4B. Moby-Dick (1851), Chs. 8-11

The clip above is from the film Moby Dick (1956), directed by John Huston.
Father Mapple is played by Orson Welles.

From Moby-Dick (1851) by Herman Melville

Click here for the full text.

Also recommended:  this audio reading of Chapter 9 by Simon Callow.

And this audio reading of Chapter 10 by Stephen Fry. 

Jonah: Mapple's intent and Melville's

• Was … the story of Jonah purposely chosen to remind these men setting sail soon for whaling to do the right thing or suffer consequences?
  
  
• Being that the entire chapter consists of Father Mapple recounting a biblical anecdote of [Jonah] out on the sea, Melville seems to be illustrating that Ishmael’s ocean journey will be a deeply religious, meaningful quest as if Ishmael is fulfilling God’s orders.

Aesthetics: Polyphony (Many voices)

• Father Mapple is a great story teller, probably owing to his time on the sea. Melville could have summarized what Father Mapple said, but he chose to include every word to emphasize the importance that story telling held while at sea.
  
  
• I also find it endearing that [Mapple] calls the congregation collectively “shipmates.” He relates to them through this reference.

Ishmael's Response to Mapple's Sermon?

• After hearing a sermon from a seemingly pious man, Ishmael then becomes closer with Queequeg, becoming more acquainted with his “idolatrous” religion. As Ishmael defends participating in this idolatry with the golden rule of doing unto others what you would have them do to you, it seems reminiscent of Jonah who shied away from telling an idolatrous people the error of their ways.
• the parallels between the sermon . . .  and Ishmael’s inner thoughts and experiences with Queequeg are astounding and rather thought provoking. For instance, there are several things that could be said to have a homo-erotic theme underlying them within this passage from comments Ishmael makes about being Queequeg’s "bed-fellow" to directly stating they are "married," or on their "honeymoon;" and yet, it is the moment in where Ishmael attends to Queequeg’s "idolatry" in order to serve him as he would have himself served, that intimacy abounds. This parallels heavily with the chaplains' sermon about Jonah, wherein he states that “Woe to him who would not be true, even though to be false were salvation” (Melville)
  

Question for consideration: Is Mapple the kind of "enlightened" thinker who would argue that God's commandments are subtle and situational and that Ishamel's "worshipping" Queequeg's idol is justified under the circumstances?

Ishmael, Queequeg, Melville, and Christianity

• It seems like one reason for the novel could be to mock religion.
• Ishmael . . . asks questions like “What is worship?” and “What is the will of God?” (53). In these questions, Ishmael begins to ponder why a forgiving God would smite an insignificant human venerating an equally unimportant piece of wood.

Note:  Some readers felt that Ishmael's questions and conclusions were blasphemous, since Exodus 20.3-5 says "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto these any graven image, or any likeness of anything in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the dearth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." According to literary scholar Herschel Parker, "More than any other single factor besides for the lack of an international copyright law, Melville's defiance of the religious press cost him his career as a writer" (Moby-Dick, Third Norton Critical Edition, 53).

• Ishmael sees through Queequeg’s outward appearance and into his “honest heart” in Chapter 10, which I thought to be such a wholesome turning point for him. He even seems to admire Queequeg’s supreme independence; “He made no advances whatever; appeared to have no desire to enlarge the circle of his acquaintances. All this struck me as mighty singular; yet, upon second thoughts, there was something almost sublime in it.” (Melville, Ch. 10).  Ishmael seems to be drawn to Queequeg’s lack of corruption in the world that Ishmael lives in; a world of Christian hypocrisy and “hollow courtesy[.]” Queequeg does not hide behind false religion or empty kindness, instead, he is a genuine person, despite his appearance and the fact that he is a cannibal. (389)
• Ishmael at one point [compares] Queequeg to the first American president, “Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed.” (52). Although Ishmael was initially referring to Queequeg’s forehead and how it resembled Washington’s, there does lie some subtext in this relation. Ishmael is clearly starting to see Queequeg in a more human way, though he has not fully seen past his appearance.
• This image made me think that although Ishmael thinks they have similar features, that to him, Queequeg has somehow made it out to be an inspiring figure rather than the mysterious cannibal that would happily murder him in bed. The shift in emotion towards this character is both admirable and frightening due to the fact that it was one simple thing that made his [attitude] change . . .
• “[Ishmael] makes typical comments about Queequeg being a savage, but then he says “You cannot hide the soul. Through all his unearthly tattooings, I thought I saw the traces of a simple honest heart…” (51)
• Ishmael also decides that he prefers Queequeg’s companionable silence to the “bland deceits” of disingenuous small talk with other people, and decides “I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy.”
• This is the second time Ishmael has told the audience he preferred Queequeg to a Christian, a sentiment that would be a great shock to the audience of Melville’s day.

