Moby Dick

The chapters in which we are introduced to Captain Ahab remind me of J.M. Barrie’s similar character, Captain Hook from Peter Pan (1904). Both are fearless, rough men of the sea, providing a source of treachery and deceit as the antagonists in their respective plots.  Hook’s loss of his hand to a crocodile parallels Ahab’s loss of his leg to a whale.  Both men choose inanimate objects in attempts to make themselves whole—a hook for a hand, and an ivory peg leg.  The destruction of these limbs compels the two captains to obtain revenge upon the monsters that caused physical as well as mental damage.

As a narrator, Ishmael speculates on the underlying psychological motives Ahab has for pursuing Moby-Dick:

…Ever since that fateful encounter, Ahab had cherished a wild vindictiveness against the whale, all the more fell for that in his frantic morbidness he at last came to identify with him, not only all his bodily woes, but all his intellectual and spiritual exasperations.  The White Whale swam before him as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them… All evil to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. (Melville, 179)

Consumed by the humility and tangible loss of a part of himself, Ahab focuses all his mental powers and energy into exacting revenge upon the whale to regain a sense of his authority, not only over the sea, but over nature itself.  I can’t help but speculate that Ahab will meet a similar end as that of Captain Hook—he will ultimately be defeated by the creature that crippled him in the beginning.

In chapters 36 through 40, Melville inserts a Shakespearen mini-play into his novel using literary devices such as poetic rhythms & images, soliloquies, and stage direction that help to illustrate the dramatic and tragic elements of Moby Dick. Through the use of soliloquies, Melville also communicates to the reader (without relying on the narrator) the true feelings and reflections of Ahab, Starbuck, and Stubbs.

Much like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, who is driven to madness by his obsession of exacting revenge on his uncle Claudius, Ahab, admittedly, has grown mad with his fixation on killing Moby Dick. In his soliloquy, Ahab proclaims,

What I’ve dared, I’ve willed; and what I’ve willed, I’ll do! They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and—Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer (Melville 183).

Ahab’s reflections on Moby Dick and his “demoniac” attitude demonstrate that Ahab’s quest for vengeance on the whale has completely consumed him, and, as he acknowledges, has driven him quite mad. Melville’s juxtaposition of Ahab’s madness and his acknowledgement of this madness is very curious. You might ask, ‘how crazy can a person be who is aware of their madness?’ As Ahab says, “that wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself!”, implying that Ahab can set aside his craziness for an instant, only to recognize it; apart from that self-awareness, this madness has consumed every other aspect of his life. This passage illustrates Ahab as a flawed protagonist because he is fully aware of his madness, but he is willing to put others at risk to achieve his goal of “dismember[ing] his dismemberer.”

Starbuck’s soliloquy also plays an important role in these chapters. The first mate comments to himself:

My soul is more than matched; she’s overmanned; and by a madman! Insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field! But he drilled deep down, and blasted all my reason out of me! I think I see his impious end; but feel that I must help him to it (Melville 184).

Despite Starbuck’s recognition of Ahab as a “madmen”, he is unable to stand up and combat his captain; he even fells compelled to help Ahab with his mission, perhaps because he prophesizes that their quest for Moby Dick will lead Ahab to an “impious end.” With Starbuck’s soliloquy, Melville foreshadows a tragic end for Ahab and the rest of the Pequod.

At one point in Chapter One, Ishmael describes the mystical power water has always possessed to captivate the spirits of all humans. While “the Persians hold the sea holy”, the Greeks “give it a separate deity” and every “robust healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him” dreams of shipping off to sea (19).

The most interesting defense he provides for the deep bond between man and water comes in the form of a reconstrual of the tale of Narcissus originating from Greek mythology (Wikipedia: Narcissus).  Ishmael states,

And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged headfirst into it and was drowned. But that same image we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all (20).

Narcissus drowns because he is enthralled by his own beauty as reflected in the water. Although Narcissus’ tale exists in a number of forms, the moral lesson drawn from each of them is generally the same: do not put so much stock in yourself, i.e., do not be vain. Ishmael strays away from more common understanding of the story’s meaning and re-interprets the story as illustrating the problem of self-identity. The object whose image each of us must confront in the water, “the ungraspable phantom of life”, which follows us through every single moment of our lives and yet fails to be wholly (or even remotely) understood, is in fact ourselves (20). It is a sad but nevertheless beautiful thought. I cannot help but feel that this thought may come up again later on in the book.

(Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. New York: Norton, 2002.)

