The Confidence Man by Herman Melville

First published: 1857

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Satire

Time of plot: Nineteenth century, before the Civil War

Locale: Mississippi River

Principal characters

• The Confidence Man, referred to as such only in the title
• The Man in Cream Colors, a deaf-mute, a guise of the Confidence Man
• Der Black Guinea, a lame beggar, a guise of the Confidence Man
• John Ringman, an unfortunate gentleman, a guise of the Confidence Man
• The Man in the Gray Coat and White Tie, a collector for charities, a guise of the Confidence Man
• John Truman, the president and transfer agent of the Black Rapids Coal Company, a guise of the Confidence Man
• The Herb-Doctor, a dealer in herbal medicine, a guise of the Confidence Man
• A Representative of the Philosophical Intelligence Office, a guise of the Confidence Man
• Francis Goodman, a cosmopolitan, a guise of the Confidence Man
• Roberts, a country merchant
• The College Sophomore, a young man reading Tacitus
• The Miser, a wealthy but sickly old man
• Pitch, a Missourian
• Charlie Noble, an amiable passenger
• Mark Winsome, a mystic
• Egbert, his practical disciple
• William Cream, the ship’s barber

The Story:

On an April morning in St. Louis, a deaf-mute boards the steamer Fidèle (faith). Many passengers gather around a placard advertising a reward for the capture of a mysterious impostor, and some take this opportunity to purchase money belts or biographies of famous criminals. The deaf-mute approaches the placard, writes platitudes about charity on a slate, and displays them to the crowd. Meanwhile, a barber opens his shop and hangs a sign that reads “No Trust.” Rebuffed, the mute walks to the forecastle and falls asleep at the foot of a ladder.

After the ship leaves dock, a group of passengers amuse themselves by tossing pennies (or, more cruelly, buttons) to a lame black man who catches them in his mouth. He identifies himself as Der Black Guinea, but he is confronted by a man with a wooden leg who accuses him of being a sham. An Episcopalian minister intercedes and, when the beggar describes several people on the ship who will vouch for him, goes to find them. The wooden-legged man renews his attack, but a Methodist minister rebukes him until he withdraws. Although the Methodist apparently triumphs, he immediately demonstrates similar suspicion. Further complications are averted when a kind merchant offers the beggar alms, in the process accidentally dropping a business card, which the beggar surreptitiously covers with his stump.

Roberts, the merchant, is soon accosted by a man with a weed in his hat who identifies himself as John Ringman and claims to be an old acquaintance. When Roberts protests he has no recollection of their meeting, Ringman presses him to admit he had a fever at about that time that might have erased his memory. Ringman relates a story of profound personal misfortune, until the merchant offers him a banknote and then a larger one. In return, Ringman tells Roberts that the president of the Black Rapids Coal Company, which represents a rare investment opportunity, is on board.

Ringman next encounters a college sophomore reading Tacitus. In impassioned rhetoric, he urges the student to toss the volume overboard before he loses confidence in his fellows. Nonplussed, the young man departs.

The Episcopalian minister’s search for someone who knows Der Black Guinea concludes when he encounters a man in a gray coat and white tie, exactly as the beggar described. The unnamed man bears witness to Der Black Guinea’s authenticity. The wooden-legged man reappears and amusedly ridicules human credulity. Wanting to distance himself from this cynicism, the minister gives the stranger money for the beggar. The stranger then extracts an additional contribution for the Seminole Widow and Orphan Asylum.

This unnamed man manages to compel a donation for this charity from another gentleman, then a further contribution to support an ambitious plan to unite all of the world’s charities under one organization. The man concludes his operations by obtaining a donation for the asylum from a woman reading the Bible. Quoting the New Testament, he then departs.

The sophomore is approached by John Truman, the president and transfer agent of the Black Rapids Coal Company. Truman claims to be searching for Ringman in order to give him money and to have just spoken with the man in the gray coat. The sophomore invests an undisclosed amount in the company. The hapless Roberts follows suit, and in the process informs Truman of the existence of an old miser onboard. The miser, sickly and confused, invests one hundred dollars. He immediately regrets his decision but is too weak to pursue Truman.

Not all of the financial transactions aboard the Fidèle involve large sums. After Truman’s departure, an herb-doctor moves about the ship selling his wares, alternately called Omni-Balsamic Reinvigorator and Samaritan Pain Dissuader. Several passengers, including the miser, make purchases for two or three dollars. Only a Missourian, professing universal distrust of people and nature, resists.

Pitch, the Missourian, tells of a succession of untrustworthy boys he employed on his farm. Shortly after the herb-doctor’s departure, however, a representative of the Philosophical Intelligence Office, an employment agency, persuades him to try another, sight unseen. Pitch gives the stranger a small fee and passage money. He later has second thoughts but is interrupted by a man describing himself as a cosmopolitan who argues against a solitary life. Despite the cosmopolitan’s protests, Pitch welcomes him as a fellow misanthrope, which compels him to leave.

