Moby Dick

The thirty-second chapter of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is entitled, “Cetology.” While this chapter can appear to be a somewhat dry breakdown and description of whale phylogeny, the manner in which Ishmael discusses the cetacean order is revealing of him as a character, and therefore of Herman Melville as a designer and director of this character.

Towards the beginning of the chapter, Melville lists and quotes several people who have studied and/or written about whales. The first person he quotes, and several of the people that he lists, are “Captain[s]” (125-126). Melville also states that of the “whale authors” listed, only “one of them was a real professional harpooneer and whaleman” (126). This indicates that he thinks of whalers as having the most authority on the subject of cetology, signifying and emphasizing that he holds whaling in very high regard.

This is further supported by the selection of whales that Melville chooses to include in his description, and how he makes this choice. For example, he states that the sperm whale is the largest of all whales (129), when it is now well known that the blue whale is the largest. After the description of the members of the cetacean order, Melville states that he has listed “the Leviathans of note” (137). He proceeds to give another brief list, among which the blue whale is included, and he says that if any member of this less-detailed list of whales “be caught and marked, then he can readily be incorporated into this System” (137). This suggests that he believes that only whales which have been hunted are important.

The choice to classify the sperm whale as “the largest inhabitant of the globe; the most formidable of all whales to encounter” (Melville, 129), in combination with the knowledge that the crew depicted in the book is on a whaling voyage to hunt the sperm whale, serves to impress the readers and to add a level of daring or excitement to the novel.

Prior to listing and classifying species of whales, there is a discussion as to whether the whale is a fish or not (Melville, 127-128). In the present day, of course, it is widely excepted that the whale is not a fish, but a mammal. Melville states that Linnaeus classifies whales as separate from fish, and includes his reasons for doing so. This passage in the chapter has a slight ironic tone – it seems as if Melville could be supported Linnaeus’s reasoning, but allows Ishmael to directly declare that he takes “the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and [he] call[s] upon holy Jonah to back” him (Melville, 128). This draws a creationism versus evolution, biology versus God and the bible, etc discussion into the novel.

The chapter “Cetology” is ironic in itself. It is about the science of whales, yet Ishmael rejects scientific reasoning, embraces the reasoning of the bible, and uses whalers as his scientists.

In Chapter CVI, “Ahab’s Leg,” we see Captain Ahab requesting repairs on his artificial leg, since he splintered it.  I interpret Captain Ahab’s request as him wanting to be seen as a god, perfect, unscathed, unhurt and still ready for more adventure and action.  We, as readers, also get to see much of Captain Ahab’s character, as he wants to be completely independent, and wants to be free of his physical limitations; Captain Ahab becomes irate, livid and frustrated when he remembers that he is physically ill and wounded.  In addition, I noticed other religious allusions as the novel states, “[it] shall be followed by the joy-childlessness of all hell’s despair; whereas, some guilty mortal miseries shall still fertilely beget to themselves an eternally progressive progeny of griefs beyond the grave; not all to hint of this…” (667).  Nevertheless, Captain Ahab still tries to be left alone and did not want to be disturbed.  He even insists on getting the ship checked for repairs.

Furthermore, in Chapter CIX, “Ahab and Starbuck In the Cabin,” we see Starbuck and Ahab converse about the acquisition of oil to help continue their journey on the seas.  However, there is some misunderstanding between the two.  Starbuck assumed that they were looking for more oil, but apparently Ahab is so monomaniacal that he only wants to get the White Whale.  Ahab even dares to say, “Let it leak! I’m all aleak myself.”  This shows how obsessive and careless Captain Ahab can be.  We also see Captain Ahab saying to Starbuck that, “There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod.—-On deck!” (682).  This quote shows Captain Ahab’s imperious nature and how controlling and ordering he can be.  He quite simply proclaims himself to be the “lord over the Pequod” (682).  Apparently, Captain Ahab has an obsession with keeping his power over everything.  Captain Ahab prepares to receive a well-shaped, powerful harpoon.  This reminds me of how David prepared to finally overcome the monolithic Goliath.  In this sense, Goliath is the Biblical allusion to the White Whale in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and Captain Ahab represents David.

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.

