune，" for instance， is keenly aware that he sho叫dbetter take a role of stereo‑typed wounded soldier than honestly confesses his much more unfortunate career， in order to obtain people's compassion. The cosmopolitan， a secondary spectator of the soldier's performance against the crowd as the direct audience， also expresses sympathetic defense that the soldier's 'vice'" is pardonable'" and attributes the original vice to the society (97).

When the stereotyped miserable humiliatingly asks for pity， people are willing to participate in the 'game ofch町ity"(12) in which they can αct the role of benefactor.⁷Mter the mildly inoffensive" (4) but actually o首endingmute in cream‑colors 釦llyprovokes the crowd's antipathy， then Black Guinea appears and cunningly flatters the people's sense of superiority and fondness of charity. Perceiving that he is treated like a domestic animal， Black Guinea immediately adjusts himself to the image of a wretched dog: he humiliatingly says，叫1am der dog widout massa^閉 (10)， and then like a dog he beg[i]n[sl to be treated" (11). With the disguise of the mute in cream‑colors， the confidence man embodies what the crowd would detest while Black Guinea represents the whites' idealistic illusion of the good" black man who is poor but cheerful， and respects his white master from the heart. Such a view of self is the ultimate form of what Jefferey Steele analyzes about the writers in American Renaissance: Poe， Hawthorne， and Melville‑view the self as an opaque mask that reflects social demands and refracts unconscious impulses.必

Still another irony of these performances is that they reflect the stereotypes from contemporary theatrical performances in extreme:

pantomime and minstrel show.⁹Far仕omrecognizing the sarcasm latent

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Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume 7

in these exaggerated performances， the crowd react just as the confidence man intends: the crowd， who believe that they wisely act by their own choice， expose their easy credulity to be manipulated with absurdly simple devices. On contrary to the original purpose of these performances which induce people's contemptuous laugh with absurdly exaggerated stereotypes， people are contemptuously laughed at by the confidence^開man who exploits such stereotypes. The absurdity of their reaction is caricatuI包inglyemphasized by the arbitrariness of these contrasting masks which both are mere disguises of the same person.

The other figures of the confidence man are also disguised with various costumes and stage properties such as a memorandum book of contributors for the Seminole Widow and Orphan Asylum (33) and a transfer‑book ofBlack Rapids Coal Company (47)， the weed mourning for the death of Goneril (63)， all of which are mostly unreliable but effectively function as visible evidences to achieve the people's trust: the irony is that Black Guinea， actually the very same person with the man in gray， the official of the coal company， and the man with the weed， is not trusted because of the lack of documentary proof (13)， which is nothing more than a stage property faked up for theatrical verisimilitude. In this way， the confidence man， who always keeps manifesting the logic of charity， does not directly accuse the people's follies but emphasizes the absurdity by reenacting the theatrical system of the world: with smiling face and gentle attitude， he cunningly holds an exaggeratedly‑distorted and caricaturizing mirror up to the people， who deceive both themselves and others with arbitrary， hypocritic， and socially‑acceptable masks.

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I I I : Unmasking t h e T h e a t r i c a l S e l f

Constructed around the metaphor of the world as 'a stage'" (224)， the whole work contains abundant references to costumes， stage properties， disguises， role‑playing and theatrical performances. The central character of the work exaggeratedly represents the world in which people perform temporary persona1ities just as theatrical players act their assumed roles in the play. The theatrical personalities and their interrelationship are sarcastically dramatized in the role^岨playinggame of hypothetical friends，" in which one disguise of the confidence‑man assumes the role of his previous disguise and also demands his partner to play the role of previous partner who was suggested as an ^叫operator'"

(196)， or another confidence‑man. At first sight， the hypothetical friends"

part (chap.38‑41) seems to be the confidence man's parodious reenactment of the previous boon companions" part (chap. 25^回35); however， what the exaggerated parody makes us recognize is neither the difference between 官lehypothetical friends" and the boon companions"

nor the fictitiousness of the former， but the intrinsic similarity between these two kinds offriends." The hypothetical仕iends"are not the mere parodious version of the boon companions" but the mu1tiply assumed performance that the cosmopolitan and Egbert act the role of Frank and Charlie， whose friendship is also hypothetical" after all.

