Moby Dick

In “The Jeroboam’s Story”, the Pequod encounters the ship the Jeroboam, aboard which is a sailor claiming himself to be the archangel prophet Gabriel.  In the past, Gabriel declared that Moby Dick was “no less a being than the Shaker God incarnated” (306).  After Gabriel warns that the ship should not hunt Moby-Dick, the crew spots Moby-Dick and one of the ship’s mates, Macey, attempts to harpoon him, at which point Macey, and only Macey, is tossed into the sea “for ever sank” (307).

This mere claim of Gabriel, that Moby-Dick is the Shaker God, supports the theory that Moby-Dick is an instantiation of God.  Not only does Gabriel predict that misfortune will fall on anyone who attempts to kill Moby-Dick/God, this misfortune is actualized, lending credence to Gabriel’s claim.  Furthermore, in the Bible, Gabriel was a prophet who predicted the birth of two prominent figures, John the Baptist and Jesus.  Thus, Gabriel’s prophetic name further upholds the validity his conviction that Moby-Dick is God – if the Gabriel in the Bible was able to predict the birth of such a Biblically important figure as Jesus, then shouldn’t Gabriel of the Jeroboam be able to predict whether or not Moby-Dick is God?

In response to the account of Macey’s death, Ishmael points out that accidents of the kind that befell Macey are “almost as frequent as any” (307).  This causes reader doubt whether or not Moby-Dick should be thought of as God.  Perhaps this sort of accident is typical of whaling, of all whales, and nothing to note as particularly significant.  However, immediately after providing this doubt-inspiring comment, Ishmael then contradicts it, saying that in these types of accidents,

Strangest of all is the circumstance, that in more instances than one, not a single mark of violence is discernible; the man being stark dead (307).

This suggestion of mystery involved in these accidents once again brings in the concept of divine intervention.  Perhaps the divinity of all whales, or the divinity of the sea, is what causes these men to be retrieved from the sea seemingly unharmed (except for, of course, the fact that they’re dead).  One would think that upon being hurtled into such a tumultuous environment as the struggle between a whale and a whaling ship, a man would be marred.  The fact that many of these men are not once again supports the idea that divinity is at work.

The contending points brought out in this chapter show that Melville/Ishmael are wrestling with the idea of the divinity of Moby-Dick.  It seems as though neither is willing to commit to the idea that Moby-Dick either represents, or does not represent, God.  Or perhaps the contradictory flavor of this chapter does not dictate that Melville/Ishmael are unsure of their sentiment on this subject, but rather that they are simply unwilling to show this sentiment to the reader.

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