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\u00a0Moby Dick. Through the use of soliloquies,\u00a0Melville also communicates to the reader (without relying on the narrator) the true feelings and reflections of Ahab, Starbuck, and Stubbs.<\/p>\n
Much like Shakespeare\u2019s 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,<\/p>\n
What I\u2019ve dared, I\u2019ve willed; and what I\u2019ve willed, I\u2019ll do! They think me mad\u2014Starbuck does; but I\u2019m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that\u2019s only calm to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and\u2014Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer (Melville 183).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ahab\u2019s reflections on Moby Dick and his \u201cdemoniac\u201d attitude demonstrate that Ahab\u2019s quest for vengeance on the whale has completely consumed him, and, as he acknowledges, has driven him quite mad. Melville\u2019s juxtaposition of Ahab\u2019s madness and his acknowledgement of this madness is very curious. You might ask, \u2018how crazy can a person be who is aware of their madness?\u2019 As Ahab says, \u201cthat wild madness that\u2019s only calm to comprehend itself!\u201d, 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 \u201cdismember[ing] his dismemberer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starbuck\u2019s soliloquy also plays an important role in these chapters. The first mate comments to himself:<\/p>\n
My soul is more than matched; she\u2019s 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).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Despite Starbuck\u2019s recognition of Ahab as a \u201cmadmen\u201d, 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 \u201cimpious end.\u201d With Starbuck\u2019s soliloquy, Melville foreshadows a tragic end for Ahab and the rest of the\u00a0Pequod.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0Moby Dick. Through the use of soliloquies,\u00a0Melville also communicates to the reader (without relying on the narrator) the true feelings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[163,132,156,189],"class_list":["post-432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sources-or-literary-allusions","tag-ahab","tag-allusion","tag-moby-dick","tag-shakespeare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=432"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions\/443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}