Homoeroticism, Homosociality, Humor and Authorial Intent

• Up to this point, I have avoided writing about the sexual tension between Ishmael and Queequeg, but these chapters have forced my hand. Chapter 10, titled "A Bosom Friend," focuses on the blossoming friendship between Ishmael and Queequeg. There is a moment between Ishmael and Queequeg where Ishmael says, "[Queequeg] made out to ask me whether we were again to be bedfellows. I told him yes; whereat I thought he looked pleased, perhaps a little complimented." This moment may just depict the close bond between sailors, but the motif of sharing a bed, occurring in earlier chapters and now again, seems to point to a particular kind of bond between sailors, if you know what I mean. Chapter 10 ends with Ishmael telling the reader, "Thus, then, in our hearts' honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg—a cosy, loving pair." Whether or not the intention of this relationship is romantic, itis hard to ignore the subtle undertones of kindling love.
•  I was very surprised to start picking up on the homoerotic theme that I could not see before. In chapter 11, Ishmael seems to be realizing his feelings-whatever they maybe-for Queequeg, saying, “I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt a melting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had redeemed it” (52). Ishamel is saying that Queequeg has literally melted his heart, made it tender again. His use of the name “soothing savage” seemed to come from a sweet place in his heart, as a term of endearment. One can tell that he strongly admires Queequeg. Then, not long after, Ishmael and Queequeg are sitting in bed with each other smoking, when Queequeg suddenly grabs Ishmael. “He pressed his forehead against mine,clasped me around the waist, and said that henceforth we were married; meaning, in hiscountry’s phrase, that we were bosom friends;” (53). This interaction was very intimate and meaningful to both Ishmael and Queequeg. Though it was not a traditional marriage by any means, they were still married as Queequeg had said. Although Melville uses the word “friend,” it is evident that he means much more than that.


• Ishmael is bashful, observed in lines such as, “Whilst I was thus closely scanning him, half-pretending to be looking out at the storm from the casement,” offering the readers a boyish dance of introductions. There is a deep affection present between them, an intellectual one especially within Ishmael, who disregards his previous disliking for Queequeg’s smoking in the bed they share, as he casts this reservation aside, noting, “yet see how elastic our stiff prejudices grow when love once comes to bend them. For now, I liked nothing better than to have Queequeg smoking by me, even in bed, because he seemed to be full of such serene household joy then.” In such lines, Ishmael is softened, he is characterized not as a hardened man en-route to sail with nothing more about him than a search for monetary gain or rights to boast, or a confident heart who knows all that can be known, but as a man on a journey of varying degrees, whose eye is kind and curious, begging each vessel he encounters to offer him a token of knowledge, or softness.

•       “Considering how socially we had been sleeping together the night previous, and especially considering the affectionate arm I had found thrown over me upon waking in the morning, I thought this indifference of his very strange.”

•       “Wild he was; a very sight of sights to see; yet I began to feel myself mysteriously drawn towards him.”

•       “… then, in our hearts’ honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg – a cosy, loving pair.”

•       “Be it said, that though I had felt such a strong repugnance to his smoking in the bed the night before, yet see how elastic our stiff [prejudices] grow when love once comes to bend them.”

Ishmael's Own Identity

• . . . I was interested when Ishmael said, "I have a way of always keeping my eyes shut, in order the more to concentrate the snugness of being in bed. Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part." Ishmael has a habit of fading into dissociative states of consciousness. In light of his earlier mentioned sadness, Ishmael has probably had a rough start in life. His beginning line, "Call me Ishmael," might be his way of starting fresh. A fresh identity for a fresh start.