2/28 Dickinson Discussion Notes

1. Literal Meanings
1. 1699- Doing noble things will make you happier, without doing them  you can't be happy.
2. 872-The tiger's hunger can't be satisfied after he has had flesh, the speaker is comparing themselves to a tiger.

2. 872
1. The diction is formal because the poem is noble, authoritative
2. Interpretations:
1. Rapture is possibly referring to religious themes
1. "Cost us existence once" might be referring to Adam and Eve or another biblical allusion
2. The speaker could be spurning rapture, or acceptance into Heaven, by not doing noble deeds
2. The poem is about empathy
1. Joy is personified as a him, Rapture is personified as her. This might be allusion to gender stereotypes since Rapture is a stronger emotion and women are seen as more emotional
2. The poem might also be about the need for empathy in a relationship as seen in the use of "herself" and "him"

3. 1699
1. Interpretations
1. Religious- the poem is about resisting temptation( "as the vultures teased") by fasting. Berry of Domingo is an allusion to Sunday and the berry is what god gives you.
2. Colonization/ America as a country- America as a ship in the Maelstrom
1. Food imagery represents a hunger/ desire for colonization
2. Domingo is an allusion to colonization of Haiti
3. Slavery- The tiger is a metaphor for a slave that has tasted freedom( "finer famine")
1. The speaker "I" is a slave, or someone sympathetic to abolitionist cause.
2. Slaves are referred to as parts ("veins and tissues") because at the time they weren't seen as people. It's possible she is being sarcastic and criticizing those who treated slaves as less than human.
3. Dickinson is comparing the slave's desires to a savage hunger to emphasize her point that the desire for freedom is a primal urge and necessary to humanity.

Dickinson Discussion Notes

Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality.  Dickinson was known as a very reclusive person.

-Theme of death as a release from vengeance

-237 "out of sight - in Heaven" is when she will be forgiven

-1172 includes a speaker that is fleeing from the vengeance of nature-man- by dying. 

-The dead are better off than the living.  Death as a release from vengeance.  Dickinson flips around the usual sadness of death and makes it more of a state of peace.

-Overtones suggest relation to the civil war.

-Possible irony: Dickinson maybe saying she hopes that she is "safe" in her tomb by the time we all destroy each other in a great war.

-1509 furthers the idea of retribution seeking as a matter of life and death -- "anger as soon as fed is dead"

-Life and death as the fulcrum of anger

-Holding hate inside throughout your life won't do any good after you are dead, and if anything will cause problems in afterlife.  This is why she advocates for forgiveness

Revenge as a burden

Structure:

-How does her unusual capitalization and italicization affect the meaning of her poems?

-1172: capitalizes "Cloud", "Forests", "Lightning", and "Thunder"--> example of personification.  Why??

 -In death, the body and more importantly the soul are immune to "Nature's Temper" as well as man's vengeance.

-Significantly more structure than Whitman's poems

-All stanzas are 4 lines with a clear pattern and rhythmic repetition

Role of Vocabulary

-Precision of word choice allows for writer to keep poems short and have strong messages. 

-"Mine enemy is growing old" -- "anger", "starving", "avenge", and "enemy" create feelings of disdain

-"I think just how my shape will rise"-- "rise", "forgiven" and "prayer" create religious context in beginning.  Next stanza, shift in vocabulary indicates a sense of moving away and "brokenness"

Dickinson's Choices

         I found Emily Dickinson’s use of excessive pronouns and abnormal punctuation and capitalization kind of intimidating when I first read these poems.  Some of these mechanics interfered with the way in which I was able to read the poems, especially poem 237.  It also made interpretation difficult.  Although I found the ambiguity of many connotations for singular words, such as “con,” “unshriven,” and the “sparrow” reference in 237 to be somewhat frustrating, it was really intriguing to determine the literal meaning of the poem and then attempt to interpret the deeper meaning behind her mechanics. 

         Initially, I had no idea what the first poem, 237, was talking about.  It seemed silly since it’s such a short poem, but the syntax that Dickinson uses is kind of overwhelming at first.  I thought it was especially interesting that she seemed to be speaking to God at first glance, but upon deeper investigation and some provided background information, it turns out that this may not be so clear-cut an assumption.  Rather, she seems to be talking to a man, made of flesh.

         I also found poem 1509 to be a little confusing, but after re-reading it a few times I found it really interesting that she characterized emotions such as revenge, hate, and anger as food, kind of tying in gluttony as another “deadly sin”. I felt like it gave the emotions a base, almost primal quality that was really interesting and more powerful than a generic interpretation of those emotions.