It is not only the confidence man who unmasks the hypothetical and hypocritic disguise of the uncharitable， corrupted， and disordered world: the narrator also undermines the people's pretense of charity and mutual affection in an insinuating way. Just like the confidence man who would never utter a bit of accusatory words against his encounterers， the

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Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume 9 narrator does neither illustrate latent evilness of the characters nor directly criticize their superficial courtesy; however， his use of words sarcastically disclose the theatrical emptiness and hypocrisy of the world within the work. For example， although the boon companions" agree at calling each other by first name and actually practice it in their dialogues， the narrator emphasizes the hypotheticality and estrangement of their friendship by incessantly calling them the cosmopolitan" and the stranger" instead of Frank" and Charlie" (161・181).The man with the weed， another hypothetical friend" of the country merchant， appears in the narrative as the stranger" (18); and is still the stranger" (2剖1^圃2お3) even after deploriせセ泊nghis wretched situation '叫匂6

utter日tranger白'"and expressing his exceptional gladness to see an old friend，円(21). He also deplores to the sophomore， his "'dear young friend，'" the lack of confidence "'between man and man‑more particularly between stranger and stranger'" (27)， but he himself is called

the stranger" (27) by the nan叫or.Within the企ameworkofthe ship as a stage， most passengers are persuaded‑in other words， deceived‑by the cunning rhetoric of the confidence man; but readers， who watch the stage through the filter of the satirical narrative， are known that not only the disguises of the confidence man but also all the passengers on the ship are strangers 加 eachother and their friendship is a mere hypothetical illusion acted by either hypocritical or unconscious actors. After all， everybody on board is not different from Black Guinea， who is in the extremest sense ofthe word， a stranger" (3).

1n this way， the world becomes de1iberately unmasked and reveals its superficiality. Supposing that an actor takes a certain role on the stage， it does not mean he keeps consistent personality and physique beneath

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the characteristic and outward disguise of his temporal role. In this world of masquerade， even the seemingly spontaneous revelation of the genuine heart" (25) is nothing more than the performance or only another mask. Being left alone， the confidence man sometimes discards his role beneath which his heart seems to be revealed; however， when the man with the weed is th[r]owIng offin private the cold garb of decorum， and so giving warmly loose to his genuine heart， seemed almost transformed into another being" (25)， his genuine heart" seems to be the deliberate preparation for the deception upon his next victim rather than the spontaneous revelation of the unaffected heart. On another occasion， being left to himself， with none to charm forth his latent lymphatic，" the man in gray insensibly resumes his original air， a quiescent one， blended of sad humility and demureness"は3);similarly，匂isoriginal air"

is much more closely continuous with the gentle tone of deceiving the charitable lady than any other tones he assumes in the work， and it indicates that the air is only the preparation for the following deception. Thus the revelation of genuine heart" in the work does not mean that actors throw off the allotted role and turn back旬 ordinarypersons off the stage， but equals the mere theatrical technique such as soliloquy and aside which actors conventionally use on the stαge， with full consciousness of auditors' existence.

Every role Is unmasked by the emerging role behind it， which itself becomes another mask to be soon betrayed by the other mask， and behind the incessant changing of the superficial mask lies another surface and no truer self is indicated.^l^OIn the earlier part of the work， the confidence man himself suggests an idea which subverts the traditional conviction for the consistent identity at the core of human

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Life 18 a Pic‑nic en Costume 11 being:^叫Weare but clay， sir， potter's clay， as the good book says， clay， feeble， and too‑yielding claダ"y 位(20的).Camouf1aging with seemingly harmless character and charitable logic， the Protean confidence man sarcastically embodies this idea of human identity which is inconsistent， superficial， and "'too‑yielding'" in an apparently negative sense， as an inevitable consequence of its intrinsic emptiness.

