the ldeal of and the reality of america - 明治大学the ldeal of and the reality of america: ahab...
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The ldeal of and the Reality of America:
Ahab and the Images of Ancient Rome
in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
187
Toru Nishiura
One of Herman Melville's masterpieces, Moby-Dicl己waspublished in
1851. We can regard Chapter 41 of this novel,“Moby Dick" as one of the
core chapters of this work: the chapter title has the same as that of the
novel, and the chapter is filled with meaningful words. In Chapter 41,
the narrator, Ishmael lists the rumors about the white whale, Moby
Dick, and the information on the past of Ahab, the captain of the
Pequod. Moreover, Ishmael tries to unveil Moby Dick, and investigate
the mentality of Ahab. Preliminarily Ishmael remarks,“This is m uch ;
yet Ahab's larger, darker, deeper part remains unhinted" (185),1 and
then somewhat suddenly starts to narrate about the ruins of Rome. The
motive of this essay is to clear the image of ancient Rome in Chapter 41
of Moby-Dick. This essay tries to examine one of the characteristics of
Ahab, the relationship between him and the images of ancient Rome,
and explore the meaning of it. It seems that the passage on ancient
Rome in Chapter 41 has not been fully discussed yet. In this essay, 1 find
a new interpretation of Ahab.
In Chapter 41 of Moby-Dick, Ishmael's description of ancient Rome
is as follows:
Winding far down from within the very heart of this spiked Hotel
de Cluny where we here stand -however grand and wonderful,
now quit it; -and take your way, ye nobler, sadder souls, to those
188
vast Roman halls of Thermes; where far beneath the fantastic tow-
ers of man's upper earth, his root of grandeur, his whole awful es-
sence sits in bearded state; an antique buried beneath antiquities,
and throned on torsoes! So with a broken throne, the great gods
mock that captive king; so like a Caryatid, he patient sits, uphold~
ing on his frozen brow the piled entablatures of ages. Wind ye
down there, ye prouder, sadder souls! question that proud, sad king!
A family likeness! aye, he did beget ye, ye young exiled royalties;
and from your grim sir巴onlywill the old State-secret come. (185-
86)
The note of. the Norton edition of Moby-Dick explains that “this spiked
Hotel de Cluny" in quotation above is the “Medieval building in the
Paris Latin Quarter, built above two-thousand-year-old Roman ruins"
(157). As earlier studies on this passage, William B. Di11ingham, Richard
H. Brodhead, and John Wenke advocate theirowntheories.2 These theo・
ries, however, discuss the narrative of Ishmael or the consciousness of
Ahab in the chapter, and do not focus upon the image of ancient Rome.
In .his study, Exiled Royalties.. Melville and the Life We lmagine, Robert
Milder gives the main chapter,“Exiled Royalties" in which he also
treats the quotation above. In the chapter,“Exiled Royalties," Milder
picks out the words, the “nobler, sadder souls," the “exiled royalties," the
“captive king," the “spiked Hotel de Cluny," and the "root of grandeur,"
and says,“[Thomas] Carlyle had broached a similar idea in S,αrtor
Resartus when he declared that ‘in every the wisest Soul lies a whole
world of internal Madness, an authentic Demon-Empire; out of which,
indeed, his whole world of Wisdom has beeri creatively built together,
and now rests there, as on its dark foundations' does a habitable flowery
Earth-rind'" (98). In his book, Milder discusses Ahab in the “captive
king" passage, in the relationship with Romanticism and Romantics,
Carlyle, George Gordon Byron, and othersfrom the psyehological per-
spective, and Milder's wide-ranging study stimulates us to research
succeedingly. These are the preceding studies on Chapter41 of Moby-
189
Dick. This essay focuses upon the image of ancient Rome in the passage
in the relationship with Ahab, and it is a different point from the pre-
C巴dingstudies. In the passage quoted above, both the words and th巴
contents are quite difficult to understand and the passage does not
seem to fit in withthe context. Therefore, we can presume that Melville
intended to convey some important message to the readers. This essay
starts with the examination of the significant words in the quotation in
detail.
The phrase in the quotation above,“his root of grandeur, his whole
awful essence" seems to be the description of Captain Ahab. In that
part, Ishmael uses the metaphysical expression and it causes the readers
to be confused, but it is natural to think that Ahab is described here
because of the following phrase,“throned on torsos." In this novel, it is
repeatedly mentioned that Ahab is with one leg and therefore the “torso"
naturally reminds us of him. Moreover, when we see the phrases, the
“captive king" and the “proud, sad king," we remember Ahab again. In
Chapter 16,“The Ship," Ishmael explains that th巴nameof the Pequod's
captain,. Ahab is derived from the king in the First Book of Kings in the
Old Testament. In Chapter 30,“The Pipe," Ishmael cal1s Ahab who is
sitting on the chair which is made of whale bones as “a Khan of the
plank, and a king of the sea, and a great lord of Leviathans" (129).
