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Naming
The
majority of the names in Moby Dick are taken from the Bible, lending the
story its epic feel and giving us clues about how to respond to the characters.
Ishmael
is different to all other characters. The
Biblical Ishmael is protected by God and miraculously rescued from a desert.
In Moby Dick, Ishmael's survival story is incredible and supports
the idea that God was looking out for him since he is the only one to survive,
rescued from the wet desert of the ocean. In
Biblical tradition Ahab, is known as the man who denies God, embraces idolatry and spreads it throughout the kingdom, and replaces
the rule of elders with military rule. Ahab
in Moby Dick, is remarkably similar.
Ahab is described and compared to a king and emperor and revered by the
crew as one. He is evil in his
unholy and single-minded pursuit of the whale – especially when he baptises
his special harpoon in the name of the devil. Ahab rules his crew not as a wise
elder and experienced sailor, but as military dictator.
Within
the Bible there are many different ideas of the Leviathan (whale). Each
of them is found in Moby Dick. The dilemma the crew find themselves in
is: Are the capable of killing the whale and should they take up the challenge.
The
Bible states that only God is capable of killing the leviathan, no mortal can do
so, and in trying he will be destroyed himself. This certainly happens to Captain Ahab, the Pequod and
its crew.
"On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will
punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the
sea." (Is. 27:1) Characters
Captain
Ahab:
Captain of the Pequod, a grave and experienced sailing man. On one level,
the novel is the story of Ahab and his quest to defeat the legendary sperm whale
Moby Dick because it took his leg. Ahab
is a dour, imposing man who frightens his crew through his unwavering obsession
with defeating Moby Dick. In many ways Ahab is shown to be barely human and
almost caught up in his obsession with Moby Dick.. Ishmael:
Ishmael is the narrator of the novel, a simple sailor on the Pequod who
undertakes the journey because of his love for the ocean.
His role in the plot of the novel is simply to observe the conflicts
around him. But, Melville gives him a personality: he idealises the sperm whale
and becomes an intimate friend of the pagan harpooner Queequeg.
Ishmael is the only survivor of the Pequod's voyage only because he was
on a whaling boat when Moby Dick sank the Pequod. Starbuck:
Starbuck is the chief mate of the Pequod, a Nantucket native and a Quaker with a
thin build and a pragmatic manner. Melville portrays Starbuck as both a strong
believer in human fallibility and an idealist who believes that these failings
may be contained. It is only Starbuck who openly opposes Ahab, believing his
quest against the great whale to be an impulsive and suicidal folly. However,
Starbuck remains loyal to his captain even when he has the possibility of
vanquishing Ahab. Check out this website for the origin of the name of
Starbuck’s Coffee http://www.namingnewsletter.com/where.did.they.get.that.name.htm Queequeg:
Queequeg is a harpooner from New Zealand, the son of a king who renounces the
throne in order to travel the world on whaling ships and learn about Christian
society. Ishmael meets Queequeg when the two must share a bed at the Spouter Inn
in New Bedford before journeying to Nantucket to undertake the journey on the
Pequod. Melville portrays Queequeg as a blend of civilized behavior and
savagery. Certainly in his appearance and upbringing he is uncivilized by the
standards of the main characters of the novel, yet Melville (through his
narrator Ishmael) finds Queequeg to be incredibly noble, courteous and brave. Stubb:
The second mate on the Pequod, Stubb is a Cape Cod native with a happy-go-lucky,
carefree nature that tends to mask his true opinions and beliefs. Stubb remains
comical even in the face of the imperious Ahab, and he even dares to make a joke
at the captain's expense. Although never serious, Stubb is nevertheless a more
than competent whaleman: his easygoing manner allows Stubb to prompt his crew to
work without seeming imposing or dictatorial, and it is Stubb who kills the
first whale on the Pequod's voyage. Fedallah:
He is one of the "dusky phantoms" that compose Ahab's special whaling
crew. The Asiatic and Oriental Fedallah, also called the Parsee, remains a
"muffled mystery" to the other characters and represents a sinister
figure for the crew of the Pequod; there are even rumors that he is the devil in
disguise and wishes to kidnap Ahab. Fedallah has a prophetic dream of hearses
twice during the course of the novel, yet both he and Ahab conceive that this
means a certain end to Moby Dick. Fedallah dies during the second day of the
chase against Moby Dick, when he becomes entangled in the whale line. Mrs
Hosea Hussey:
She is the owner of the Try Pots Inn and the cousin of Peter Coffin. Ishmael and
Queequeg stay at the Try Pots while in Nantucket before departing on the Pequod.