I V : M i r r o r i n g t h e World O u t s i d e

The irony is that the description of a particular world on the ship which grotesquely exaggerates its theatricalness and fictitiousness to the extreme offers us the sense of more reality， than real life itself can show" (183). Although readers differentiate the work's theatrical and fictitious scenes 合omactual1ife just as people draw a clear line between their ordinary life and theatrical performances， and admit eamestness only in their place‑the stage" (24)， readers are gradually made to notice the undeniable similarity between the two worlds to the extent that they would fluctuate between the conventional belief on the solid reality of the world they 1ive in and the ignorable awareness of the world's intrinsic theatricalness and fictitiousness. Moreover， Melvil1e's contemporary readers might notice that the confidence man， despite of its seemingly unrealistic existence， is modeled upon an actual imposter with whom they were familiar in newspapers and magazines.^l^lThis original confidence man was famous for demanding a one‑night keeping of expensive watches from utter strangers as a token of confidence， just as the cosmopolitan offers Pitch to hold his watch (135).

Since the narrator keeps standing by the side of the confidence man， readers tend to feel empathy with the deceiver and are unconsciously

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induced to participate in the conspiracy of laughing the ignorance， fo1lies， and hypocrisy of the victims who are easily deceived and unmasked by the confidence man; however， once readers are aware that what the theatrical stage represents is the actual world we 1ive in and that what the confidence man's encounterers reenact are the possible defects of actual persons， they cannot laugh the world of The Confidence‑Mαn as a case of mere fictional comedy played on the stage: all the character's defects such as ignorance， follies， hypocrisy， racial pr正ljudice，egotism， superficial friendship， avarice， and sham piety which readers are despisingly watching then turn back upon themselves. Now the work insinuatingly but triumphantly suggests that readers are not the mere audience any more， but the models ofthe actors in the sarcastic play， and very actors in this theatrIcal world as well. Not only the world within the work， but also what we believe as real life" itself is a masquerade， a chaotic and fictitious叫pic‑nicen costume'" (133)， in which actors perform their assumed roles， create the vast illusion of reality out of nothing， and delude themselves and the others with the illusion. The Con戸dence‑Mαn demonstrates that reallife is as much fictitious and shadowy matters as the theatrical world of fiction which the work itself selιref1ectively presents.

Since the world is a stage， those who act well achieve the reputation of the highest reality， just as the fictitious work which successfully deceives readers in its artistic trap achieves the public reputation of the literary verisimilitude. Observed in this light， the narrator's serio‑comic defense ofunreal" (182) inconsistency in theoretical chapters comes to reveal its contextual relevance to the work's fundamental view of the actual world that underlies the author's adoption of the theatrical frame and

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Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume 13 conventions for his prose narrative: it is not the narrator's mere quibbling of ideas that defends his flawed representation of a particular character， but the comedy ofthought" (71) as a complementary pair with that [comedy] of action" (71)， both of which integrally constitute the work as a whole. In addition， as Jonathan A. Cook points out that the defense of inconsistency is Melville's belated response to Duyckinck"

who concluded his review by calling Ishmael a successful embodiment of contradictory opinions， but nevertheless a flawed fictional character"

lacking ^叫theconsistency，"'12 the theatrical chapter possesses another contextual background of Melville's literary career， which surpasses the assumed pose that the fictional author breaks into the story to defend his work against his imagined readers. Despite of its serio‑comic tone and deliberately awkward rhetoric， the fictional author's discussion of human inconsistency does not rest in a fictitious argument for quibbling readers but emerges as a serious problem with which Melville himself was actually concerned.