Moreover, in .Chapter 34,“The Cabin-Table," the ordinary eating scene
of Ahab and his mates is described, and Ishmael cal1s Ahab as“King
Ahab" (150) because of his absolute authority on the ship. We can find
other parts where Ahab is compared to a king, and the image of a king
that Ahab has is emphasized repeatedly in thenove1. Thus, the passage,
“his root of grandeur, his whole awful essence sits in bearded state; an
antique buried beneath antiquities, and throned on torsos," describes
the important characteristics of Ahab.
To consider the relationship between Ahab and the Roman statue
in Chapter 41, let us refer to Chapter 28,“Ahab." In this chapter, the
narrator and concurrently one of the sailors of the Pequod, Ishmael de-
picts Captain Ahab who appears before him for the first time. ln the
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scene, Ishmael says,“His [Ahab'sJ whole high, broad form, seemed
made of solid bronze, and shaped in an unalterable mould, like Cellini's
cast Perseus" (123). In the same chapter, Ishmael states that“[sJo pow-
erfully did the whole grim aspect of Ahab affect me" and “Ahab stood
before them with a crucifixion in his face; in aII the nameless regal over-
bearing dignity of some mighty woe" (124). Thus, in Chapter 28, we
find sev巴ralwords that have the same meanings as ones in Chapter 41:
“[hJ is whole high broad form" and “his root of grandeur,"“the whole
grim aspect of Ahab" and “your grim sire,"“with a crucifixion in his
face" and “he patient sits," and “the nameless regal overbearing dignity
of some mighty woe" and “question that proud, sad king!" Therefore,
the characterization of Ahab in Chapter 28 helps us to confirm that the
Roman statue represents Ahab in Chapter 41.
There is a phrase,“the great gods mock that captive king" in the
quotation from Chapter 41. We can understand that this passage is on
Ahab more deeply by examining these words. The word,“captive" re-
minds the readers of Ahab's talk about Moby Dick in Chapter 36,“The
Quarter-Deck." In this chapter, he says,“How can the prisoner reach
outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale
is that wall, shoved near to me" (164) to the chief mate, Starbuck and
the readers. The “captive king" in Chapter 41 is identified as Ahab who
calIs himself “the prisoner." Moreover,“the great gods" in the “captivε
king" passage is related to the characteristics of Ahab, and also the
essence of the whole work. To interpret the “gods" in MelviIle's works,
let us refer to a study on Moby圃Dickand other works. In his discussion
onMoby♂ick, Arimichi Makino pays attention to the words of Hamlet
by WiIliam Shakespeare's Hamlet, "The time is out of joint" 0.5. 186),
and states the following opinion.
In other words,“the heavenly logic" that is to be the indicator of
persons' behavior has given the authority and the responsibility
into the hands of th巴“gods"who carry out God's will and interpret
it rationaIIy and arbitrarily on earth, clergymen, admirals Cdictato-
191
rial persons), lawyers, politicians, the persons who have priority to
common sense, and others, because “God" who originated “the heav-
enly logic" keeps silence. As a result,“God" and “the system of
God" have degenerated into the ones that reinforce the secular
power on earth which is greedy for “money."
This situation is the truth of the world which intuitive Shake-
speare who created Hamlet and Lear expresses by the words,“[tJhe
time is out of joint" and the truth of“America" from Melvil1e's point
of view. The Hamlet of America, Pierre tries to practice the original
doctrine of Christianity but is oppressed by the earthly power that
abuses Christianity, fails, and dies between “the heavenly time" and
“the earthly time." On the other hand, in his self-destructive strug-
gle, the Lear of America, Ahab suggests .that Heaven and earth are
severed but connected at the joint between them, that is,“the heav-
enly time" and “the earthly time" are out of joint, but they are con-
nected deceptively by the arbitrary interpretation by the “gods,"
the persons in power on earth who are agents of God, and it has
become the “wall" that makes the persons who pursue the truth
“prisoners." Therefore the deceitful phantom, Moby Dick that ap-
pears with its looks like an agent of God before Ahab inevitably
changes into “Leviathan," the monster that has abnormal features
and inside. (153-54)
If we check the situation where the “gods" become the wall that en-
closes Ahab and makes him a prisoner thus, we will find that Ahab and
the images of ancient Rome represent the chief theme of this novel.