In chapter 44, The Chart, Ishmael describes the intriguing migratory patterns of the sperm whale, which he claims, were they studied and displayed in a chart, “would be found to correspond in invariability to those of the herring-shoals or the flights of swallows (191).”  He says that attempts have been made at composing such charts, likely disappointed that documented proof doesn’t exist yet.

However, he includes a footnote on that page, in which he mentions that such a chart was near completion, parts of which had been included in “an official circular, issued by Lieutenant Maury, of the National Observatory, Washington, April 16, 1851,” apparently published after Ishmael’s telling of the Moby-Dick epic.  This narrative situation is rather confusing, given that the actual book was published in 1851 and that Melville was synthesizing all of these components.  It does make it much more dimensional written this way; Melville could have simply had Ishmael state that sperm whales travel in interesting patterns, but he chose to be circuitous, complicating things by having Ishmael claim something, then pretending that that Ishmael later found scientific evidence of that claim.

Points like this in the text, I think, spark the epic tale and protect it from being dull.  It is also funny how Melville – although he did have some experience whaling – was no scientist himself, but cited natural phenomenon, like whale migrations, as if he was one.  I would not be surprised if, like Ishmael seems to do here, Melville himself obsessively read scientific literature in effort to sound authoritative.

I decided to analyze Melville’s description of Daggoo and his subsequent commentary on slavery during the 19^th century. A passage from Chapter 27 on page 114 provides an in depth description of Daggoo and his role as an African on the whaling ship.

“Third among the harpooneers was Daggoo, a gigantic, coal-black negro-savage, … with a lion-like tread – an Ahasuerus to behold. Suspended from his ears were two golden hoops, so large that the sailors called them ring-bolts, and would talk of securing the top-sail halyards to them. In his youth Daggoo had voluntarily shipped on board of a whaler…Daggoo retained all his barbaric virtues, and erect as a giraffe, moved about the decks in all the pomp of six feet five in his socks. There was a corporeal humility in looking up at him; and a white man standing before him seemed a white flag come to beg truce of a fortress. Curious to tell, this imperial negro, Ahasuerus Daggoo, was the Squire of little Flask, who looked like a chess-man beside him.”

There is a lot to say about this description of Daggoo, but I want to highlight that, as an African tribesman who “voluntarily shipped” Daggoo functions in the novel as the symbolic replacement for much more common figures who don’t actually show up in the novel. These figures who Melville is alluding to are African-American slaves or descendant of slaves who were kidnapped from Africa and brought to the American South. Ironically, Daggoo is portrayed as both powerful and barbaric in this passage. Melville uses derogatory and somewhat racist descriptors such as ‘coal-black negro-savage’ as well as fear invoking terms that somehow induce a certain level of respect such as ‘imperial negro’.

Ironically, when Melville entertains the idea of Daggoo’s position in comparison to white men, Daggoo prevails as a powerful ‘fortress’.  In doing so, Melville is challenging the idea of slavery and submission of the Africans to white men. By describing Flask as a chess-man strongly invokes a reversal of roles and addresses society’s contemporary understanding of racial dynamics. Despite this reversal of roles it is important to point out the fact that Daggoo is still diminished by Melville’s initial description and forever defined by his ‘savage’ ways, such as the ‘ring bolts’ suspended from his ears. Melville provides a unique insight into the blatant divide between the ‘white men’ and the ‘savages’ both within the hierarchical dynamics of the whaling ship and within 19^th century society.

Considering that Melville wrote Moby Dick in 1851, when slavery was a major issue in America, and that the novel reveals signs of thoughtfully considering race, it is interesting that there aren’t any slaves in the story at all – just different types of stand-ins for them.

Preface: I’m really interested in the characterization of Captain Ahab through rumors both before and after chapter 28, and how he is depicted as a mystery and a legend. In reading Ishmael’s first full description of the man I became particularly interested in the phrase “barbaric white leg” when our narrator first notices the whale jaw peg leg. I thought it had a bit of an interesting connection to race in the novel, so here I am, trying to combine race and characterization.

When the surreptitious Captain Ahab finally appears before the crew of the Pequod, his grim air overwhelms Ishmael — so much so, our narrator tells us, that it took him a moment to realize that much of the grimness came from the captain’s “barbaric white leg” (117).

The phrase struck me because of the juxtaposition between “barbaric” and “white.” Ishmael most often uses the word “barbaric” to describe men of other races, much like his use of the word “savage.” The contrast between the two words sums up Ishmael’s first impression of Captain Ahab quite well. The captain, though a white man, is “wild” (117) and is in many ways depicted as superhuman, even mythical.