Tashtego:
He is an Indian from Martha's Vineyard who becomes the harpooner for Stubb. Daggoo:
He is a gigantic African man who becomes the harpooner for Flask. Short
Summary
The novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville is an epic
tale of the voyage of the whaling ship the Pequod and its captain, Ahab, who
relentlessly pursues the great Sperm Whale (the title character) during a
journey around the world. The narrator of the novel is Ishmael, a sailor on the
Pequod who undertakes the journey out of his affection for the sea.
Moby Dick begins with Ishmael's arrival in New Bedford as he travels
toward Nantucket. He rests at the Spouter Inn in New Bedford, where he meets
Queequeg, a harpooner from New Zealand who will also sail on the Pequod.
Although Queequeg appears dangerous, he and Ishmael must share a bed together
and the narrator quickly grows fond of the somewhat uncivilized harpooner.
Queequeg is actually the son of a High Chief who left New Zealand because of his
desire to learn among Christians. The next day, Ishmael attends a church service
and listens to a sermon by Father Mapple, a renowned preacher who delivers a
sermon considering Jonah and the whale that concludes that the tale is a lesson
to preach Truth in the face of Falsehood.
On a schooner to Nantucket, Ishmael and Queequeg come across a local
bumpkin who mocks Queequeg. However, when this bumpkin is swept overboard,
Queequeg saves him. In Nantucket, Queequeg and Ishmael choose between three
ships for a year journey, and decide upon the Pequod. The Captain of the Pequod,
Peleg, is now retired, and merely owns the boat with another Quaker, Bildad.
Peleg tells them of the new captain, Ahab, and immediately describes him as a
grand and ungodly man. Before leaving for their voyage, Ishmael and Queequeg
come across a stranger named Elijah who predicts disaster on their journey.
Before leaving on the Pequod, Elijah again predicts disaster.
Ishmael
and Queequeg board the Pequod, where Captain Ahab is still unseen, secluded in
his own cabin. Peleg and Bildad consult with Starbuck, the first mate. He is a
Quaker and a Nantucket native who is quite practical. The second mate is Stubb,
a Cape Cod native with a more jovial and carefree attitude. The third is Flask,
a Martha's Vineyard native with a pugnacious attitude. Melville introduces the
rest of the crew, including the Indian harpooner Tashtego, the African harpooner
Daggoo.
Several
days into the voyage, Ahab finally appears as a man seemingly made of bronze who
stands on an ivory leg fashioned from whalebone. He eventually gets into a
violent argument with Stubb when the second mate makes a joke at Ahab's expense,
and kicks him. This leads Stubb to dream of kicking Ahab's ivory leg off, but
Flask claims that the kick from Ahab is a sign of honor.
At last, Ahab tells the crew of the Pequod to look for a white-headed
whale with a wrinkled brow: Moby Dick, the legendary whale that took Ahab's leg.
Starbuck tells Ahab that his obsession with Moby Dick is madness, but Ahab
claims that all things are masks and there is some unknown reasoning behind that
mask that man must strike through. For Ahab, Moby Dick is that mask.Ahab himself
seems to recognize his own madness. Starbuck begins to worry that the ship is
overmatched by the mad captain and knows that he will see an impious end to
Ahab.
While Queequeg and Ishmael weave a sword-mat for lashing to their boat,
the Pequod soon comes upon a whale and Ahab orders his crew to their boats. Ahab
orders his special crew, which Ishmael compares to "phantoms," to
their boats. The crew attacks a whale and Queequeg does strike it, but this is
insufficient to kill it. Among the "phantoms" in the boat is Fedallah,
a sinister Parsee.
After passing the Cape of Good Hope, the Pequod comes across the Goney (Albatross), another ship on its voyage. Ahab asks whether
they have seen Moby Dick as the ships pass one another, but Ahab cannot hear his
answer. The mere passing of the ships is unorthodox behavior, for ships will
generally have a 'gam,' a meeting between two ships. The Pequod does have a gam
with the next ship it encounters, the Town-Ho.
Ishmael interrupts his narration to tell a story that was told to him by
the crew of the Town-Ho, just as he would tell it to a circle of Spanish friends
after his journey on the Pequod. The story concerns the near mutiny on the
Town-Ho and its eventual conflict with Moby Dick.
The Pequod does vanquish the next whale that it comes across, as Stubb
strikes a whale with his harpoon. However, as the crew of the Pequod attempts to
bring the whale into the ship, sharks attack the carcass and Queequeg nearly
loses his hand while fending them off.