We can see the relationship between Ahab and ancient Rome also
in other parts of Moby-Dicた Forexample, in Chapter 108,“Ahab and the
Carpenter," Ahab says,“1 am so rich, 1 could have given bid for bid with
the wealthiest Pratorians at the auction of the Roman empire" (472). In
Chapter 130,“The Hat," a sea hawk that is approaching the Pequod cir-
cles over Ahab, snatches his hat, and goes away. In this part, a king of
ancient Rome, Tarquin is compared with Ahab:“An eagle flew thrice
192
round Tarquin's head, removing his cap to replace it, and thereupon
Tanaquil, his wife, declared that Tarquin would be king of Rome" (539).
Moreover, in Chapter 87,“The Grand Armada," Ishmael says,“For a long
time, now, the circus.running sun has raced within his fiery ring, and
needs no sustenance but what's in himself. So Ahab" (381). In these
sentences, Ahab and ancient Rome are not related directly. However, in
just the prior paragraph, th巴 battlebetween Ahab and Moby Dick is
mentioned. therefore, when we read the quotation above, we evoke the
image in which Ahab and Moby Dick fight in the Colosseum in ancient
Rome. It seems that Melville hints of the Colosseum and an arena in
ancient Rome by the words,“circus" and “ring."g
In Moby-Dick, Ahab is compared and related to various persons and
things. The number of comparisons is large, and ιmoreover, w巴 still
might discover more new ones in our future studies. Therefore, here 1
willlist the comparisons that are relatively easy to find and understand.
The name, Ahab itself is derived from the king who appears from Chap-
ter 16 to 22 of the First Book of Kings as Captain Peleg and Ishmael
explain in Chapter 16 of Moby.Dick. In Chapter 31,“Queen Mab," Ahab
appears in Stubb's dream, the second mate of the Pequod, as “a pyramid"
(131), and in Chapter 44,“The Chart," Ishmael described old Ahab:“God
help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he
whose intense thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds
upon that h巴artfor ever; that vulture the very creature he creates"
(202). Moreover, in Chapter 99,“The Doubloon," Ahab looks at the coin
that is nailed to the mainmast of the Pequod, and says,
thing ever egotistical in mountain-tops and towers, and al1 other grand
and lofty things; look here, -three peaks as proud as L ucifer. The firm
tower, that is Ahab; the volcano, that is Ahab; the courageous, the un-
daunted, and victorious fowl, that, too, is Ahab; all are Ahab" (431). In
the dialogue between him and Starbuck in Chapter 132,“The Symphony仏"
Ahab calls himself,“Guinea-coast slavery of solitary command!" (543).
These comparisons seem to be meaningful severally, .and therefore we
are always given variable images of him. Among them, however, the
193
re1ationship between Ahab and ancient Rome is one of the issues that
we shou1d regard as most important, because Ahab is skillfully con-
nected with ancient Rome again and again as we have seen.
To exp10re the meaning of the connection between Ahab and an-
cient Rome, 1et us refer to Bartleby, a main character of Me1ville's short
story,“Bartleby, the Scrivener" that was published in 1853, on1y two
years after the pub1ication of Moby-Dick. Also in “Bartleby, the Scriv-
ener," we find some allusions to ancient Rome: The lawyer, the em-
ployer of Bartleby has a bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero in his office, the
main stage of the short story (21), and Bartleby is compared to Gaius
Marius in the ruin of Carthage (27-28). Inhis essay, Tsutomu Yasuda
ana1yzes such points and identifies Bartleby as an ancient Roman.
Yasuda states that in “Bartleby, the Scrivener,"“the images of ancient
Rome which Me1ville uses on purpose are not negative ones at all" (47),
and refers to one of Me1ville's lectures,“Statues in Rome." Then Yasuda
quotes,“Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!" (45), the narrator's cry uttered in
the end of this short novel, and concludes that“it seems that into the
words, Melvi11e put his praise for Bartleby who finishes his short life as
humanity 1ike a nob1e ancient Roman" CYasuda 49). In a series of
Me1ville's works, it is possib1e to regard Ahab and Bart1eby as the char-
acters of the same kind, because they have “the common points, the
alienation from the earthly socia1 system, the independent pursuit of
truth, and the rebellion against the phantomlike‘wall''' CMakino 141).
Therefore, as Bartleby who can be identified as an ancient Roman, it is
possible to consider that Ahab has the characteristics of ancient Rome.
