Moby Dick

Today it is increasingly difficult to find a book where romance does not play some role in the plot – in the worst cases it seems nothing more than an attempt to make a book sexy and appealing to readers.   Perhaps the lack of any hint of romantic interest within (at least the first twenty chapters of) the novel is one of the reasons modern readers find it hard to relate to Moby Dick and often label it “boring.”  Of the few female characters we have met even briefly (Mrs. Hussey, Aunt Charity), none are described in any way other than domestic providers, for better or for worse. While in many adventure novels (and, indeed, in other works by Melville) the exotic and seductive female “savage” is a commonly found character, it is interesting that the role of savage is here embodied by a man, Queequeg.

“Man and wife, they say, there open the very bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and chat over old times till nearly morning.  Thus, then, in our hearts’ honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg – a cosy, loving pair.” (47)

Ishmael and Queequeg’s relationship is significant on many levels, not least of all because of the fact that they are two men who share close physical and emotional bonds.  The above excerpt is particularly descriptive of this aspect of their friendship, to the point it is described more than once as a “marriage” between the two of them.  Ishmael proves to be surprisingly receptive to not only sharing a bed with this savage stranger, but also sharing with him ideas and cultural practices.  Surprising also is the unexpected physicality between the pair; one passage describing how while sleeping together in bed they “rolled over from each other, this way and that, and very soon were sleeping” seems almost sexually suggestive (51).  While I do not necessarily think this was Melville’s intention, it nevertheless prompts readers to reflect on these roles normally shared between man and wife.  Of course, it is important to remember that the companionship Ishmael feels with Queequeg is paired with his persistent stereotyping of his friend’s cannibalism and paganism.  If we are to think of their relationship as a type of marriage, despite his obvious physical strength Queequeg’s apparent ignorance and role as a certain kind of outcast in a man’s world would perhaps make him what an ostensibly sexist writer like Melville would perceive as the “wife.”

Among the many themes of Moby Dick, gender is not one I would have thought featured prominently.  However, as I read the novel it becomes more and more clear that the bonds of masculinity Ishmael perceives between the crew members of Pequod will be an important theme throughout.  The general lack of female characters forces readers to think more deeply about the homosocial relationships found in Moby Dick, and in these first twenty chapters the bond Ishmael shares with Queequeg seems like it will be one of the most important.

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