The Pequod next comes upon the Jeroboam, a Nantucket ship afflicted with
an epidemic. Stubb later tells a story about the Jeroboam and a mutiny that
occurred on this ship because of a Shaker prophet, Gabriel, on board. The
captain of the Jeroboam, Mayhew, warns Ahab about Moby Dick.
After vanquishing a Sperm Whale, Stubb next also kills a Right Whale.
Although this is not on the ship's agenda, the Pequod pursues a Right Whale
because of the good omens associated with having the head of a Sperm Whale and a
head of a Right Whale on a ship. Stubb and Flask discuss rumors that Ahab has
sold his soul to Fedallah.
The next ship that the Pequod meets is the Jungfrau (Virgin), a German
ship in desperate need of oil. The Pequod competes with the Virgin for a large
whale, and the Pequod is successful in defeating it. However, the whale carcass
begins to sink as the Pequod attempts to secure it and thus the Pequod must
abandon it. The Pequod next finds a large group of Sperm Whales and injures
several of them, but only captures a single one.
Stubb concocts a plan to swindle the next ship that the Pequod meets, the
French ship Bouton-de-Rose (Rosebud), of ambergris. Stubb tells them that the
whales that they have vanquished are useless and could damage their ship, and
when the Rosebud leaves these behind the Pequod takes them in order to gain the
ambergris in one of them.
Several days after encountering the Rosebud, a young black man on the
boat, Pippin, becomes frightened while lowering after a whale and jumps from the
boat, becoming entangled in the whale line. Stubb chastises him for his
cowardice and tells him that he will be left at sea if he jumps again. When
Pippin (Pip) does the same thing again, Stubb remains true to his word and Pip
only survives because a nearby boat saves him. Nevertheless, Pip loses his
sanity from the event.
The next ship that the Pequod encounters, a British ship called the
Samuel Enderby, bears news of Moby Dick but its crewman Dr. Bunger warns Ahab to
leave the whale alone. Later, Ahab's leg breaks and the carpenter must fix it.
Ahab behaves scornfully toward the carpenter. When Starbuck learns that the
casks have sprung a leak, he goes to Ahab's cabin to report the news. Ahab
disagrees with Starbuck's advice on the matter, and becomes so enraged that he
pulls a musket on Starbuck. Although Ahab warns Starbuck that there is but one
God on Earth and one Captain on the Pequod, Starbuck tells him that he will be
no danger to Ahab, for Ahab is sufficient danger to himself. Ahab does relent to
Starbuck's advice.
Queequeg becomes ill from fever and seems to approach death, so he asks
for a canoe to serve as a coffin. The carpenter measures Queequeg for his coffin
and builds it, but Queequeg returns to health, claiming that he willed his own
recovery. Queequeg keeps the coffin and uses it as a sea chest.
Upon reaching the Pacific Ocean, Ahab asks Perth the blacksmith to forge
a harpoon to use against Moby Dick. Perth fashions a harpoon that Ahab demands
be tempered with the blood of his pagan harpooners, and he howls out that he
baptizes the harpoon in the name of the devil.
The next ship that the Pequod meets is the Bachelor, a Nantucket ship
whose captain denies the existence of Moby Dick. The next day, the Pequod slays
four whales, and that night Ahab dreams of hearses. He and Fedallah pledge to
slay Moby Dick and survive the conflict, and Ahab boasts of his own immortality.
Ahab must soon decide between an easy route past the Cape of Good Hope
back to Nantucket and a difficult route in pursuit of Moby Dick. Ahab easily
chooses to continue his quest. The Pequod soon comes upon a typhoon on its
journey in the Pacific, and while battling this storm the Pequod's compass moves
out of alignment. When Starbuck learns this and goes to Ahab's cabin to tell
him, he finds the old man asleep. Starbuck considers shooting Ahab with his
musket, but he cannot move himself to shoot his captain after he hears Ahab cry
in his sleep "Moby Dick, I clutch thy heart at last."
The next morning after the typhoon, Ahab corrects the problem with the
compass despite the skepticism of his crew and the ship continues on its
journey. Ahab learns that Pip has gone insane and offers his cabin to the poor
boy. The Pequod comes upon yet another ship, the Rachel, whose captain,
Gardiner, knows Ahab. He requests the Pequod's help in searching for Gardiner's
son, who may be lost at sea, but Ahab flatly refuses when he learns that Moby
Dick is nearby. The final ship that the Pequod meets is the Delight, a ship that
has recently come upon Moby Dick and has nearly been destroyed by its encounter
with the whale. Before finally finding Moby Dick, Ahab reminisces about the day
nearly forty years before in which he struck his first whale, and laments the
solitude of his years out on the sea. He admits that he has chased his prey as
more of a demon than a man.