To think of the relationship between Ahab and ancient Rome, 1et us
consult the record of“Statues in Rome," a 1ecture by Me1ville. He vis-
ited Rome in 1857, and saw various buildings and works of art CParker
324-27). In the same year, he went back to the United States, and of-
fered the lecture, "Statues in Rome" (Parker 349-73). Of course,“Statues
in Rome" is the manuscript of the lecture that the audience can under-
stand easily then and there. On the other hand, Moby-Dick is a long and
profound nove1 that includes metaphysical themes, persons and events
194
of a11 ages and countries, and Melville's great technique of writing. For
that reason, we might question whether we can trust the description of
“Statues in Rome" as a reference when we discuss Moby-Dick. On “Stat・
ues in Rome," however, William 1. Vancesays,“His [Mel ville司 unchar-
act巴risticsimplicity of faith and banality of statement may have owed
something to the popular genre he was attempting to master; yet one
cannot doubt that he fundamenta11y believed in his basic message,
which was simply in favor of a civilization that fosters the impractical
rewards of the beautiful" (363). Therefore, 1 think that we can trust
Melville's words in “Statues in Rome" though they are plain and might
seem to be slightly pretentious.
In the 1巴cture,Melvil1e states the significant theme that is common
to his most important novels. He offers his opinion on the statue of
Laocoon:
In a niche of the Vatican stands the Laocoon, the very semblance of
a great and powerful man writhing with the inevitable destiny
which he cannot throw off. Throes and pangs and struggles are
given with a meaning that is not withheld. The hideous monsters
embrace him in their mighty folds, and torturehim with agonizing
embraces. The Laocoon is grand and impressive, gaining half its
significance from its sym bolism -the fable that it represents; other-
wise it would be no more than Paul Potter's “Bear Hunt" at Amster-
dam. (403)
The characteristics of Laocoon in Melville's explanation above agree
with that of Ahab in Moby-Dick to a remarkable degree.“[T] he inevita-
ble destiny" of Laocoon reminds us of that of Ahab. In Chapter 134,
"The Chase -Second Day" of Moby-Dick, Ahab says to Starbuck,“This
whole act's immutably decreed. 'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a bil-
lion years before this ocean ro11ed. Fool! 1 am the Fates' lieutenant; 1
act under orders" (561). Laocoon who is “writhing with the inevitable
destiny which he cannot throw off" seems to be the motif of Ahab who
195
is“the Fates' lieutenant" and his acts have been “immutably decreed."
1n Moby-Dick, the description that implies that Ahab and the Pequod
have to submit to fate is repeated:“The hideous monsters" in the ac-
count of Laocoon's statue also can be identified with the white whale,
Moby Dick, and the situation where “[tJ he hideous monsters" torture
Laocoon is c10sely associated with that in which Moby Dick torments
Ahab.
Especially the image of the tied man,“[tJ h巴hideousmonsters em司
brace him in their mighty folds, and torture him with agonizing em-
braces" and Ahab seem to be crucia1. The imagery of tied Laocoon
reminds us of the “captive king" in Chapter 41 of Moby-Dick. 1n the
same paragraph of Chapter 41, the “torsoes" also can be associated with
tied Laocoδn in that both of them have lost the use of their limbs.
Moreover, they link to Ahab who has lost his leg, and the situation
which he is in: He says,“How can the prisoner reach outside except by
thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved
near to me" (164). Besides, the imagery of Laocoon looks similar to that
of the main characters in Melville's works except Moby-Dick.5 Thus, the
figure and the story of Laocoon seem to be ones of Melvi11e's important
things in his creative activity. Apart from that, in“Statues in Rome,"
there are several significant images that appear also in Moby-Dick as
this essay will discuss. From the above, it seems that Melville had the
idea of Laocoon when he created the character of Ahab in Moby-Dick.
Therefore, it is not unsuitable to refer to“Statues in Rome" when we
consider the images of ancient Rome and Ahab in Moby-Dick.
At the end of the lecture, Melville states that“[tJhese marbles, the
works of the dreamers and idealists of old, live on, leading and pointing
to good. They are the works of visionaries and dreamers, but they are
realizations of soul, the representations of the ideal. They are grand,
beautiful, and true, and they speak with a voice that echoes through the
ages" (408). The opinion of Melville is very helpful to understand the
description of ancient Rome in Chapter 41 of Moby-Dick. They have the
common point that both of them are explanations on the statue(s) of
196
ancient Rome, and moreover, we can find the words that have a similar
meaning in both ,d巴scriptions:“grandeur"and “grand." Through 'the
whole lecture,“Statues in Rome," Melville praises the statues of ancient
Rome considerably, therefore the statues of ancient Rome that are re・
lat巴dwith Ahab also can be regarded as thos巴thatMelville gave a posi-
tive meaning to.
