“Others’ Seeing”: Herman Melville’s Erased Marginalia to Shakespeare

Abstract: This essay examines Herman Melville’s erased markings and annotations in his copies of The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare and Shakespeare’s Sonnets . Filtered imaging and word cloud visualizations supplement analysis of the erasures’ recurring emphasis on censorship and gender conflict in conjunction with Melville’s literary works, correspondence, and extant marginalia to Shakespeare and other writers. Although the erasures target negative views of women, marriage, and society, instances of extant marginalia to passages with similar themes and evidence from Melville’s nuanced explorations of human relationships in his creative works indicate his overarching appreciation for the complexity that conflict supports in literature. Previously unaddressed in scholarship, the erased marginalia to Shakespeare reflect Melville’s preoccupation with society’s vilification of those who criticize it.