The struggle against Moby Dick lasts three days. On the first day, Ahab
spies the whale himself, and the whaling boats row after it. Moby Dick attacks
Ahab's boat, causing it to sink, but Ahab survives the ordeal when he reaches
Stubb's boat. Despite this first failed attempt at defeating the whale, Ahab
pursues him for a second day. On the second day of the chase, roughly the same
defeat occurs. This time Moby Dick breaks Ahab's ivory leg, while Fedallah dies
when he becomes entangled in the harpoon line and is drowned. After this second
attack, Starbuck chastises Ahab, telling him that his pursuit is impious and
blasphemous. Ahab declares that the chase against Moby Dick is immutably
decreed, and pursues it for a third day.
On the third day of the attack against Moby Dick, Starbuck panics for
ceding to Ahab's demands, while Ahab tells Starbuck that "some ships sail
from their ports and ever afterwards are missing," seemingly admitting the
futility of his mission. When Ahab and his crew reach Moby Dick, Ahab finally
stabs the whale with his harpoon but the whale again tips Ahab's boat. However,
the whale rams the Pequod and causes it to begin sinking. In a seemingly
suicidal pact, Ahab throws his harpoon at Moby Dick but becomes entangled in the
line and goes down with it. Only Ishmael survives this attack, for he was
fortunate to be on a whaling boat instead of on the Pequod. Eventually he is
rescued by the Rachel as its captain continues his search for his missing son,
only to find a different orphan.
Some ThemesAhab
as a Blasphemous Figure:
A major theme that runs through Moby Dick is that Ahab's quest against the great
whale is a blasphemous activity, even apart from the consequences that it has
upon its crew. This blasphemy is, firstly, that Ahab thinks himself the equal of
God. There is an early sermon which
warns against the blasphemous idea that a ship can carry a man into regions
where God does not reign. Ahab parallels this idea when he compares himself to
God as the lord over the Pequod. Melville furthers this idea through the dream
that Fedallah tells Ahab that causes Ahab to conclude that he is immortal. Secondly,
Ahab rejects God altogether for an alliance with the devil.
Ahab remains in collaboration with Fedallah, a character rumored by Stubb
to be the devil himself, and when Ahab receives his harpoon he asks that it be
baptized in the name of the devil, not in the name of the father. The
Whale as a Symbol of Unequalled Greatness:
Ishmael often describes the Sperm Whale as superior to all other creatures. He
tells how Louis XVI was devoted to whaling and thought of the whale as food only
for the most civilised. He also
tells of the Indian legends of Vishnu, the god who became incarnate in a whale.
Even when discussing the whale, he praises it for its features, devoting an
entire chapter to the whiteness of the whale, while degrading those artists who
falsely depict the whale. This suggests Ahab's quest against Moby Dick is doomed
to failure. Moby
Dick as a Part of Ahab:
Throughout the novel, Melville creates a relationship between Ahab and Moby Dick
despite the latter's absence until the final three chapters through the
recurrence of elements creating a close relationship between Ahab and the whale.
Ahab’s ivory leg is made from sperm whale bone.
Melville gives Ahab an uncanny sense of Moby Dick's presence and the idea
of the whale haunts poor Ahab. The
Contrast between Civilized and Pagan Society:
The relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael throughout Moby Dick generally
illustrates the prevalent contrast between civilized, specifically Christian
societies and uncivilized, pagan societies.
However, while Queequeg is uncivilized and appears fearsome, he is
actually honorable and civilized in his manner.
In this way, Melville shows how characters from a civilised and
uncivilised society are virtually identical. He
also adds that characters from both societies can be equally diabolical since
Ahab confers with Fedallah and
wants to temper his harpoon in the name of the devil with the blood of thee
pagan characters. The Sea as a Place of Transition and Stability: the sea represents a transitional place between two states. For example, Queequeg, Daggoo and Tashtego represent the transition from uncivilized to civilized society. Another transition is the precarious line between life and death. Queequeg prepares for death during his illness and even lies in his coffin, but later recovers. Also, the sea flows over the Pequod as it had for 5000 years before. Harbingers
and Superstition
suggest a tragic end to the story. Even before Ishmael boards the Pequod, Elijah
warns Ishmael and Queequeg against traveling with Captain Ahab. The Parsee,
Fedallah, dreams of hearses (although he misinterprets the dream to mean that
Ahab will certainly kill Moby Dick).
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