In “Statues in Rome," Melville not only expresses his opinion about
the statues of ancient Rome, but tries to consider them in connection to
the world he lived in. For example, in this lecture, he takes up the
statue of Julius Caesar and explains that it “gives a countenance of a
businesslike cast that the present practical age would regard as a good
representation of the President of the New York and Erie Railroad, or
any other magnificent corporation" (400-401). About “the bust of
Seneca," Melville states that“[iJ t is ironlike and inflexible, and would
be no disgrace to a Wal1 Street broker" (401). If we remember the words
in the same lecture quoted above,“they [these marblesJ speak with a
voice that echoes through the ages" (408), we can acknowledge Melvi11e's
attitude that he tried to apply his idea on the statues o.f Rome into the
problems of the United States in the 19th century.6
There is another point to argue in “Statues in Rome" to clarify
Ahab and the images of ancient Rome in Moby-Dick. In the lecture, the
Colosseum is mentioned some times. For example, after he finished
conveying his idea on the statues, Melvi1le narrates that“[tJhus to un-
derstand the statues of the Vatican it is necessary to visit often the
scenes where they once stood -the Coliseum, which throws itsshade
like a mighty thunder cloud, the gardens, the Forum, the aqueducts. the
ruined temples -and remember all that has there taken place" (406-
407). From this passage, we would understand there was a close asso-
ciation between the statues and the Colosseum in Melville's mind. Con-
sidering this, in the part of Moby-Dick where Melvi11e mentions the
Colosseum, we can think that the statues of ancient Rome also are
hinted. This essay has pointed out that Ahab is compared to the statue
of Perseus by Cellini in Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick, and it has close
197
relationship to the statue of ancient Rome of Chapter 41 of the same
novel. Melville mentions the statue of Perseus also in his “Statues in
Rome." These matters make us think that the connection between
Ahab and ancient Rome is c10ser and more important.
Melvil1e published Moby心ickin 1851, and he gave his lecture,“Stat-
ues in Rome" in 1857; there is an interval of six years between them.
However, his attitude toward the statue of Ahab in Chapter 41 of Moby-
Dick and his view about the statues in “Statu師 inRome" have common
points as this essay has discussed. Furthermore, in 1853, between the
publication of Moby-Dick and the lecture of “Statues in Rome," Melville
published “Bartleby, th日Scrivener"in which ancient Rome has an inter-
esting meaning in the relationship with the main character, Bartleby as
well. If we take these things into account, it wil1 seem that Melvill巴's
thoughts about the statues of ancient Rome were consistent at least in
this period.
In Melville's lecture,“Statues in Rome," the statues and the United
States in the 19th century are connected, and described. On ancient
Rome and the United States in its early days, Vance says,“The Roman
Republic fi11ed the imagination of CJohn] Adams and [Thomas] Jeffer-
son during the same decades that American artists were first seeing the
actual ruins of the Empire" (xxiii). Moreover Vance states that“in the
first half of the nineteenth century more than a few senators saw them-
selves as successors of Cicero not only as orators but as supreme patri-
ots, the wise and eloquent saviors of their country in moments of crisis"
(17). Quoting these accounts, Konomi Ara explains in her essay on
“Bartleby, the Scrivener" as follows:
It is .no accident that the ancient world of Greece, Rome, and Egypt
appear in New York in “Bartleby, the Scrivener." The Republic of
America in its early days had abandoned its mother country, the
Kingdom of Great Britain, and had to establish a new nation. In
addition, it'was not permitted to be one that is similar to the King-
dom of Great Britain. It had to be a new country that would
198
certainly cherish a different ideal. It is difficult to form and carry
through a plan from nothing. The suitable models for them were
ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt that had been prosperous. (105)
We have already discussed the fact that Bartleby and Ahab have the
features of ancient Rome. When we read Moby-Dick, we are given the
impression that Ahab is a fanatical and dictatorial captain, but it also is
possible to consider that he embodies the ideal of the United States as
one of his various characters.