Before chapter 28, in which we meet Ahab, we learn about him through what others tell Ishmael. The rumors construct Ahab’s reputation, and the man becomes the subject of a myth. Ahab’s mythical characterization continues in Ishmael’s initial description of the mighty man. When he first lays eyes on his captain, Ishmael notes that “his whole high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze,” likening the man to a statue (117). Who gets statues made of them? Certainly not whaling captains. Ancient, brave, mythical heroes get made into statues. Ishamel continues to glorify Ahab by comparing him to a “great tree” (117). This further separates Ahab from the other characters, from humans, and makes him more of a god-like figure.

Let’s go back to the phrase “barbaric white leg.” What makes the leg “barbaric” is its inhumanness. The leg, made from the jaw of a Sperm Whale, is by definition not human. While Captain Ahab’s being inhuman is what makes him great, we must note that therefore the use of the word “barbaric” in describing the non-white characters in Moby Dick is racist.

Ishmael often uses the word to describe the harpooneers, as much as he uses the words “savage” and “heathen.” We know, as modern readers, that these terms are politically incorrect and just plain rude. Ishmael’s use of “barbaric” in his description of Ahab reveals why. In Ahab’s characterization, to be inhuman is to be different from everyone else. However, that does not mean that to be different is to be inhuman. Regardless, Ishmael uses the same adjective to describe both the inhuman Ahab and the different harpooneers.

“Barbaric” and “white” is a suitable description of Ahab, the mysterious, wild captain. He is the least human character of the novel. But the presence of the word “barbaric” and its synonymity to “inhuman” makes us reflect on its use in other parts of the work, and its racist implications.

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.

Emily Dickinson’s poem 11,

MUCH madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
’T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.	5
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,—you ’re straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.

without the funky font of “UCH,” though more obviously applicable to Ahab, (except, I suppose, that Ahab has authority over his ship and can “run” with his madness) can also be applied to the minor character, Pip, the slight slave-boy driven to madness.  In the saddest part of the book thus far for me, Pip jumps from the boat to catch a whale and is left floundering in the ocean for what is beyond a mere scare tactic after Stubb warns Pip that he won’t save him a second time because “a whale would sell thirty more times than [Pip] would in Alabama,” and is not worth the trouble or energy (400).  

In “The Doubloon,” every major character gives his thought on the doubloon while looking at it, and ends up, as Ahab said during his soliloquy, “mirror[ing] back his own mysterious self” (416). Indeed, the men, supposedly probing the doubloon, really just reveal themselves, their philosophical and personal essences. All except Pip. He offers the gem, “I look, you look, he looks; we look, ye look, they look,” capturing the truth in that everyone sees what they want to see, believes what they want to believe, and acts accordingly.

Pip, however, is not always of “divinest sense;” just after he offers his profound insight, he squawks like a crow, reinforcement of the fragile, unpredictable nature that defines madness. And it is no coincidence that Pip calls himself a crow, a mean bird: in Ishmael’s philosophical break with Ahab in “The Try-Works” when he says “There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness,” conceding that while woe has the potential, through the deepest, darkest plumbings of the soul, to bring forth genius, it may also give way to a dead-end existence of futility, he uses an eagle to demonstrate this possibility of attaining genius. Even though crows soar, eagles, on high mountains from the star, will always be higher. Ahab and Pip both may be mad ultimately, but they do soar occasionally, as evident by Pip’s judgment of “The Doubloon” scene.

What strikes me as most interesting in the chapter The Advocate is the way in which Melville portrays whaling as a flawless and almost royal pursuit. He challenges every conceivable argument against the profession, and he does so in a very convincing way.  His most bold and interesting claim, in my opinion, is his defense of whaling against the argument that it simply a business of butchering, by comparing the profession of whaling with that of a soldier.  He claims that if it is in fact true the whaling is an uncleanly business, that does not mean that it cannot still be honorable, as is the profession of a soldier. To make this comparison he asks “what disordered slippery decks of a whale-ship are comparable to the unspeakable carrion of those battle-fields from which so many soldiers return to drink in all ladies’ plaudits?” (Melville 103).  He then goes even further than simply defending the business of whaling, to state that it is in fact more noble than going to war. This struck me as a kind of daring claim, but I’ll admit that the logic of his argument is somewhat convincing.

