The Double Narrative of Moby Dick I.

Introduction

Moby Dick: or, the white whale is a lengthy and complex novel written by Hermann Melville within between the 1850 and 1851. introduce The a

phenomenological

events

novel

first

peculiar character that asks to be addressed as Ishmael and who will function as the narrator throughout the novel; Ishmael

proceeds to narrate the way in which he joined a whaling voyage aboard a ship called the Pequod. After Ishmael boards the Pequod, he stops narrating his own story and proceeds to rehearse the story of a man obsessed with revenge against a mythic white whale called Moby Dick, which will eventually lead to the demise of almost chapters every single the man novel within are of the a ship. noumenal However, nature; several Ishmael

within

interrupts his phenomenological narration in order to introduce several dissertations about cetology and whale hunting. The

complexity of this split narration has vexed literary criticism, to the point in which some authors argue that the split

narration in the novel happens because Melville joins together two different novels written at different times, Ishmaels and Ahabs1. Thus, criticism argues that Moby Dick contains, if not

Barbour, James. The Composition of Moby-Dick in American Literature , Vol. 47, No. 3 (Nov., 1975), pp. 343-360. Published by: Duke University Press. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2925337

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two different novels, at least two distinct narrative lines, unified by a versatile narrator. This essay analyses the

characteristics of both narrative lines in order to prove that Ishmaels can be identified as a Tall Tale, and Ahabs as a Tragedy; and that it is precisely the way in which both narrative lines interact what makes the novel so unique and complex. II. Moby Dick as a Tall Tale

A Tall Tale is a folk tale seized by the activity of tall talk and constructed as a lie.2 In other words, a Tall Tale is an unbelievable story presented as a believable one, by means of tall talk, which is defined The as a narrative skill and us a

philosophical

stance.

teller

unerringly

bombards

with

pertinent hyperbole, artfully digresses, takes us in, draws us into the field of deception, and makes us at last complicit. 3 In order to create a Tall tale, usually the teller or narrator makes several digressions which, according to him are true; digressions that to the reader may seem subjective. In Moby Dick, Ishmael provides the reader with several discourses about the nature of whaling and whales in general, such as the chapter titled

Cetology, in which he gives a discourse of the particularities

Schmitz, Neil. Tall Tale, Tall Talk: Pursuing the Lie in Jacksonian Literature in American Literature , Vol. 48, No. 4 (Jan., 1977), pp. 471-491. Published by: Duke University Press. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2925215 Idem.

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of whales, but the language used in his dissertations, which seems to be scientific, does not correspond to the way in which the rest of the sailors speak. Furthermore, if the first chapter is to be believed, Ishmael is a sailor, and yet, the level of knowledge that he portrays within the novels seems to suggest that this strange figure is either lying about his origins or about the things he is discoursing upon, because it is difficult to believe that a sailor could gather the necessary knowledge to make a treatise on the grand divisions of the entire whale host.4 This, amongst other things, characterizes Ishmael as a mysterious character, a stranger that tells a subjective story. Paul Brodktorb, in his book Ishmaels White World says that:
Ishmael lies to us[]We are all in false

positions, his attitude seems to say; and it says this at the same time that it says that his false position, because it is consciously chosen in full awareness of the alternatives, is more responsible and therefore, perversely truer than the received and unexamined false positions of others.5

Ishmael, then, proposes a contradiction where his subjectivity and lies are objective; if Ishmael is an unreliable narrator that presents the subjective as objective, the reader must put
4

Melville, Hermann. Moby Dick: or, the white whale [kindle edition]. 24 de March de 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Moby-Dick-White-Whaleebook/dp/B004TRXX7C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digitaltext&ie=UTF8&qid=1339081481&sr=1-1. P.88

Brodtkorb, Paul (Jr.). Ishmael's White World: A Phenomenological Reading of "Moby Dick". Newhaven and London: Yale University Press, 1965.P. 125

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the whole narration in context and remember that Ishmael is a fictional character within a fictional world; in other words, the reader must remember that what he or she is reading is a novel. Thus, Ishmaels narrative line portrays a Tall Tale that has the effect of ensnaring the reader into Ishmaels own

perspective about whaling. III. Moby Dick as a Tragedy In single contrast, aspect and Ahabs of a narrative line embodies is a almost every of a a

tragedy.

