Moby Dick

In the fifty-first chapter of Moby Dick, Melville presents “The Spirit Spout”, a whale spout that is spotted once every few nights for a period of time while the men are aboard The Pequod.  It becomes clear that the Spout represents some sort of deity: at one point, the Spout is described as “some plumed and glittering god uprising from the sea”.  When the watchman announces the Spout for the first time, “every reclining mariner started to his feet as if some winged spirit had lighted in the rigging”.  Yet, despite their efforts, this whale proves impossible to catch, and disappears quite mysteriously.  Thus, the Spout represents a fleeting and intangible spiritual presence.

When examining Ahab’s reaction to the first announcement of the Spirit Spout’s presence, the reader catches a glimpse into Ahab’s own complicated relationship with spirituality:

Walking the deck with quick, side-lunging strides, Ahab commanded the t’gallant sails and royals to be set, and every stunsail spread.  The best man in the ship must take the helm…And had you watched Ahab’s face that night, you would have thought that in him also two different things were warring.  While his one live leg made lively echoes along the deck, every stroke of his dead limb sounded like a coffin-tap.  On life and death this old man walked.

The point most clearly evidenced in this passage is Ahab’s struggle with the fact that a potentially higher power controls his life and death.  This duality is quite present in Ahab, represented by his two different legs and the different sounds they make as he walks, Ishmael’s statement of “on life and death this old man walked”.  As this passage shows, Ahab is clearly not in a happy state while he walks.  This walking, and this clear portrayal of this duality within him, is brought about by the sighting of this spiritual presence.  Ahab desperately wants to capture this presence, yet he cannot.

Ahab makes it clear that he is keenly interested in capturing this whale, which is particularly noteworthy because as I noted above, the chapter makes it clear that the Spout represents some kind of deity.  Ahab is desperate to catch the Spout, as shown by his command that the “best man must take the helm”.  Furthermore, Ahab shows a great sense of urgency, “walking the deck with quick, side-lunging strides”.  Yet, despite his most intense efforts and the efforts of the crew, the whale proves unattainable.  The Spout taunts them night after night, yet is never located and caught.  This shows the unattainability of the deity, which frustrates Ahab to no end, who cannot accept the fact that he is not in control of his own mortality.

The final interesting point brought about by this passage, and a point which is made frequently by Melville in this book, is Melville’s willingness to include and thus question the existence of other religions.  Ishmael describes the Spout not as, “God, plumed and glittering” but as “some plumed and glittering god” which suggests that it is possible that more than one god exists.  Furthermore, when the preparations of the sailors to lower the ships are being described, Ishmael says it was as if “some winged spirit had lighted in the rigging”.  Ishmael does not say “a Godly presence” lighted in the rigging, but “some..spirit”.  This suggests that Melville is willing to acknowledge the existence of spiritual presences besides God.

Regardless of whether the Spout represents God or an incompletely formed concept of some deity, it is made clear that Ahab feels as though he wants to catch whatever is in control of his own mortality, yet, because he is indeed a mortal, he cannot.

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