Consideration of the performative self in the work has shown that it is fruitless to inquire the underlying identity of the ever‑disguising central character， not only because Melville is less interested in the confidence man's lurking identity than in his practical role of revealing the hidden nature of the others， but also because the confidence man literally embodies the theatrical view of self that the performing mask itself is the identity. In such a world， change of costume means the appearance of different characters， while in the later part of the work， the idea of costume iおsexagge町r叫e吋dl防yembodied by the cosmopo1itan whose f命001‑^幽‑1like odd mixture of costume自suggestsvar討iou畠incompatiblepersonalities. The ever‑transforming confidence man is realistic，" precisely because he is

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inconsistent， contradictory， theatrical1y performative， and unreal" (182) in the conventional sense.

Although the theatrical nature of human existence is repetitiously‑ almost importunately‑represented and reenacted by the confidence manI，3 most passengers do not notice its implied sarcasm and even consider the confidence man as a credulous simpleton who lacks mundane shrewdness and has no ability to recognize the crucial actuality of reallife. It is only a wooden legged man who， as one of Black Guinea's audience， acutely smells out the hidden sarcasm of this impostor's performance:

Not much better than any other man acts."

How? Does all the world act? Am!， for instance， an actor? Is myreverend企iendhere， too， a performer?"

Yes， don't you both perform acts? To do， is to act; so all doers are actors." (31)

Ironically， the person to whom this accusation is revealed is the man with the weed， the next disguise of Black Guinea. As a matter of course， he pretends the total ignorance and boldly represents the opinion of the ignorant others; on the other hand， he does not forget exercising further sarcasm by implying the possible hypocritical performance of his

叫reverend合iend.'"Since the confidence man hides his sarcastic intention and outwardly keeps standing by the side of the ignorant multitude， it is only the wooden legged man who is both aware and bold to declare that the world is a stage， hypocritic and fictitious illusion created out of nothing. Furious to be rejected， the wooden legged man cries to the ignorant others: You fools1... you flock of foo1s， under this captain of

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Life 18 a Pic‑nic en Costume 15 foo1s， in this ship offoo1s!'" (15).

The foo1s^問 hereindicate both two aspects of the stock figure of the foo1 in traditional theater: the crass ignorant and the pretended ignorant. While the most peop1e are the former ones who do not recognize that the world is a mere stage， there exist a few persons who surely perceive it but pretend ignorance for self‑protection.¹⁴If we consider Me1ville's discontent with the literary atmosphere of his day in which truth剖 llers are fated旬 sufferhardships of a田usationand unacceptance， the wooden 1egged man might be read as a self‑caricaturizing figure of literary author who is accused because of revealing the gloomy truth in the midst of the opportunistic society. Viewed in this light， the narrator's description of the wooden 1egged man as a limping， gim1et‑eyed， sour‑ faced person‑it may be some discharged custom‑house officer" (12) reminds us ofthe figure ofNathanie1 Hawthorne who hurt the 1eg in his younger days， was discharged from custom‑house， and wrote the things， which we fee1 to be so terrifically true， that it were all but madness for any good man， in his own proper character， to utter， or even hint of them.，，15 The difficu1ty of truth‑telling is not on1y the prob1em of Hawthorne. Me1ville himse1f has a strong sense of being a neg1ected author who dares to write the things so terrifically true， as he once wrote to Hawthorne: Though 1 wrote the Gospels in this century， 1 shou1d die in the gutter.，，16

The confidence man， who always reenacts prob1ematic bias of the world around him， high1ights the difficu1ty of truth‑telling with a contrasting pair of performances and counter‑performances. The caricaturized image of the biased society which excludes truth‑tellers is first represented by the man with the weed who bo1d1y claims that

