Yes, the problem here is that the power of Sherburn's voice overwhelms the dramatic context. Henry Nash Smith once said something to the effect that Sherburn becomes Clemens's inner demon; that is, we hear in Sherburn the voice of the later Mark Twain, the voice of *What is Man?* and the *Letters from the Earth* pieces. It's a very different voice, and it led Clemens away from the vernacular voice and values of Huckleberry Finn.