Herman Melville (1819-1891)Herman Melville (1819-1891)

Introductory Notes

Compiled by M. Wheeler

Rozakis, Laurie E. Ph.D. American Literature.

Alpha Books: New York, 1999.

BiographyBiographyBorn into a wealthy family, but his

father blew all the money and left his wife to raise Herman and 10 brothers and sisters.

Melville forced to quit school and help support family.

Tried teaching at age 18—failed. Spent five years on a British merchant ship.

1841, severed ties with mother and set sail for the Pacific aboard a whaling ship

BiographyBiography1841-1844—Roamed South Seas on a

whaling ship. Spent time on South Seas islands

with cheerful natives who turned out to be cannibals. . .escaped to Tahiti and then to Hawaii. Eventually returned home and began writing about his adventures.

Published Typee and Omoo, novels of cannibal banquets and nubile slave girls. The public and reviewers LOVED them!

BiographyBiographyMelville wanted to write about more

serious themes and ideas. Published Mardi, which turned off his fans. Returned to the hula girls in Redburn and White Jacket.

During this period, he enjoyed great financial success and popularity

1850—Announces to friends that he has a novel “broiling in the hellfire of my brain. . .” This was to become Moby Dick.

BiographyBiographyMoby Dick was a critical and commercial failure.Only Melville’s good friend and neighbor Nathaniel

Hawthorne, gave it a favorable review. As far as the reading public was concerned, his

career was over. Melville never again ventured into literary

marketplace.Took a job for $4.00 a day as a U.S. Customs

inspector.Died in total obscurity in 1891 In early 20th century, people began to recognize

Melville as a symbol of artistic integrity. By mid 20th century, his novels, short stories, and poems were celebrated as among the best in American literature and Moby Dick is considered by many to be one of the finest examples of the novel.

Moby DickMoby DickOriginally, Melville wrote Moby Dick to

exploit his whaling adventures. Eventually, he used it as a means to seek ultimate truth and to peer into human nature.

Second great American symbolic novel. (Can you guess the first?) Published same year. . .The Scarlet Letter

Book was a total commercial and critical failure. Was not recognized as an important work until the 1920’s

Melville as anti-Melville as anti-TranscendentalistTranscendentalistIn Nature, Emerson suggests that

nature provides one message for all: beauty and inspiration. Melville felt that human beings decipher what they want from nature according to their own psychology.

Melville believed fall of mankind prevented us from ever knowing the truth of God’s mysteries.

Humans are always flawed and fallen. People’s natures prevented them from

ever knowing divine truths.

Moby DickMoby Dick

Protagonist: Ishmael—narrator. Compassionate and intelligent

Antagonist: Captain Ahab. Crazed, one-legged hero-villain whose defiant quest for revenge drives the story.

Starbuck: First mate who fights the destiny Ahab has carved out for him.

Queequeq: A huge cannibal

Stubb: Average Joe Sailor. Not much brains, but handy

Flask: a materialistic blockhead

Pip: Little black cabin boy

Captain AhabCaptain AhabModeled after

following:◦ Faust—sold soul to the

devil for power and knowledge

◦ Prometheus—stole fire from the gods

◦ Icarus—aspired to fly but wings melted when too close to sun

◦ Satan—fallen angel cast out of heaven for defying the will of God.

All over reached—all aimed for something sinful and failed. All punished.

Moby DickMoby Dick

The white whale symbolizes many things:◦ Mystery of nature◦ Innocence◦ Evil◦ An unattainable goal◦ What lies “beyond”?

It symbolically eludes and pursues

Moby DickMoby Dick

Conflicts: person vs. self (Ahab); Person vs. nature (whale)

Literary Techniques: symbolism, allegory, allusion, parody, metaphor

Setting: Whaling ships out of Nantucket, 1840’s; Pacific and Indian Oceans

Themes: human self-destructiveness in quest for unrealizable; ability of an idealistic, self-absorbed leader to gain absolute power; cruelty and unfathomability of surrounding forces