Herman Melville
Herman Melville (1819 –1891) was an American novelist,
essayist and poet. During his lifetime, his early novels were popular,
but his popularity declined later in his life. By the time of his death he
had nearly been forgotten, but his masterpiece, Moby-Dick (which
during his life was largely considered a failure, and responsible for
Melville's drop in popularity at the time), was "rediscovered" in the
20th century.
Moby-Dick is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville. It describes the
ill-fated voyage of the whaling ship Pequod to find and destroy the
eponymous white whale, driven by the obsessive Captain Ahab. The
language is highly symbolic and many themes run throughout the
work. The narrator's reflections, along with complex descriptions of the
grueling work of whaling and personalities of his shipmates, are woven
into a profound meditation on hubris, providence, nature, society, and
the human struggle for meaning, happiness, and salvation. Moby-Dick
is often considered the epitome of American Romanticism.
The novel was first published by Richard Bentley in London on 18 October 1851 as an
expurgated three-volume edition entitled The Whale, then as a single volume by Harper and
Brothers, as Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, in New York on 14 November 1851. Although the book
initially received mostly negative reviews, Moby-Dick is now considered to be one of the greatest
novels in the English language, and has secured Melville's reputation in the first rank of American
writers. The first line of the book ("Call me Ishmael") may be one of the most famous in American
literature. Interestingly, the titles of many of the chapters in the table of contents differ slightly
from the chapter-titles as they appear in the text.
The novel is dedicated to Melville's friend and literary mentor, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Historical Background
There were two factual occurrences that almost certainly inspired Melville's tale. One was the
sinking of the Nantucket whaling ship Essex, which foundered in 1820 after it was attacked by an
80-ton sperm whale 2,000 miles (3,700 km) from the western coast of South America. First mate
Owen Chase, one of eight survivors, recorded the events as the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary
and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. There was also a real-life albino sperm whale,
known as Mocha Dick, that lived near the island of Mocha off Chile's southern coast, several
decades before Melville wrote his book. Jeremiah N. Reynolds had written an account of Mocha
Dick's battle with a ship. Mocha Dick, like Moby Dick in Melville's story, escaped countless times
from the attacks of whalers, whom he would often attack with premeditated ferocity, and
consequently had dozens of harpoons in his back. Mocha Dick was eventually killed in the 1830s.
Thus, it seems highly probable that Melville used Mocha Dick as the basis for his book. It's been
suggested that Melville changed the name "Mocha" to "Moby" in 1846, four years before the novel
was published, after meeting an old South Seas shipmate, Richard Tobias Green. A familiar version
of Green's first names was probably Dick Toby, where Melville may have gotten Moby-Dick.
The third and perhaps most important element was Melville's experiences as a sailor, and in
particular on his voyage on the whaler Acushnet in 1841–1842. Melville left no other account of his
career as a whaler, so it is unclear how much of Moby-Dick was inspired by Melville's whaling
cruise.
The novel contains large portions that have nothing to do with the plot but are descriptive
chapters on aspects of the whaling business. Melville believed that no book up to that time had
portrayed the whaling business as he had first-handedly experienced it, or had done so in dry and
uninspired encyclopedic prose. Melville had been greatly influenced from an early age by Romantic
writers such as Sir Walter Scott, Washington Irving, Lord Byron and others. His intention was to
write a book that was compelling, emotionally and poetically vivid in the style of Romanticism, but
also educational and "true of the thing"—indeed it was believed among Romanticists of this period
that fiction was the ultimate vehicle for describing and recording history, such as many see film or
photos today.
Characters
Ishmael
Ishmael is the name the narrator of Moby-Dick gives for himself (the novel famously begins
with the sentence, "Call me Ishmael."). It is unclear whether or not this is his actual name, though
it is implied that it is an alias. A seasoned sailor but a newcomer to whaling, Ishmael is, at the end
of the novel, the only survivor of the destruction of the Pequod.