Tragedy

spectacle and

constant

inevitable

relation

between

good

evil,

dramatic representation of a law of values6 in which its main character is presented with a choice that will either lead to his or her salvation or damnation, and this character, motivated by his passions and appetites, forsakes the good for himself and the others.7 This peculiar character is called the Tragic Hero. Also, according to Aristotle, the best of plots combine change of fortune (metabasis) with reversal (peripeteia) and discovery (anagnorisis).8 Ahabs story encompasses all of these elements. In the tragedy narrated within the novel, Ahab embodies the figure of the tragic hero. First of all, he is obsessed with killing Moby Dick, and he forsakes everything he has in order to
6

Myers, Henry Alonso. Tragedy: a view of life. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1965. P. 8 Id. P. 40 Id. P. 35

7 8

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achieve

his

goal.

As

Henry

Alonzo

Myers

says

in

chapter

dedicated to Moby Dick in his book Tragedy: a view of life, Ahab sailed for vengeance. Possessed by one inflexible purposeto destroy the white whale- he forgot both love of life and child and duty to his owners.9 Ahab knows what his duty is, and yet he forsakes everything he has in order to achieve his goal, which will condemn both him and his crew. Almost all of the narration of phenomena within Moby Dick is devoted to

characterize and describe Ahab as a tragic hero who has eyes exclusively for his own goal. Every single whale hunt, ship encounter portrays or interaction obsession; with he the is rest of to the hear characters Starbucks

Ahabs

unable

advice, help the Rachel captain to find his son, or board the Bachelor and be jolly. Instead, he forges and baptizes both in blood and thunder the harpoon which, according to him, will kill Moby Dick. It is up until the last chapters of the novel, in the climax of Ahabs narrative, where the tragedy consolidates. In just a couple of chapters, metabasis, peripeteia and anagnorisis are achieved. The change of fortune appears in the first two days spent pursuing Moby Dick; up until that point the Pequod had managed to kill successfully several whales without losing a single member of the crew, but when they finally start hunting the white whale, the boats are destroyed and the Parsee dies.
9

Id. P. 59

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Reversal appears when the Pequod is destroyed and Ahab dies; the Pequods and Ahabs only goal was to destroy the whale, and yet, the whale ends up destroying both of them, completely reversing the whole situation. At the same time, Ahabs discovery is

achieved. In his last words, Ahab says:

Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! From all your furthest bounds pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole forgone life, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hells heart I stab at thee; for hates sake I spit my last breath at thee.
10

Thus, Ahabs realization is that his quest was not to kill the white whale, but to die hunting it, to condemn himself and his crew to a terrible fate spurned by his ambition, his fatal flaw. IV. Conclusion if both stories within the novel follow different

Even

narrative lines, they are intertwined together thanks to several factors. The first one is the shared theme of whaling; both stories revolve around it in one way or another. Second, both stories share a single narrator that changes focus throughout the story; a metadiegetic narrator that functions within the novel
10

as

homodiegetic,

autodiegetic

or

heterodiegetic

Melville, Op. Cit. P, 373

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according to the circumstance being narrated, a narrator that identifies himself as Ishmael. Finally, the figure of the

epilogue within the novel gives both narrative lines cohesion. On one hand, the reader is tempted to believe the Tall Tale within the story because Ishmael survives apparently points out that Ishmael is a real character in Melvilles world. On the other, Ishmael, being the only survivor of the Pequods wreck, becomes the only one able to narrate Ahabs tale of vengeance and damnation. Both stories are complementary to the other;

without the narration of Ahabs tragedy, the tall Tale would have no background to trick the reader into believing Ishmaels lies, and without the Tall Tale, the mood achieved in the climax within Ahabs story would be diminished. Without both narrative lines, the reader would not experience the effect created by the alternation portray of tense, dramatic, and action-packed sedate chapters packed that with

Ahabs

tragedy,

slow,

ones

Ishmaels dissertations about a now forgotten activity, whaling.

V.
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Bibliography

Barbour, James. The Composition of Moby-Dick in American Literature , Vol. 47, No. 3 (Nov., 1975), pp. 343-360. Published by: Duke University Press. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2925337 Brodtkorb, Paul (Jr.). Ishmael's White World: A Phenomenological Reading of "Moby Dick". Newhaven and London: Yale University Press, 1965. Melville, Hermann. Moby Dick: or, the white whale [kindle edition]. 24 de March de 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Moby-Dick-White-Whaleebook/dp/B004TRXX7C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digitaltext&ie=UTF8&qid=1339081481&sr=1-1. Myers, Henry Alonso. Tragedy: a view of life. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1965. Schmitz, Neil. Tall Tale, Tall Talk: Pursuing the Lie in Jacksonian Literature in American Literature , Vol. 48, No. 4 (Jan., 1977), pp. 471-491. Published by: Duke University Press. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2925215

English Literature V, Final Essay Author: Christian M. Rudich de La Rosa

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