The Wounded King

Arthurian legend tells of a king who is charged with keeping the Holy Grail. This king is the Fisher King or the Wounded King. He is almost always wounded in the groin, but other versions say that he is wounded in his legs or feet. This wound never quite heals making it hard for him to move on his own and the wound has made him infertile. His injury affects not only himself, but his lands as well - the Fisher King's kingdom is a wasteland where the crops wither and all the king has left to do is fish from the river near his castle.

Ahab is very much the Fisher King within Moby-Dick. In Chapter 106: Ahab's Leg we as readers find out that Ahab's false leg had nearly pierced his groin before their journey began and left him in an incurable wound, much like the Fisher King. While one doesn't necessarily think about Ahab's wound, it becomes clear that this is another sign of foreshadowing with in the novel. Because of Ahab's wound the Pequod and its crew are headed for destruction, much like the Fisher King's wound and infertility led to the destruction and infertility of his kingdom. 

Moby-Dick is Ahab's Holy Grail. Ahab is searching for the white whale, but at the same time the whale is kind of in his charge. Ahab seems to know that no other whaling vessel will be able to defeat the whale, but in the back of his mind he must also know that he cannot defeat it as well. He uses his influence over his crew to keep going after Moby-Dick and he refuses to listen to reason. In the Fisher King story, knights from Arthur's court come to try and heal the Fisher King, but none are able to do so until Percival. In much the same way, Ahab is unable to reach Moby-Dick until Ishmael is on board. Ishmael doesn't cure Ahab, in fact Ahab becomes more insane as the story progresses, but Ishmael is able to write down the happenings and Ahab is finally able to face the beast who took his leg originally.

Both Ahab and the Fisher King rule over a particular space; Ahab over his crew and the ship, and the Fisher King over his land and people. They are both charged with keeping track of something valuable. Ahab keeps track of Moby-Dick and the Fisher King keeps track of the Holy Grail. They both think that the things that they are keepers of will give them piece of mind, but in reality Ahab only finds death while the Fisher King still sits on a throne that rules over a wasteland. In Ahab's case the whale is his undoing. 

Whales Throughout Mythology

What caught my eye while reading the latest section of Moby-Dick, was Ismael's discussion of the use of mythology in chapter 82. I have always enjoyed mythology and this was an interesting look at particular myths/stories from Greek mythology, Hindu mythology, British legends, and The Bible.

Ishmael goes through the myths one by one beginning with Perseus and ending with Vishnu (which Melville spells "Vishnoo). Ishmael claims that Perseus is the first "whaleman" (284). He then goes on to relate the tale of Perseus saving Andromeda from Leviathan - the whale. Ishmael's point seems to be to tie all of these tales to the tale of Jonah in The Bible. He says, "For in ancient Joppa...on the Syrian coast...there stood for many ages the vast skeleton of a whale, which the city's legends and all the inhabitants asserted to be the identical bones of the monster that Perseus slew...What seems most singular and suggestively important in the story, is this: it was from Joppa that Jonah set sail" (285).

From Perseus he continues on to St. George from British legend. St. George slew a dragon, but Ishmael seems to think it was not a dragon, but a whale. "Which dragon I maintain to have been a whale; for in many old chronicles whales and dragons are strangely jumbled together, and often stand for each other" (285). Ishmael soon leaves St. George behind in favor of Hercules. Hercules was once swallowed and thrown up by a whale. Once again Ishmael ties Greek mythology to the tale of Jonah: "this Grecian story of Hercules and the whale is considered to be derived from the still more ancient Hebrew story of Jonah and the whale; and vice versa; certainly they are very similar" (286).

Lastly Ishmael speaks of Vishnoo whom he calls the "grand master" (286). Vishnoo became a whale in order to gain possession of the Vedas (mystical books which contain scared Hindu writings). Ishmael says that in Vishnoo becoming a whale he is the greatest of whalemen in the fact that a man who rides a horse is a horseman.