To discuss that, 1 will analyze the other part of Moby-Dick that de-
scribes Ahab. In Chapter 26 and 27,“Knights and Squires," Ishmael
introduces the tree mates of the Pequod, Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask, and
their harpooneers, Queequeg, Tashtego, and Dagoo. At the end of Chap-
ter 27 Ishmael explains about Ahab and all the sailors of the Pequod:
“An Anacharsis Clootz deputation from all the isles of the sea, and all
the ends of the earth, accompanying Old Ahab in the Pequod to lay the
world's grievances before that bar from which not very many of them
ever come back" (121). We can find “an Anacharsis ClootzjCloots depu-
tationjcongress" also in Melvi1le's other work, The Confidence-Mαn, His
Masquerade that was published in 1857. Paying attention to the words,
“an Anacharsis Cloots congress" (9) in The Confidence-Man, Shoko
Tsuji expresses her views:
In The Confidence-Mαn, the work whose stage is a steamship on the
Mississippi, Melvil1e shows us the "[nJatives of all sorts, and for-
eigners." The ship passengers are likened to “an Anacharsis Cloots
congress" (9), and that is an inter巴stingmatter to explore the link
between Melville and the race problem. The same comparison is
made in Moby-Dick, the work published five years prior to The Con-
fidence-Man, and in Billy Budd, Sailor that was written more than
twenty years after The Confidence-Man, and became his posthu-
mous work.“Anacharsis Cloots" is a Prussian nobleman who was
a real person in the period of the French Revolution. There were
199
persons who have various nationalities, and were driven into the
slum settlement. In the revolution, he took them in their folk cos-
tumes to the assembly, calling them the “embassy of the human
race." He demanded solidarity with these people of various coun-
tries, and the demand was approved. In summary, Melville seems
to use the metaphor,“an Anacharsis Cloots congress" as the symbol
of a group in which not only there are different races and. nationali-
ties, but all members are united on a basis which goes beyond rac巴s,
and are truly equal. Moreover we see how long Melville continued
to have an interest in the coexist巴nceof p巴oplewho had different
nationalities and races because we can find the metaphor in his
three works that were written at different periods. (17)
If Ahab in Moby-Dick has the characteristic of Cloots, we can presume
that Melville put the ideal of the human race into Ahab. Of course,
Cloots himself has nothing to do with ancient Rome. However, if Ahab
has the features of Cloots that represent the ideal of mankind, the as-
sumption that Melville hints at the ideal of the United States in the
description where ancient Rome and Ahab are connected will be rein-
forced.
In other parts of Moby-Dick, we can recognize the ideology that
Ahab represents, a kind of the ideal of the United States. On Ahab and
the harpooneers of the Pequod who are different races from him, Yukiko
Oshima gives her opinion:
There is rapport between harpooneers and Ahab, who knows the
racial Others in their Native settings; he has “been in colleges, as
well as among the cannibals" (79). Shortly after the quarter-deck
speech, reversing the ship's otherwise rigid hierarchy as well as
racial strata, Ahab makes the reluctant white mates serve the
harpooneers as “cup-bearers to my three pagan kinsmen there-yon
three most honorable gentleman and nobleman, my valiant har-
pooneers" (166). The harpooneers, in turn, have been faithful to
200
Ahab; even when the others come to fear the captain's growing mad-
ness,“a certain magnetism shot into their [iム theharpooneers']
congenial hearts from inflexible Ahab's" (518), and when Ahab
later “seemed distrustful of his crew's fidelity; at least, of nearly all
except the Pagan harpooneers" (538). (256-57)
The characteristics of Ahab cited above overlaps with the one which is
hinted in the description of ClootzjCloots: Both of them represent the
unity beyond the racial differences. Therefore, the portrayal of Ahab
and the harpooneers also supports the theory that Ahab embodies the
ideal of the United States.
We have seen the connections between Ahab and ancient Rome,
ancient Rome and the ideal of the United States that Melville dreamed,
and Ahab and the ideal of the United States in the 19th century. As we
have discussed, these three matters are mingled with each other in
Moby-Dick and appeals to the readers. It seems that the view that Ahab
embodies ancient Rome can be applied to the episode of Narcissus in
Chapter 1, "Loomings" of Moby♂ick. 1n this chapter 1shmael talks on
Narcissus:“And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who
because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the
fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we
ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. 1t is the image of the ungraspable
phantom of life; and this is the key to it all" (5). 1t is not difficult to
regard Ahab as a transformed Narcissus in this chapter. Ahab also
continues to pursue the white whale, Moby Dick and finally drowns in
the last chapter. Then Moby Dick can be seen as the figure of Ahab in
the surface of the water as Motoyuki Shibata says (19), and we can
think that both of them are the same thing. In this essay, we have dis-
cussed the “gods" in Moby-Dick,“the truth of‘America'" that the “gods"
rule, and the fact that“the truth of ‘America'" becomes the white whale,
Moby Dick and encJoses' Ahab as the wall (Makino 153-54). If Moby
Dick represents an aspect of America, Ahab, the originally same exis-
tence as Moby Dick also can be considered as the other aspect of
201
America. The other aspect is ancient Rome that this essay has dis-
cussed, the ideal of America.