Francis Goodman, the cosmopolitan, next meets a talkative passenger calling himself Charlie Noble. Noble relates a long tale about an Indian-hater named Colonel John Moredock. Finding that they share a low opinion of misanthropy, Noble and Goodman strike up an immediate friendship over wine, though Noble seems determined to drink less than his companion. All goes well until Goodman claims to need money and asserts that Noble will lend him fifty dollars. Noble erupts, and Goodman insists he was joking. Goodman tells a story about a young merchant, Charlemont, who without warning turned away from his friends. Noble claims fatigue and leaves.

Mark Winsome, a mystic philosopher who overhears the previous conversation, introduces himself to Goodman. Using obscure references to ancient Egypt and Greece, Winsome warns that Noble is out to cheat him. Goodman thanks the mystic but insists that he sees no reason to lack confidence in Noble’s nature. Winsome introduces Goodman to his disciple, Egbert, and departs.

Egbert proves to be as practical as his mentor has been abstruse. Apparently interested in understanding Winsome’s philosophy, Goodman asks Egbert to act out a scenario involving a man in need who begs a loan of a friend. The two men do so at great length, with Goodman requesting the loan and Egbert justifying his refusal. To support his argument, Egbert tells of China Aster, who came to ruin and death through a friendly loan. Defeated, the cosmopolitan withdraws.

Goodman goes to the ship’s barbershop with its “No Trust” sign displayed. After great effort, he convinces the barber to give him a shave on credit and continue the policy for the rest of the voyage for other passengers. He signs an agreement to compensate the barber for any losses. After Goodman leaves, however, the barber rehangs his sign and tears up the agreement.

Goodman retires to the cabin, where he encounters a well-to-do old man reading the Bible by lamplight. The two men agree on the importance of having confidence in one’s fellow. Afterward, the old man brings a traveler’s lock and money belt from a young peddler. Goodman refuses to purchase anything. Extinguishing the light, he leads the man, holding his money belt and a life preserver, into the darkness.

Bibliography

Bloom, Harold, ed. Herman Melville. New ed. New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism, 2008. Collection of critical essays analyzing Melville’s work, including John Bryant’s piece “Allegory and Breakdown in The Confidence Man: Melville’s Comedy of Doubt.”

Cook, Jonathan. Satirical Apocalypse: An Anatomy of Melville’s “The Confidence Man.” Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996. Analyzes how Melville uses characters and scenes in the novel to satirize political, religious, social, literary, and familial issues and events.

Delbanco, Andrew. Melville: His World and Work. New York: Knopf, 2005. Delbanco’s critically acclaimed biography places Melville in his time, including information about the debate over slavery and details of life in 1840’s New York. Delbanco also discusses the significance of Melville’s works at the time they were published and in the twenty-first century.

Levine, Robert S., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. An indispensable tool for the student of Melville, this collection of essays includes discussions of Melville and sexuality, his “traveling god,” and an analysis of The Confidence Man by Elizabeth Renker.

Lindberg, Gary. The Confidence-Man in American Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. A discussion of Melville’s novel frames this investigation of the confidence man in American literature and history. Includes discussions of Huckleberry Finn, P. T. Barnum, Walt Whitman, and Thomas Jefferson, among others.

Melville, Herman. The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade—An Authoritative Text, Contemporary Reviews, Biographical Overviews, Sources, Backgrounds, and Criticism. Edited by Hershel Parker and Mark Niemeyer. 2d ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. In addition to the text of the novel, this edition includes explanatory annotations, nineteen reviews and commentaries about the book, an overview of biographical information about Melville that was obtained in the past three decades, and information about social developments and popular culture that are pertinent to the novel.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Journals. Edited by Howard C. Horsford and Lynn Horth. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1989. Includes entries and passages written soon after Melville finished The Confidence Man.

Rogin, Michael Paul. Subversive Genealogy: The Politics and Art of Herman Melville. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Incisive psychological and Marxist reading of Melville’s life and work, arguing that Melville was one of the leading thinkers of his age. The reading of Melville’s family’s place in the historical context of the 1840’s is unparalleled. Includes an excellent discussion of The Confidence Man.

Rollyson, Carl E., and Lisa Paddock. Herman Melville A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. A comprehensive and encyclopedic coverage of Melville’s life, works, and times; the 675 detailed entries provide information on the characters, settings, allusions, and references in his fiction, his friends and associates, and the critics and scholars who have studied his work.

Spanos, William V. “Cavilers and Con Men: The Confidence Man: His Masquerade.” In Herman Melville and the American Calling: Fiction After “Moby-Dick,” 1851-1857. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2008. Analyzes the major works that appeared after the publication of Moby Dick. Argues that these works shared the metaphor of the orphanage: a place that represents both estrangement from a symbolic fatherland, as well as the myth of American exceptionalism.