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[elven were there truth in Tacitus， such truth would have the operation offalsity， and so still be poison， moral poison'" (26); then the man in gray repeats the similar commentary about the wooden legged man 叫whoeven were truth on his tongue， his way of speaking it would make truth almost offensive as falsehood'" (31). Since people are all in conspiracy to make up a vast hypocritic illusion， one's betraying act of disclosure turns the whole wor1d into his enemies. The sense of absurdity drawn out from the exaggerated reenactment of the confidence man is reemphasized by counter‑performances of his other disguises who use truth for their own benefit‑for deceiving others. Mter showing the scenes that those who expose truth in their porcupine way， and with sarcastic details" which are unpleasant to repeat" (30) are furiously excluded by people， the confidence man conversely demonstrates that the man of evil intention would never be excluded from the society as far as he is disguised by manifesting the logic of charity." In the disguises of asylum volunteer， P. I. O. man， herb doctor， and cosmopolitan， the confidence man cunningly creeps in加 thehypocritical and frail core of human judiciousness， which is paralyzed before the logic of charity."17 If it is impossible to expose the charitable mask assumed by the people as theatrical actors， the confidence man conversely exploits the very assumption in order to deceive people， and readers consequently.

Observing the literary career of MelviIle himself， we may find that a similar contrasting pair of performance and counter performance is shaped by Pierre and The Conβ，dence‑Mαn on the level across the works. In contrast to Pierre which is accused of its immorality and blasphemy， The Confidence‑Mαn， with all its possible evilness， importunately uses the gentle term of love and charity as alluded biblical words say，叫[a]n

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Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume 17 enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips'" (236): after the failure of an exaggerated performance representing the chaotic world， then Melville turns to attempt the counter‑performance reenacting and exploiting the world's hypocrisy so as to sneak into the hypocritic mind of the reader. Just as the confidence man exploits the very object which he intends to unmask and condemn， The Conβdence‑Mαn represents hypocrisy in order to highlight the world's hypocrisy， offers theatrical performances in order to expose its theatricalness， and exaggerates the fictionality within the fiction in order to paradoxically emphasize the fictiona1ity of the world outside. By such means， the evil messages of this sarcastic work are intended to creep into the intrinsically exclusive mind of the reader without encountering a strong resistance.

V : Something Further May F o l l o w o f This Masquerade"

A close examination of the work has shown how far Melville's nihilism has proceeded仕omthe world of Moby‑Dick in which Ahab tried to strike through the mask: in The Con，βdence‑Mαn， the mask itself is the whole and the cosmic void behind it is decisively convinced from the beginning. What reveals its emptiness is not only the universe， but also the core of personality.18 There appears no mighty pageant creature， formed for noble tragedies" (MD 73) in this masquerading comedy: all characters， amongst which the central character as the most conspicuous specimen， take a part， assume a character， stand ready in a sensible way to play the fool''' [Italics minel (133).

Thus， the last sentence Something further may follow of this Masquerade" (251) may not be the author's announcement for the future

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publication of the seque1， but suggest that this nightmarish masquerade would never end if the Al1 Foo1s' Day passes away. The Confidence・Mαn does not have a proper epi10gue in which the narrator announces that

"[tJhe drama's done" (MD 573) nor is inscribed FINIS" (MD 573， P 362) in capita11etters. The drama begins [alt sunrise on a first of Apri1" (3) and ends at the midnight of that day， but this sarcastic comedy is not the temporary cannibalistic clamor in the particular place on the particu1ar day. The concluding sentence may imply that the Fidele is not a specific example but an epitome of human life， and the vicious circle of answer1ess rhetoric and the cosmic confusion end1ess1y continues even in the ordinary days of rea1life.

Until the very end of the work， The Confidence‑Man importunately keeps threatening the reader to affirm its theatrical view of world in which rea1 life 10ses its ultimate independence and substantial superiority over fiction， and becomes degraded to the shadowy stage where foo1s are taking meaning1ess action and conversation， deceiving each other with their arbitrary and ever‑changing masks. Going against the growing literary trend of realism， Melville assimi1ates the view of the rea1 world into theatrical fiction， instead of adjusting fiction to the naked materia1ism: his 10ng strugg1e as a 1iterary author since the South‑Sea narrative ironically results in reaching the opposite extreme from readers' demand.