One occurrence of Melville’s literary allusions in Moby-Dick can be seen in his penchant for naming his characters after individuals from the Bible (Captain Ahab and the stranger Elijah).  These two examples reflect the embodiment of Melville’s individuals with the Scriptural significance of their stories.  Captain Ahab is named after the wicked, malicious king of Israel, who the Bible refers to as the “most evil of all kings that came before him” (1 Kings 16:30).  Named after such a reputation, this vindictive personality seems to loom over Captain Ahab, even before the reader is introduced to him.  Elijah, the curious stranger Queequeg and Ishmael encounter before leaving port, refers to the Biblical prophet of the same name (Melville even classifies him as such).  In Scripture, Elijah is first introduced through his warnings to King Ahab of the terrible misfortune that will come as a result of his evil doings. In Moby-Dick, Elijah serves a similar purpose by warning the two whale-men of the enigmatic sufferer who will be their captain, and the trying expedition ahead of them: “Shan’t see you again very soon, I guess; unless it’s before the Grand Jury.” (Melville, 95).  In this way, Elijah encapsulates the Biblical reference of his name.  He stirs in Ishmael a sense of apprehension and curiosity concerning his future captain and impending journey.

While these two characters are more clearly linked to the qualities their namesakes possessed, Ishmael presents a more interesting study.  The name Ishmael calls to mind the story in Genesis of Abraham’s slave-born son, Ishmael.  In Scripture, Ishmael is seen in opposition to the spirit of God.  The illegitimate son of slavery, there is no place reserved for him in the Family Covenant of God.  He is cast out from society, ostracized and shunned by mankind and God himself.   However, Ishmael, as the protagonist of Moby-Dick, chooses to purposefully separate and remove himself from the general body of society and the traditions of conventional Christianity by traveling to sea.  Ishmael writes, “I am tormented by an everlasting itch for things remote.  I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts.” (Melville, 6)  His questioning of the mainstream hypocrisy of Christianity can be seen through his friendship with Queequeg, a savage pagan, whom he develops a close relationship with and respect for his hybrid form of spirituality and religion.  Although he questions the morality of those who call themselves Christians (such as Captain Bildad), Ishmael does not abandon the religious virtues he was taught; those of compassion to others, ethics and a sense of righteousness.  Further reading of Moby-Dick will reveal the full extent and ways in which our narrator embodies the layered references of his name.  Perhaps by choosing this name, Melville hints at the unstable role Ishmael may hold in this small society on the ship.  As Ishmael questions the veracity of those proclaimed Christian, he may also question the authority of Captain Ahab and jeopardize his place in the journey.

(Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. Signet Classic: NY, 1998.)

As Professor Friedman has said, Melville makes numerous references to literature, philosophy, and Greek/Roman mythology and history in Moby Dick.

In the first paragraph of the novel, Melville alludes to the Roman politician known as Cato the Younger. Cato lived from 95 BC to 46 BC and was a statesmen during the late Roman Republic. He is remembered for his stubbornness and being in staunch opposition to Gaius Julius Caesar and the triumvirate. I may be simplifying this quite a bit, but I believe that a Civil War broke out between supporters of Caesar and a faction of the Senate who opposed Caesar; the latter group included Cato. After Caesar’s troops defeated the rebellion army in the Battle of Thaspus, Cato committed suicide by stabbing himself (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_the_Younger)

In Moby Dick, Ishmael compares his need to go to sea to Cato’s suicide: Melville writes:

Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world… This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship (3).

I know we talked briefly in class about how “pistol and ball” could mean that sailing is Ishmael’s substitute for either killing himself or going on a murderous rampage; however, I believe this reference to Cato’s suicide indicates that Ishmael is referring to the former. It would also be difficult for Ishmael to kill others with a just a single ball which also implies suicide.

Melville could be making this reference to Cato for a couple of reasons. He could be trying to foreshadow that Ishmael is a rebellious character who might stand up to Captain Ahab (the nautical Caesar). He could also be trying to illustrate that Ishmael’s character is somewhat pretentious since he is comparing himself to Roman figure who had the courage to oppose Caesar. Finally, Melville could simply be making a reference to Cato because he wants to show the readers that he is familiar with the history and is therefore an educated and learned individual.

Melville’s novel is highly allusive: he makes references to Shakespeare, to Milton, to contemporary authors, to historians, to classical literature in Latin and Greek. He was a multimedia man, and he put a lot of that media into his novel. This group’s job is to think about what passages or events might resemble moments in other forms of literature. Does a particular passage recall a moment in Shakespeare (one of his plays, or a line of his poetry)? Does a particular passage resemble a Greek myth you read in high school? You can also do a little bit of web research to find out what particular literary allusions Melville might be making in a passage. Or, you can make an educated guess — you can even say that a passage reminds you of a totally different, later, or more contemporary piece of literature you read (as long as you explain why).