Mar 05 2010
The beauty of horror
In Chapter 86, The Tail, Ishmael lauds the whale for handling its immense power with such grace.
Ishmael first goes into a detailed description of the whale’s tail, describing its large size and powerful build (“a dense webbed bed of welded sinews”). Despite it’s enourmousness, however, the whale is also incredibly graceful. Ishmael tells us that:
“Nor does this—its amazing strength, at all tend to cripple the graceful flexion of its motions; where infantileness of ease undulates through a Titanism of power. One the contrary, those motions derive their most appalling beauty from it. ” (365).
I thought Melville’s choice of the phrase “appalling beauty” was interesting. Appalling usually refers to something bad, whereas when something is described as “beautiful,” it’s usually taken as a compliment. Ishmael combines beauty and destruction again when he says: “So in dreams, have I seen majestic Satan thrusting forth his tormented colossal claw from the flame Baltic of Hell” (365). His description of Satan as “majestic” emphasizes that simply because Satan is “evil” doesn’t mean we cannot admire the beauty of the terrible power he holds.
Is seems that Melville really wants his readers to know that opposites don’t necessarily have to be opposites, they can complement each other. This pervades in some of the other themes of the book: Religion and science don’t have to disagree, both feminine and masculine traits can be found in the same objects, white and non-white people should be able to coexist happily together, and horrific, appalling events can also be beautiful. Once again, Melville has used the prided whale to highlight his philosophies in an understated way.
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Interesting post. Melville does often seem to almost create oxymorons in his descriptions, or in the various ways he presents the whales, his companions, or even his own ideas at different times throughout the text. This is carried through even at the very end of the novel, when Moby Dick is first described as being “joyous,” “mild,” “glorified,” and “divine,” but then ends up (with the help of as well as because of his human hunters) wreaking such havoc and tragedy. This opposite emotions/descriptions are seen in the epilogue, too, where Ishmael has just undergone such a devastating experience, yet the tone seems to be calm.