Instead of pleasing readers， the work pushes them into nihilistic despair. However， there remains one question whether the successful demon日trationof entire hope1essness means a triumph for the author who， like the young writer Pierre， has strugg1ed to "'gospe1ize the world anew， and show them deeper secrets than the Apocalypse'" (P 273). Such

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Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume ₁₉ resigned view of the world is a literary dead end in both thematic search and artistic practice， especially for the kind of author who inquires into thematic concerns by means of literary form and practice， and would never leave the possibility of further development. On the level of the thematic view of the world， Melville's mind may have reached the state of annihilation^l⁹to recognize that life is no more than a masquerading comedy in which fools are mutually deceived one another， and create a vast illusive stage ofreality out ofnothing. As for the literary practice， he does neither attempt to penetrate the invisible sphere behind the mask nor vainly struggle to translate the inexplicable truth into human words any more， as Ahab， the "'[f]ool'" of Fate (MD 561)， and Pierre，師thefool of Truth， the fool of Virtue， the fool of Fate'" (P 358) dare to do， and abides in describing the very surface of the theatrical world: as a result， despite of its symbolic allusions， the work lacks the layered depth of meanings beneath the literal surface， the profound depth of meanings and abundant symbolism which we could see in Moby‑Dick.

In such a world， not only readers who expect realistic works but also fiction四writerswho cling to tell the truth or to write a great tragedy are nothing more than fools. Melville suggestively published the book itself on All Fools' Day and virtually retired from professional prose^胴writing ever afterward.²⁰After all， the work The Conβdence‑Mαn might be his sarcastic and desperate comedy which reaches the state of annihilation， which is imposed on not only the corrupted society ignoring its own corruption but also the readers who do not understand his works， critics and publishers who accuse him， and even on himself in the past who has struggled to write a great tragedy of the truth in vain， and throughout which echoes the cry of the one‑legged man:^副Youfools1

…

you f10ck of

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20 Life Is a Pic‑nic en Costume fools， under this captain of fools， in this ship of fools!閉(15).

Notes

1. On the narrative level， dramatic dialogues and monologues， and stage directions in some chapters produce various effects which are usually displayed in drama; in addition， the dramatic form breaks the monotony of the first‑person narration， although it is incompatible with the consistency of Ishmael's reflective narrative. On the level ofthe character， Ahab dramatizes himself with Elizabethan‑dramatic speech and action， and with stage properties such as a doubloon'" (MD 162) and the harpoon sockets"

brimmed with grog (MD 166): his self‑dramatization is a cunning device to involve the crews inωhis diabolic aim， which would not have been accepted in ordinary scenes. All quotations from Herman Melville's writings are taken from The Northwestern‑Newberry Edition， and subsequent references to The Conβdence‑Man appear in the text by page numbers only (The Con，βdence‑ Man:HisMαsquerade， ed. Harrison Hayford et a ，.lvol. 10 of The Writings of Hermαn Melville， The Northwestern‑Newberry Edition [Evanston:

Northwestern UP and Newberry Library， 1984]).

2. Pierre's self^明dramatizationis fatal not only because it makes the whole society become his enemy as a result， but also becau自ethe act itself exhausts him to the physical

∞

llapse.

3. Although the identity of eight personages from a lamb‑like mute to the cosmopolitan remains ambiguous， here 1 stand on the assumption that all are identified as the same person in different guises. The assumption is supported by several evidences; for instance， all of these figures appear successively， without a bit of overlapping， and take a similar function as unmasking the others. The Black Guinea's list of his acquaintances (13) which mostly agrees with the lineup ofthe following figures， John Ringman's knowledge about the business card information of the old merchant (18^困19) who dropped a card in front of the Black Guinea (17)， and the grammatical singular of the title， The Conβ，dence‑Mαn:HisMαsquerade， all indicate that a single confidence man plays many roles.

4. Americαn Renαissαnce: Art αnd Expression in the Age of Emerson αnd