Moby Dick

As we discussed in class, The Symphony chapter is very Shakespearen and Ahab’s long confession to Starbuck is reminiscent of King Lear. In addition to this Shakespearen reference, this chapter reminds me quite a bit of Greek tragedy, in particular Homer’s Iliad. Although they are not identical, the Trojan hero Hector and Captain Ahab share the characteristic of having a wife and young child at home. Hector is also fated to be killed by Achilles and even runs three laps around the city of Troy to stay away from the Greek soldier. In the same way that Hector knows that he eventually must confront Achilles (i.e. death), Ahab knows that he must fight Moby Dick. After Ahab reveals to Starbuck how much of his life he has regretted and Starbuck is hopeful that they might return to Nantucket, Ahab acquiesces and gives in to his death; he asks

What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm?… Aye, toil we how we may, we all sleep at last on the field. Sleep? Aye, and rust amid greenness. (Melville 592)

In the same way that Hector is reluctant to accept his fate, Ahab admits that there is nothing in his “natural heart” that would make him want to continue on this quest for Moby Dick. There is some “hidden lord” or “remorseless emperor” who controls Ahab’s decisions that he cannot fight much like Hector who is coerced into battle by the gods. This scene also has another reference to Greek mythology when Ahab concludes that he will “sleep at last on the field.” After their deaths, Greek heroes would rest in the fields of Elysium. Like a tragic Greek hero, Ahab believes that he will soon die and lay in the Elysian Fields rather than heaven.

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