The name of Ahab's ship, the Pequod is very suggestive and many
critics have discussed it. Laurie Robertson-Lorant clearly states the
significance of the ship's name and the association between it and the
background in which Melville wrote Moby-Dick:
The Pequod sports ghoulish trophies of whale hunts, and her name
evokes the Pequot War, in which aboutfive hundred men, women,
and children of the P巴quottribe were exterminated. She is “a can-
nibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in the chased bones of her
enemies." Her tiller is fashioned from the jawbone. of a whale, and
her owners interview prospective crew members in a makeshift
office that looks like a wigwam. Such associations make it plain
that Moby-Dick serves as Melville's attempt to redeem America's
blood-guilt by writing New World history “the other way" -a way
that conflicts with Puritan histories like Cotton Mather's Magna[i,α
Christi A mericαnα, with the heroic legends about Melville's own
grandfathers, with the jingoistic stump speeches his brother
Gansevoort made for the Democratic Party in 1844, and with the
racist legal system Judge Shaw was forced to uphold after the Com欄
promise of 1850. (281)
As Robertson-Lorant insists, it is certain that Melville wrote the history
.of America the other way and it was one of his greatest concerns in his
writing Moby-Dick. Therefore it is also probable that he used the same
technique in other descriptions in this work. 1t seems that he presents
the association between Ahab and ancient Rome in the same intention
as the name of Ahab's ship and that of the extinct Native American
group. As the history of Pequotjthe Pequod is“the other way" of “writ-
ing New World history," ancient Rome, the ideal of the New World
seems to represent another possibility of America that Melville sug-
gests.
202
It is not difficult to think that Ahab partIy represents another
phase of the United States, because in Moby-Dick, he is narrated with
the things that ar倍 associatedwith America several times. In Chapter
117,“The Whale Watch," in the conversation between Ahab and
Fedallah, the Parsee who is a crew of Ahab's boat, Fedallah says,“ButI
said, old man, that ere thou couIdst die on this voyage, two hearses
must verily be seen by thee on the sea; the first not made by mortal
hands; and the visible wood of the last one must be grown in America"
(499). The words of Fedallah realize in Chapter 135,“The Chase -Third
Day." At the last and fierce battle between the Pequod and Moby Dick
in the last chapter, the white whale attacks the ship, and the damaged
ship is going down. At the moment, Ahab sees his ship and understands
the words of F巴dallahin Chapter 117:‘“The ship! The hearse! -the
second hearse!' cried Ahab from the boat;‘its wood could only be
American!'" (571). The significant prophecy of Fedallah that comes
true later draws the readers' attention and makes them think about its
meaning. From the ship that is made of American wood, we conjecture
the relationship between America and Ahab, the captain of the ship. In
these account, Melville might have tried to convey the hint that Ahab
has the characteristics of“America."
In this essay 1 quoted the passage in which the eagle takes Ahab's
hat in Chapter 130 of Moby-Dick to emphasize the relationship between
Ahab and ancient Rome. The eagle impressively and symbolically ap-
pears again in this work. In the last scene of the last chapter, when the
Pequod is sinking,“[a] sky.hawk" (572) again approaches the ship.
Then the bird's wing is accidentally hit by the hammer of Tashtego
who is also sinking with the Pequod, and the bird goes to the bottom of
the sea as welI. Carolyn L. Karcher makes a comment on the bird:
“Appropriately, the Pequod goes down with that primal American,
Tashtego the Indian, nailing her flag to the mast and capturing in its
folds the bird that symbolized America's expansive ambitions -the sky-
hawk, or eagle" (89).7 Also in this scene, we see the relationship be-
tween the United States and Ahab, that is, the conflict between the
203
reality of America of those days and Ahab, his ship,“the Pequod," and a
“primal American, Tashtego."8
This essay does not simply intend to emphasize that Ahab repre-
sents the ideal of the United States. In the last chapter of Moby-Dick, the
Pequod sinks and Ahab and a11 the crewmen also go under except
Ishmael at the end of the three day battle. Ahab dies, and therefore we
cannot totalIy glorify him. Of course, fundamentally, Ahab is a tyrant
and insane as told in this work repeatedly. Then, what idea did MelviIIe
put into the death of Ahab? Let us refer to Melville's lecture,“Statues
in Rome" again. In this lecture, he says,“Governments have changed;
empires have fa11en; nations have passed away; but these mute marbles
remain-the oracIes o[ time, the perfection of art" (408). Ahab passes
away, but MelviIle does not seem to present his death negatively. In
“Epilogue" which foIlows after the last three chapters, Ishmael who “did
survive the wreck" (573) narrates the sinking of th巴Pequodand his
drifting. In the beginning of “Epilogue," he quotes the passage of the
01d Testament,“And 1 only am escaped alone to teIl thee" Oob 1. 16).
