The Leviathan's Portent and Cannibalism

            Throughout history the whale has meant several things to a multifarious sundry of cultures and societies. To some it was the mystic, picturesque beauty of the unknown and gave the seemingly infinite universe a graspable contour. To others it represented the ineffably wanton incarnate of the devil himself. “there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form” (Melville 204). Ahab’s decrepit rumination reveals the once again sublime ambiguity that lies in the back of his deranged psyche. Yet as all-consuming and inherently unwonted his monomania may appear, one might stumble upon the realization that the idea of such a rampant fear lurking about people’s minds is exactly what Melville is trying to evince with a seemingly soporific syntax.

          The inclusion of a sperm whale, albeit characteristically alabaster, defines the continually evolving notion of the man’s fear against the unknown because it treads between the haunting realism of killer, and the romantic caricature of a monstrous idea [Note: for a more detailed explanation of ambiguity refer to a previous prompt titled Melville’s Writing]. More than once has humankind struggled to chart out the endlessly recondite depths of life, whether it be the soul-sucking sea, carnivorous cannibals, or the rapacious ruthlessness of religion. “In the distance, a great white mass lazily rose, and rising higher and higher, and disentangling itself from the azure, at last gleamed before our prow like a snow-slid” (Melville 300). Here it’s descried that another seemingly unfathomable creature is eddying about the ocean’s temerarious waves. Yet soon the crew finds out the monster is a hellishly prodigious cephalopod proposed by some to be the whirlpool-generating Kraken. What specifically this might present for the forlorn future of Ishmael and his fellow mates is hard to pin-point, but one could proffer that it is a rather deleterious portent considering its violent associations with the Sperm whale. Then again, it would seem more likely that the Shakespearean author is attempting to uncover a much more subtle point; for example the viciousness of life itself.

          Employing several similes that include cannibalism, the eclectic writer has painted a portrait in which the average person can relate to; although, it seems the use of cannibalism is more metaphorical than literal. For example, the Quakers in Moby-Dick appear ready to preach love and charity, yet when the time comes for such amiable actions they instead turn on their listeners by attempting to cheat men like Ishmael out of a fair lay. In the same way savage islanders may enjoy the palatable dish they've cooked up, supposedly "Christian men" will anxiously turn to and fro waiting for the chance to stab and extort an innocent loggerhead.