He argues that if it is the fear of war that earns the soldier his admiration, that what one faces on the battle field cannot compare to the terror of encountering a whale when he says:

And if the idea of peril so much enhances the popular conceit of the soldier’s profession; let me assure ye that many a veteran who has freely marched up to battery, would quickly recoil at the apparition of the Sperm Whale’s vast tail fanning into eddies the air over his head.  For what are the comprehensible terrors of man compared with the interlinked terrors and wonders of God! (Melville 103)

He goes on the argue that if it is the benefits derived from their services that earn soldiers their respect, then the benefits of whaling are just as great. Not only do we reap material benefits from a dead whale, including the highly valued oil it produces, but we have also discovered much of the world through the adventures of whaling ships. He speaks of Australia claiming that “The whale-ship is the true mother of that now mighty colony”(Melville 105).

Finally, at the end of the chapter, he states his claim that whaling is in fact more noble than going to battle by saying  “I know a man that, in his lifetime, has taken three hundred and fifty whales. I account that man more honorable than that great captain of antiquity who boasted of taking as many walled towns.” (Melville 106)

The reason that I find these seemingly outlandish arguments so compelling is that they are true. When you think about it logically, it is true that whaling and battle are similar in many ways.  The soldier goes out with intention to kill, not an adversary in the form of a whale, but other human beings. While Ishmael argues that this is less perilous and frightening, should killing a human not be more abhorrent then killing a whale? And yes, wars are fought for a purpose, usually to conquer land, so it could be argued that the soldiers are helping to expand, or defend, the land of their country.  However, Ishmael makes the argument that whaling ships have discovered new land for their country. It could be argued that the founding of these new colonies is just as beneficial. In these regards Ishmael’s arguments are compelling to me, however, I still don’t think that whaling seems to be equivalent to going to war, and I think that the important distinction lies in the intention of the soldier to defend his country, which is not a claim that whalers can make.  I was, however, struck by the power of Ishmael’s argument to almost convince me otherwise.

In Chapter 36 of Moby Dick, Captain Ahab reveals the secondary purpose of the Pequod’s voyage to his crew: Ahab seeks revenge against Moby Dick, the white whale that took Ahab’s leg, sanity, and pride. When a crewmember suggests that Ahab’s desire for revenge is ludicrous, Ahab responds with a speech reminiscent of a Shakespearean monologue.

I’d strike the sun if it insulted me. For could the sun do that, then could I do the other; since there is ever a sort of fair play herein. Jealousy presiding over all creations. But not my master, man, is even that fair play. Who’s over me? (157)

With these words, Ahab reveals his hubris, a flaw that will no doubt cause harm to him later in the novel. His question of “Who’s over me?” seems more of a challenge than a matter of doubt; in his mind he is both willing and able to sail around the world until his revenge his complete, an act that he must consider impossible for others but not for him. As captain of the Pequod, Ahab already exerts a great deal of control over his crew which is further illustrated by his “change of plans” for the whaling voyage. Ahab’s madness seems to have driven him on a larger power trip in attempting to kill the white whale. This could be seen as a man versus nature conflict. It could be argued, however, that this in turn is part of man versus the unknown (or in this case God).

Ahab’s journey could also be compared and contrasted to Jonah’s from the Book of Jonah in the Bible. Jonah tried to run away from God by escaping to the sea and was swallowed up by a whale. Only when Jonah repented and prayed to God did the whale finally set him free after three days. Similarly, Ahab has gone to sea but instead of simply running away from God, Ahab is attempting to destroy the whale and establish himself as a being greater than God’s creations. Ahab could view the whale’s attack on him as something done by God through the whale (as an agent) which would put Ahab’s revenge against God. In this way Ahab would be seeking a status greater than the divine’s and his question of “Who’s over me?” would be answered with, “No one and nothing.”

Who exactly is above Ahab? Certainly no one in his crew and, in Ahab’s mind, certainly not Moby Dick. Whether Ahab will be successful in his revenge is yet to be seen, but if the story of Jonah serves as a model, it seems that Ahab too might be swallowed up by his pride and the whale. This would ultimately prove that humans cannot overcome nature and cannot, in turn, overcome the divine.