Melville's Use of Sexual Imagery in "The Paradise of Bachelors and Tartarus of Maids"
             "The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus of Maids," one of Herman Melville's paired sketches, is a story that describes a visit to a temple of self-indulgent lawyers, as well as a visit to a hellish paper factory operated by "virgins." Melville uses very subtle sexual imagery at several points in the story. The imagery he uses is suggested, and is not very noticeable to a person reading the work whose not looking specifically for some sexual content. The story was, in fact, first published by Harper's New Monthly, and few people noticed the imagery Melville had hidden in his satirical sketch. "The Paradise of Bachelors" is the narrator's account of a "bachelor" London evening at a temple, where he enjoys dinner and drinks, and leaves knowing he has just seen "paradise." Melville uses little to no sexual imagery in this half of the tale. But when the same narrator voyages to the "Devil's Dungeon," in the "Tartarus" section of the story, not only is there a significant amount of sexual imagery, but horrifying imagery as well. In "The Tartarus of the Maids," Melville is satirizing the social abuse of laborers. In doing so he uses sexual imagery, which is most apparent in the beginning of the story, but is also present in his description of the factory later in the story.
             "The Tartarus of Maids" begins as the narrator journeys to a paper mill in the "Woedolor Mountains in New England" (1240). Ironically enough, the narrator is a "seedsman" who needs to buy seed containers (1241). This fact also can be seen to have some sexual connotation, if one sees the seeds as symbolizing sperm, and finding containers for the seeds as symbolizing a sexual act. As the "seedsman" continues on hi...