Moby Dick - Historical and Mythological References

In Moby Dick, Herman Melville alludes to many ancient and historical texts in order to harness the power and meaning behind these stories to further the reader’s understanding of the character Ishmael and the story surrounding his narrative as an unwitting participant in Ahab’s revenge mission to catch Moby Dick. This is never more prevalent than in Melville's first chapter and introduction to Ishmael. It is here that Melville sets up the story and what the reader needs to understand about the values and character behind the narrator of the coming chronicle. We learn Ishmael’s desire for sailing and specified curiosity and interest in whaling, as well as many of the little day to day annoyances and thoughts Ishmael has when upon land. Ishmael presents as a misanthropic person. He views the world through a grim perspective that relies on references to the tragedies, deaths, and evils of Roman and Greek mythology and philosophy and the Bible. With Ishmael as our narrator, we as readers are forced to view the book’s events through Ishmael’s eyes, and his references create a mood and atmosphere of desolation and decay that characterize his strange, enigmatic relationship with the ocean.

The first biblical allusion that appears is that of Ishmael’s name, which serves to reveal the character’s sense of independence and isolation. In the Bible, Ishmael isAbraham’s first son and who is banished and disinherited by his family after the birth of his half brother Issac. The name Ishmael suggests no family, solitude, and rejection. Our narrator Ishmael is not so different, he shows independence and a lack of empathy towards others. He does not like to rely on others to keep him steady, instead he solely relies on himself; he is neither passenger nor captain, “I abominate all honorable respectable toils, trials, and tribulations of every kind whatsoever. It is quite as much as I can do to take care of myself, without taking care of ships, barques, brigs, schooners, and whatnot.” (5)

Other historical allusions within the narrative function as a means to reveal Ishmael’s true motivations and intentions. Melville's next reference is that of the Roman senator Cato the Younger, known for his opposition to Julius Caesar and story of his death. In response to the change in government led by Caesar, Cato had attempted suicide by stabbing himself with his own sword, only to fail and die a painful and slow death. Ishmael relates himself to Cato stating, “With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship.” (3) Melville is not only setting up the story to be filled with death and tragedy, but also reflecting the similarities between Ishmael and Cato and how Ishmael views his journey at sea. While Cato “throws himself upon his sword” Ishmael instead “quietly take[s] to the ship”, the allusion’s parallelism indicating that Ishmael views his trip as a way to kill himself and escape from the natural world. Ishmael’s voyage is his rejection of the world; while Cato was outwardly radical, Ishmael is outwardly meek, yet he harbors radical, dangerous thoughts and feelings under the surface. 

Ishmael relies heavily on Greek mythology in his reflections on the meaning of water and the ocean as a way to indicate his sense that the ocean is mystical, not bound by space or time. Ishmael is entranced by the ocean, and yet, his allusions also reveal his belief in the ocean’s destructiveness and almost human-like appetite for chaos. Ishmael reflects on humans’ projections of their own desires and emotions onto an otherwise indifferent ocean with his reference to Narcissus. The story of Narcissus is another of selfishness and tragedy. Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in the water after a day of hunting, as if it were another’s face. Unable to pull himself away from the appeal of his reflection, and his reflection unable to reciprocate Narcissus’ feelings of love, Narcissus kills himself, and his body is melted into a flower of white and gold. Ishmael notes that most people can relate to this sense of selfishness, “but that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans” (5), yet many, like Narcissus, do not understand the power of this inner demon: “it is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.” (5) The ungraspable phantom is more than human life and mind, but also Ishmael’s version of the ocean. His version of the ocean is everlasting, complex, and mysterious. He compares this to the many feebles or weaknesses of the human mind, from depression and suicide to peace and rebirth. The brain is capable of much, yet like the sea, it is uncontrollable, radical, and destructive. Ishmael’s choice of historical and mythological allusions that involve suicide foreshadow a tragic ending of death and self-destruction and create a sense of dread in the readers who are likely familiar with the doomed outcomes of these classic tales.