Forgiveness without penance

It occurred to me that the subject of the poem "237" is compared to a fallen angel through Dickinson's use of imagery. The first stanza gives the image of the speaker rising to heaven, and later she refers to herself as "the Sparrow of your care." When someone cares for a sparrow, we assume that it has been injured and can no longer fly. The last line of the poem also captured my interest. "I drop my Heart - unshriven." I found out that to shrive means "to impose penance on" or "to hear the confession of." This last line would suggest that the speaker's heart has not been penitent or has not confessed of its sins. The first line of the same stanza reads "and so I con that thing - forgiven." So maybe the speaker is trying to say that she is taking advantage of forgiveness by accepting it, but without any actual repentance for her sins. This is in contrast to poem "1509" which we read on the first day of class. It says that revenge is the only way to sate a starving anger. Forgive me if this post seems lacking in depth. Poetic analysis is a practice with which I have always struggled.

Weird Punctuation

     Throughout Dickenson's works she seems to create an innovative and original way to utilize punctuations. From the excessive need to end thoughts with a hyphen to her back and forth use of quotations around italicized words. Readers are made to wonder why exactly she felt compelled to use such obscure marks throughout her work.

     Like most other writers Dickenson has a personalized voice that she uses to enhance the message that she is attempting to convey. Her use of punctuation seems to be part of this. Instead of commas, She seems to enjoy using these breaking hyphens in both the first and third poems. You can almost imagine her taking a breath each time she comes to one. I attempted to find some reason in her use of quotations around certain italicized words, but I just couldn’t seem to understand. My initial thought was that she was trying to establish a distinction between certain words and others. Using this technique on the word forgiven seems to give it a condescending and sarcastic tone, but the other words sparrow, and Consider do not work as well in this context.
   One great advantage to poetry is the free reign to control the English language however you want, as long as it still can be somewhat understood by the reader. Dickenson surely pushes the extent of that with poems like these.

Personification

An interesting style of Emily Dickinson's is to personify the actors in her poems. Thus the actors transcend noun-itude and become beings in the sense I am a being, or you. However, a middle schooler could make that obervation. My question is why? and what affect does it have on the poems' meanings?

Let's look at The Clouds their Backs together laid. We have the proper nouns Clouds, Backs, North, Forests, Lightning, Thunder, Tombs, and Temper (I'm assuming Nature is already a being). Reading through the poem the first time, one understands the first six proper nouns are entities of a storm. Nature's Temper is said storm. Storm of vengeance in this case. Obvious stuff. Those are all capitalized to show their power and symbolism as extreme forces capable of change. Tombs is another story. "How good to be in Tombs" where the storm cannot reach. Tombs is the "savior". Dickinson is basically saying it is better to be dead than subjected to the anarchy of vengeance. That's the general gist of the poem I got. You are welcome to disagree.

However, back to the original question. I already answered why? (see above) as for the changing of meaning, I'm taking a shot in the dark. The word "mice" is not capitalized like all the other nouns (missile being an exception). This is to clarify the noun in its descriptive role. Could Clouds, North, Forests, and Lightning be people? Perhaps but what about Backs? Backs has no descriptive verb, whereas the others  behave with a rage-filled-scorned-lover type of vengeance when combined. This being said, is Dickinson just using literary tools to screw with us? Or does this personification change any of the poem's intent?

Word Choice

After reading these three poems, I was struck by the vital role that the vocabulary used in creating the tone of each work. For example in the poem , “I think just how my shape will rise,” Dickinson paints a religious mood at the onset of the poem by utilizing words such as “rise” “forgiven” and “prayer.” As she moves through the second stanza, there is a definite shift in the tone, which is also highlighted, by a shift in the vocabulary. The author begins to use words such as “delirious” “moved away” and “broke,” giving the reader a completely different feel.

            The other verses also show examples of the importance of vocabulary in Dickenson’s work. The poem, “The Clouds their Backs together laid,” creates an eerie tone by personifying the thunder and lightening. The further reference of the tomb brings the ideas surrounding death and dying into the reader’s minds. The final poem, “Mine Enemy is growing old,” is the best example of reliance on word choice. The words “anger” “starving” “avenge” and “enemy” emit a feeling of disdain. I think that the precision of the word choice in this poem is what allows Dickenson to keep the length short while still getting a strong message across to the reader.

Dickinson Anthropomorphic

In Dickinson’s first poem “I think just how my shape will rise” her choices in language and punctuation stand out.  All of the words she uses create an experience of an afterlife.  However her choice to put quotes around “forgiven” and “Sparrow” create a feeling of skepticism.  Dickinson might have been exploring this feeling of doubt about Heaven.  The whole poem also describes the body as a simplistic mass.  It is interesting the body is formless when the poem is quite structured.  In this version of Heaven, the body loses its form and soon becomes like a spirit.  She also capitalizes some words such as “Hair” “Eyes” “Sparrow” “Anguish” and “Heart.”  Her capitalization of these words puts a definite name on the abstract.  They are more like entities than descriptions or simple nouns.  However, somehow naming these characteristics also makes them more humanistic, like she’s giving them a name.

In her second poem, Dickinson uses anthropomorphic images to describe forces of nature.  By putting death in comparison to all of these huge things, death becomes a state of peace and not sadness.  She says it’s good to be in tombs.  She flips around this hopelessness and sadness humans feel when one dies, and says that this person is essentially better off in death.  Nature seems to be in disarray, it is very active. 