As a narrator, Ishmael's role varies widely. Initially, his is the only narrative, but after the
Pequod leaves port, he variously fades and comes back to full prominence, an oscillation that occurs
several times before the epilogue.
The name Ishmael stems from that of the first son of Abraham in the Old Testament. The
biblical Ishmael was born to Abraham's wife Sarah's slave Hagar and Abraham because he believed
his wife, Sarah, to be infertile; when she was granted a son (Isaac) by God, Ishmael and his mother
were turned out of Abraham's household. The name has come to symbolize orphans, exiles, and
social outcasts—in the opening paragraph of Moby-Dick, Ishmael tells the reader that he has
turned to the sea out of a feeling of alienation from human society. Ishmael has a rich literary
background (he has previously been a schoolteacher), which he brings to bear on his shipmates and
events that occur while at sea.
Ishmael resembles Melville in several ways (as well as the narrator of Melville's
White-Jacket). They are well-educated and reflective; Ishmael sees his shipmates as avatars of
human nature and society, and tells his story by couching it in a wealth of philosophical observation,
(largely occurring during sections in which Ishmael takes an almost-omniscient viewpoint,
conflating himself with his author).
Ahab
Ahab is the tyrannical captain of the Pequod who is driven by a monomaniacal desire to kill
Moby Dick, the whale to whom he lost his leg. Ahab believes he is fated to kill Moby Dick and lives
for this purpose alone. Ahab's name may be inspired by the biblical King Ahab, who was tempted by
his wealthy wife Jezebel to stray from worshipping God alone, just as Ahab was lured by the
material world into a quest which ultimately deprived him of his humanity.
Moby Dick
Moby Dick is a white sperm whale of extraordinary ferocity, but also possessed of ineffable
strength, mystery, and power. The color white is explored in the chapter "The Whiteness of the
Whale". It calls into question the meaning of the chapters on cetology. The whale clearly represents
many things, perhaps including nature, providence, fate, and God himself.
Melville spelled the whale's name without a hyphen, but used a hyphen in the title of the book.
Symbolism
All of the members of the Pequod's crew have biblical-sounding, improbable or descriptive
names, and the narrator deliberately avoids specifying the exact time of the events and some other
similar details. These together suggest that perhaps we should understand the narrator — and not
just Melville — to be deliberately casting his tale in an epic and allegorical mode.
Ahab's desire to pursue Moby Dick is contrasted with Starbuck's desire to run a normal
commercial whaling ship. It can be seen as the clash of idealism and pragmatism. The white whale
itself, for example, has been read as symbolically representative of good and evil, as has Ahab. The
white whale has also been seen as a metaphor for the elements of life that are out of our control, or
God.
The Pequod's quest to
hunt down Moby Dick
itself is also widely viewed
as allegorical. To Ahab,
killing the whale becomes
the ultimate goal in his life,
and this observation can
also
be
expanded
allegorically so that the
whale
represents
everyone's
goals.
Furthermore,
his
vengeance against the
whale is analogous to
man's struggle against fate.
The only escape from
Ahab's vision is seen
through
the
Pequod's
occasional encounters with
other ships, called gams.
Readers could consider
what exactly Ahab will do
if he, in fact, succeeds in
his
quest:
having
accomplished his ultimate
goal, what else is there left
for him to do? Thus, the
outcome of the quest is
irrelevant, and actually completing the journey is not the goal; the "thrill of the chase" is what is
important to Ahab. Similarly, Melville may be implying that people in general need something to
reach for in life, or contrariwise that such a goal can destroy one if allowed to overtake all other
concerns.
Ahab's pipe is widely looked upon as the riddance of happiness in Ahab's life. By throwing the
pipe overboard, Ahab signifies that he no longer can enjoy simple pleasures in life; instead, he
dedicates his entire life to the pursuit of his obsession, the killing of the white whale, Moby Dick.