To end the chapter Ishmael says, "Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there's a member-roll for you! What club but the whalman's can head off like that?" (286). This mythology seems to be embedded throughout the novel and it seems to be foreshadowing what is eventually going to happen to the crew. Maybe Ishmael is on to something by telling all of these strange, yet connected, stories.

A Whale of A Tale

So at this point, I have figured out that Moby-Dick is more about whales than anything else. Information on whales seems to be more important than just saying things outright. Especially since we have had more chapters about whales than whaling at this point. I think that as the story progresses we keep learning more about whales and other characters than we do about Ishmael. Which isn't too surprising since I think Ishmael is hiding something from us.

Anyway, whales. Ishmael really seems to like whales and so does Melville. I guess it had to come with the territory when writing a book about a huge, white sperm whale. I decided to make a pie-chart of the amount of information given on whales compared to everything else.

As you can see, everything has a bigger section than Ishmael. What do we really know about him? We know his opinion of the crew, the captain, and Queequeg and we know that he has a stepmother, but do we really know Ishmael?

So, back to whales. Obviously the whale head that Ishmael keeps going on about is pretty symbolic and can tie into the shrunken heads seen earlier in the book being sold by Queequeg. But then Ishmael seems to talk about more than just whale heads. He also classifies whales. What I found odd about that was that he uses his own kind of classification. He doesn't use the scientific classifications, but he classifies the whales as if they are books. Which is interesting because Moby-Dick is a pretty big book about a whale and a whaling ship, both of which are things he writes down. This could tie into our discussion of how the whale is the text. It is a book about whales, but the whales are books.

So are we reading a book about reading? In a way we are. If you look back at my pie-chart, I have a section called "References to other Works." Melville seems to be planting a lot of information from other literary sources (Shakespeare, the Bible, and Chaucer for example). His footnotes also show that he is using books on whaling in order to write a book about whaling. So are we reading a book about whales or a book about reading. I guess it is up for discussion, but I for one feel like we aren't really reading. I feel like we are digesting a whale from the tale to the head.

Moby-Dick by Herman Meville

So I thought I would start out with people's general thoughts on  Moby-Dick (at least the ones I have heard from people that I know) and then lead into my initial reaction to reading the book.

Most often you hear people saying these types of things about Moby-Dick:

"Oh yeah, you are reading Moby-Dick? I really didn't like that book..."

"I read that book for class. It was interesting, you should totally read it."

"No one really likes Moby-Dick, but I read it and I think you should read it too."

Or in one extreme case: "I didn't like Moby-Dick and you won't either. Don't ever read it."

I'd like to point out that the last person tried reading it when they were 14 and they have now decided that they might try to re-read it. Basically what I understood from all of this was that while not many people seem to enjoy the book, it is also a book that one should read.

As I started to read the book I noticed something that I had never been told about. Moby-Dick has short chapters. Like really short. And they don't go on and on about something that I couldn't care less about. I found it kind of interesting and it really wasn't that difficult to read. Sure there are some dense parts, but the footnotes really help.

I found it interesting that Ishmael says "Call me Ishmael." It is like it isn't his real name and that caught my attention. Readers want to believe their narrator, but right off the bat "Ishmael" doesn't seem to be completely honest with his readers. His name is full of meaning, but I don't believe that he actually gave us his name. Maybe he just wants a pseudonym to go by, but that is a really powerful metaphor of a name for just a pseudonym. I am hoping that I will be able to trust him more as a reader as we keep reading the book. It will be interesting to see how his character develops, especially with the relationship he is forming with Queequeg.

I also don't totally buy the whole "I'm bored and want to have an adventure/see the world" thing that Ishmael has told us as readers. I think there is more to him than that and I kind of can't wait to see how he does on the whaling ship. If he isn't telling the truth about his name then how can we know if he is telling the truth about why he is going whaling? I guess I hope to find out in later chapters. We'll see though.