Moby Dick

While Moby Dick’s narrative is characterized for the most part by Ishmael’s inner monologue and musings, there are several distinct, extreme shifts in narrative that Melville employs. One of the most obvious, and important switches in narrative is when Melville adopts an omniscient narrator, and Ishmael seems to vanish altogether. This omniscient narrator doesn’t emerge until the Pequod is out to sea, as it is used to develop the other characters on the boat, namely Ahab. Because Ishmael’s ability to be everywhere at once is obviously implausible, Melville uses this style of narration because characters such as Ahab, and Starbuck are equally important to the novel.

Had you followed Captain Ahab down into his cabin…you would have seen him go to a locker in the transom…Where thus employed, the heavy pewter lamp suspended in chains over his head, continually rocked with the momentum of the ship, and for ever threw shifting gleams and shadows of lines upon his wrinkled brow (190)

Here we find a vivid description of Ahab in the most inaccessible part of the boat to Ishmael: his cabin. Because of this, it is certain that Ishmael is detached from the narrative altogether. This is employed to diminish Ishmael’s role in the story, thus giving the reader a sense that Ishmael is not in control of the narrative, the boat, or his destiny. Melville uses shifting narrative to establish and emphasize the power hierarchy on the ship. Ahab is quite often the object of omniscient narrative, however Melville also devotes a similar style chapter to the thoughts of Starbuck. In both cases, Melville provides inner monologues, as well as intimate glimpses into the characters’ lives.

It is also important to note how Melville frames these chapters with stage directions, akin to a Shakespearean tragedy. I think that this was done on purpose to present the novel as such, establish fatal flaws, and foreshadow the catastrophe that is to come.

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