Moby Dick

In the chapter The Musket, Starbuck’s soliloquy as he ponders his fate on the Pequod, reminds me of Lady Macbeth’s similar monologue when she resolves to do anything in her power to help Macbeth ascend to the throne.  Both characters contemplate committing murderous deeds to meet their desires.  Lady Macbeth summons her resolve and courage, declaring, “Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature/  Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between/ The effect and it!” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 1, scene 5).  She is unconcerned about the consequences of her actions, instead seeking to push away any thoughts of guilt. Starbuck, while holding a loaded musket, expresses the inner turmoil he feels towards his actions of obeying Ahab and the misgivings he has knowing that Ahab’s mission of killing Moby Dick may take the lives of the entire crew.  He says,

“But shall this crazed old man be tamely suffered to drag a whole ships company down to doom with him?—Yes, it would make him the willful murderer of thirty men and more if this ship come to any deadly harm; and come to deadly harm, my soul swears this ship will, if Ahab have his way.  If, then, he were this instant—put aside, that crime would not be his.” (493)

Ultimately, Starbuck is unable to use the weapon in his hands to commit a murder. In contrast, Lady Macbeth is determined to act within her power and resources to achieve her goals.  Aware of the fact that this may require immoral actions, she seeks to keep those thoughts from her mind and not concern herself with the consequences.  Unlike Lady Macbeth, Starbuck’s conscience is too strong to be overcome, even as he thinks of his wife and child.  Although Starbuck is tempted to use the musket in his hands, he is unable to complete the murderous act and kill Ahab.  This monologue reveals the debate in his mind over whether killing one man to save the lives of thirty men would absolve the act of murder.  Starbuck’s decision to spare Ahab shows the strength of his inner character and belief in acting in a morally conscious way, even while realizing that he may die by following his stubborn captain’s mission.

Macbeth in Moby Dick

If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly: if th’ assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all — here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’ld jump the life to come.

—Macbeth, I.vii

Throughout Moby Dick, Melville repeatedly references the plays of Wm. Shakespeare, both directly and through parallel situations and characters.  What struck me most was the relationship between Starbuck and Ahab, which bears a great resemblance to that of many of Shakespeare’s most important duos.  What drives this relationship and its correlation to Shakespeare is the power dynamic, the question of loyalty versus morality and even selfishness.  The three pairs of characters that are most present in Melville’s text are Hamlet and Claudius (the Prince and King), Macbeth and Duncan (the Thane and King) and finally Brutus and Caesar (the Senator and Emperor).  In this post, I will be looking into Macbeth’s relation to the text

You might notice a theme among these pairs: they all have bloody ends for the regent, who begins the story with power.  Each of the characters, who begin in the more prostrate position in their dynamic, performs regicide.  They plot and plan the murder of their leader, yet in each case they question their motives.

The first example, which is stunning, is the relation to Macbeth that Starbuck displays in The Musket, in which he examines the rifle that Ahab had just pointed at him.  He contemplates mutiny, staring at the tool of his potential assassination, contemplating every inch of its lock, stock and barrel.  Similarly, Macbeth, immediately before he murders King Duncan in his bedchamber, has a vision of the dagger with which he will slaughter the King.  Each of them stand staring at these weapons, thinking on what they would gain by killing their leader.  What makes this instance even more interesting is where they diverge, though. Whereas Macbeth continues onward, slaughtering his strong, intelligent leader and descending into madness, Starbuck falters and does not go forward with his mutiny.  Macbeth goes insane while butchering a leader who was psychologically stable.  Starbuck on the other is psychologically stable and fails to murder his mad captain.

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.