Herman Melville Works

HERMAN MELVILLE WORKS
MOBY DICK
PLOT
In Moby Dick, Ishmael tells the story of Captain Ahab and the white whale. Ahab, the
grizzled captain of the whaling boat the Pequod, has become obsessed with the white
whale that eludes him. Ahab's relentless pursuit of the whale results in tragedy.
 Ishmael joins the crew of the Pequod, a whaling ship helmed by Captain Ahab.
There, he befriends a fellow shipmate, Queequeg.
 Captain Ahab reveals that the white whale, Moby Dick, bit off his leg and that
this is why he has a peg leg. Ahab continuously seeks information from other
boats as to the white whale's location.
 In a deadly confrontation, the entire crew of the Pequod is killed except for Ishmael,
who lives to tell this story.
THEMES, MOTIFS & SYMBOLS
Themes
The Limits of Knowledge
As Ishmael tries, in the opening pages of Moby-Dick, to offer a simple collection of

literary excerpts mentioning whales, he discovers that, throughout history, the whale has
taken on an incredible multiplicity of meanings. Over the course of the novel, he makes
use of nearly every discipline known to man in his attempts to understand the essential
nature of the whale. Each of these systems of knowledge, however, including art,
taxonomy, and phrenology, fails to give an adequate account. The multiplicity of
approaches that Ishmael takes, coupled with his compulsive need to assert his authority
as a narrator and the frequent references to the limits of observation (men cannot see the
depths of the ocean, for example), suggest that human knowledge is always limited and
insufficient. When it comes to Moby Dick himself, this limitation takes on allegorical
significance. The ways of Moby Dick, like those of the Christian God, are unknowable
to man, and thus trying to interpret them, as Ahab does, is inevitably futile and often
fatal.
The Deceptiveness of Fate
In addition to highlighting many portentous or foreshadowing events, Ishmael’s

narrative contains many references to fate, creating the impression that the Pequod’s
doom is inevitable. Many of the sailors believe in prophecies, and some even claim the
ability to foretell the future. A number of things suggest, however, that characters are
actually deluding themselves when they think that they see the work of fate and that fate
either doesn’t exist or is one of the many forces about which human beings can have no
distinct knowledge. Ahab, for example, clearly exploits the sailors’ belief in fate to
manipulate them into thinking that the quest for Moby Dick is their common destiny.
Moreover, the prophesies of Fedallah and others seem to be undercut in Chapter 99,
when various individuals interpret the doubloon in different ways, demonstrating that
humans project what they want to see when they try to interpret signs and portents.
The Exploitative Nature of Whaling
At first glance, the Pequod seems like an island of equality and fellowship in the midst
of a racist, hierarchically structured world. The ship’s crew includes men from all
corners of the globe and all races who seem to get along harmoniously. Ishmael is
initially uneasy upon meeting Queequeg, but he quickly realizes that it is better to have
a “sober cannibal than a drunken Christian” for a shipmate. Additionally, the conditions
of work aboard the Pequod promote a certain kind of egalitarianism, since men are
promoted and paid according to their skill. However, the work of whaling parallels the
other exploitative activities—buffalo hunting, gold mining, unfair trade with indigenous
peoples—that characterize American and European territorial expansion. Each of the
Pequod’s mates, who are white, is entirely dependent on a nonwhite harpooner, and
nonwhites perform most of the dirty or dangerous jobs aboard the ship. Flask actually
stands on Daggoo, his African harpooner, in order to beat the other mates to a prize
whale. Ahab is depicted as walking over the black youth Pip, who listens to Ahab’s
pacing from below deck, and is thus reminded that his value as a slave is less than the
value of a whale.
Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts.
The Pequod
Named after a Native American tribe in Massachusetts that did not long survive the
arrival of white men and thus memorializing an extinction, the Pequod is a symbol of
doom. It is painted a gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones, literally
bristling with the mementos of violent death. It is, in fact, marked for death. Adorned
like a primitive coffin, the Pequod becomes one.
Moby Dick
Moby Dick possesses various symbolic meanings for various individuals. To the
Pequod’s crew, the legendary White Whale is a concept onto which they can displace
their anxieties about their dangerous and often very frightening jobs. Because they have
no delusions about Moby Dick acting malevolently toward men or literally embodying
evil, tales about the whale allow them to confront their fear, manage it, and continue to
function. Ahab, on the other hand, believes that Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that
is wrong with the world, and he feels that it is his destiny to eradicate this symbolic evil.
Moby Dick also bears out interpretations not tied down to specific characters. In its
inscrutable silence and mysterious habits, for example, the White Whale can be read as
an allegorical representation of an unknowable God. As a profitable commodity, it fits
into the scheme of white economic expansion and exploitation in the nineteenth century.
As a part of the natural world, it represents the destruction of the environment by such
hubristic expansion.
Queequeg’s Coffin
Queequeg’s coffin alternately symbolizes life and death. Queequeg has it built when he
is seriously ill, but when he recovers, it becomes a chest to hold his belongings and an
emblem of his will to live. He perpetuates the knowledge tattooed on his body by
carving it onto the coffin’s lid. The coffin further comes to symbolize life, in a morbid
way, when it replaces the Pequod’s life buoy. When the Pequod sinks, the coffin
becomes Ishmael’s buoy, saving not only his life but the life of the narrative that he will
pass on.
BILLY BUDD
SUMMARY
Billy Budd typifies the Handsome Sailor in his demeanor of moral goodness and grace.
A merchant seaman on the vessel the Rights-of-Man, he is removed from his ship by
Lieutenant Ratcliffe and pressed into service on board a British naval ship,
the Indomitable. (Several versions, including the Penguin Classics series, name the ship
the Bellipotent instead of the Indomitable.)
There he becomes a popular hero among his new shipmates, universally well-liked and
respected by all with the exception of the sinister master-at-arms, John Claggart. Billy
even becomes a favorite of Captain Vere, the commander of the Indomitable.
Claggart wrongfully accuses Billy Budd of participating in a mutiny plot and demands
that Billy answer to the charge. Billy is unable to defend himself verbally because of a
stammer. In angry frustration Billy suddenly strikes out at Claggart, stabbing him to
death.
It is Captain Vere’s sad duty to try Billy on the charges of murder and mutiny. Despite
his love for Billy, Vere’s first obligation is to the preservation of law and order.
Billy Budd is convicted by a drumhead court and sentenced to death. All hands on
board are summoned to watch the sentence carried out. As Billy is hanged, his last
words are “God Bless Captain Vere.”
Despite the fact that officially Billy is found to be guilty, his shipmates remember him
as a perfect example of moral goodness and innocence. His story becomes legend
among sailors, even being immortalized in a ballad, “Billy in the Darbies.”

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HERMAN MELVILLE WORKS

THEMES, MOTIFS & SYMBOLS

The Limits of Knowledge

As Ishmael tries, in the opening pages of Moby-Dick, to offer a simple collection of

The Deceptiveness of Fate

In addition to highlighting many portentous or foreshadowing events, Ishmael’s

The Exploitative Nature of Whaling

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