Thus the readers come to know the story of Ahab and the Pequod
through the narrator, Ishmael as people who appreciate ancient Rome
through the statues. We can regard the work, Moby-Dick and the mar-
bles of ancient Rome are of the same kind in that both of them speak to
us about the glorious aspect of persons who perished.
As stated above, in Moby-Dick, Ahab is sometimes described in con-
nection with ancient Rome. Especia11y in the part of Chapter 41 where
Ishmael says,“the great gods mock that captive king" (185), the words,
the “captive king" embodies the essence of Ahab's role in this novel. In
other words, the white whale, Moby Dick personifies “the great gods"
who “mock" Ahab, the “captive king" and the whale represents the “wa11"
that encIoses him. In MelviIle's short story,“Bartleby, the Scrivener,"
Bartleby and ancient Rome are connected in some descriptions. There-
fore it is not unlikely that Ahab who has some important common
points with Bartleby also possesses the features of ancient Rome. In
view of the episode on Narcissus in Moby-Dick and ancient Rome that
204
was one of the ideals of the United States, it seems that MelviIIe created
Ahab as the character who represents the ideal of the United States that
is opposed to the reaIity of the United States that Moby Dick embodies.
Notes
• The earlier version of this paper was presented at the 51st General Meeting of the American Literature Society of Japan'on October 13,2012, at Nagoya Uni-versity, Nagoya.
1 In this essay, th8 quotations from Moby-Dick are from thc Northwestern-Newberryedition,
2 See Dillingham 8-9, Brodhead 190, and Wenke 134-35.
3 Dennis Berthold also quotes the words,“1 could have given bid for bid
with the wealthiest Pratorians at the auction of th巴 Romanempire,"
“Tarquin," and “Cellini's cast Perseus" (Melville, Moby-Dick 472, 539, 123),
and discusses the relationship between Ahab and ancient Rome (118-31). However, Berthold focuses upon the point that Ahab is an authority,
therefore his view is different from the argument of this essay.
4 In the same chapter, Chapter 134, Ishmael d巴pictsthe destiny that pursues Ahab and the Pequod:“The hand of Fate hadsnatched all their souls" (557). Except Chapter 134, we can find the fate that attends Ahab and the
Pequod in Chaptcr 41 (187) and Chapt巴r132 (545).
5 In the following work after Moby-Dick, Pierre; 0れ TheAmbiguities, we can
find th巴sameimage as Laocoon. In Book XXV of Pierre,“Lucy, Isabel, and
Pierre; Pierre at His Book; Enceladus," the hero, Pierre sees Enceladus, a
giant in his dream. His dream, however, reaches a strange conclusion:
“Pierre saw Enceladus no more; but on the Titan's armless trunk, his own duplicate face and features magnifiedly gleamed upon him with prophetic discomfiture and woe" (346).
6 Other critics also have observ巴dthis point. Vance says,“Melville next applies the experienc巴 ofideal beauty and truth to the America-in-
progress. Americans are attempting to build a utopia according to some
false and naive ideal of their own, he implies, while th巴 utopiaof the an-cients was exprcss巴dmore wis巴lywhere it could actually be realized -in
ideal art" (364). Yasuda remarks that“intcrestingly, Mclville praises the
virtue of the ancicnt Romans simultaneously with his trenchant criticism on the Christians of the mid-19th century" (47).
7 Except Karcher, Charles H. Foster, Alan Heimert, and Yukiko Oshima regard the bird as the symbol of the United States. See Foster 33, Heimert
504, 507-508, and Oshima 258.
8 Yukiko Oshima points out the close association between Tashtego and
205
Ahab especially in the scene of the sinking Pequod in the last chapter. She says,“The text's racial undertone reverberates in the way Tashtego's sense of victimization and motivation for vengeance overlaps those of Ahab" (257-58) and "Tashtego does what Ahab would have done by him-self had that been possible" (258).
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