Moby Dick

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.

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