The last poem that we have from Dickinson speaks about revenge and its living nature.  Here revenge seems to be a positive thing, a form of catharsis.  She encourages people to quickly avenge themselves or others however, because waiting longer makes the anger hungrier and hungrier. 

Dickinson poems

The first poem was very confusing for me.  I am not sure why Dickinson mentions forgiveness in a way that makes it seem like it cannot be obtained.  She puts it in quotations suggesting that it may be false, and I am not sure why she would believe that.

The second poem seems to be talking about war, maybe the civil war since it mentions "The North began to push", but that may not be accurate.  It seems that maybe she suggests that with death you no longer have to worry about people seeking vengeance on you.  She could be speaking of soldiers who have fallen, and now they need not worry because the vengeance that is only natural to man cannot find reach them any longer.  I read this on as a war poem but also as one that suggest the true nature of people is to seek revenge.  I feel this way because the line "Where Nature's temper cannot reach".  It makes nature more human-like which suggest to me that she is referring to human nature rather than literal nature like that of the forests, etc.  It is strange that she suggest that humans are naturally vengeful and therefore not peaceful beings, and in this way she could also be suggesting that war itself is inevitable.  This would make sense with the way she talked about how the only way you could get away from this true nature is death.

The last poem is similar to the last one in the sense that it compares revenge to food, so to something that is vital in our lives and to the nourishment of our bodies suggesting that we need revenge.  But the poem does not seem to support revenge, rather it seems to suggest it is not as fulfilling as one would hope.  Maybe suggesting that revenge is not always the best way to go, it may be in our primal nature but it will not be fulfilling and fruitful to our well being.  Maybe in that sense this poem could be advocating forgiveness instead, maybe it would be a more fulfilling option although revenge may look more appealing at the time.

Revenge as a burden

When I was reading the three Dickinson poems, it seemed like a flashback from the first day of class when we talked about forgiveness and revenge in the poems. The first poem is about being forgiven as is stated in the second line when it says, “I think just how my shape will rise—When I shall be “forgiven.” When it says, how my shape will rise, it’s talking about how the weight will be lifted off the speakers shoulders because she won’t have to worry about revenge anymore. The second poem, 1172, follows the same pattern. It talks about the burden of being sought after for revenge when it says, “How good to be in Tombs Where Nature’s Temper cannot reach Nor Missile ever comes.” It is saying that the speaker is glad to be hidden in the temple where he can’t be touched and revenge can’t find him.  Contrarily, the last poem urges the audience to get revenge because it puts a weight on you to have revenge. The poem says, “Anger as soon as fed is dead” meaning that if you feed your anger and take revenge then your revenge will die. The poems are interesting in the different perspectives they take on revenge. The common characteristic is that all three of the poems talk about revenge as being a burden, whether is it the recipient or the giver or revenge.

Dickinson Poems

I think there is a general theme in these poems of the class theme, vengeance and forgiveness.  Dickinson makes a point of placing life and death as the fulcrum of anger.  There is the message that holding hate inside throughout life won't do you any good after you are dead, and if anything it will cause problems in the afterlife.  This is her reasoning for advocating forgiveness or at least dealing with issues that you have with another person sooner than later.  She talks about this all in poem 237 and how she specifically will be received in heaven.  I believe that while she talks about herself this is intended to be a lesson for others and that they should consider their actions on earth a bit more carefully.  She is more clear that this is her intention in poem 1509 by saying, "Anger as soon as fed is dead - 'Tis starving makes it fat."  I think this is a similar message to the from Drum-Taps, the Whitman poem.  Which was written about civil war soldiers all being the same after death and that, "war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be be utterly lost."

Dickinson's Structure Choices

            In all three of Dickinson’s poems, I found that she uses really unusual capitalization and italicization, and yet methodical structure in her poems. For one, I am just as intrigued about the words that she capitalizes or italicizes. For example, in 1172, she uses personification in capitalizing “Cloud,” but “Backs” is also capitalized. I did not understand the context of using “backs” as a proper noun. Another example is when she capitalizes Tombs in the same poem but unlike the other proper nouns in the poem, the line is written passively. The italicization is seen in 237, where it almost seems as if random words are italicized for emphasis. I wondered why there was so much variety in what she did italicize and what she did not: some are nouns, some are expressions, and others are verbs, it goes on. I wonder what the purpose of her italicizing the words that she does is in her writing.

            Contrary to the personification and emphasis that was discussed above, Dickinson’s poems have significantly more structure than the Whitman poem that we analyzed on Tuesday. There is a natural cadence to her writing that I did not find in reading Whitman by myself. All the stanzas have four lines, and there is a clear pattern and repetition in the rhythm of the poems. There is even a rhyming scheme (ABCB) for many of the stanzas. I wish I knew why she was so organized in her structure and yet so seemingly sporadic with capitalization and italicization in her poems. 

Death as the only end to revenge.

While reading through the three Dickinson poems, I noticed a common theme of death as a release from vengeance. Although these poems are not necessarily morbid, they all focus on death as an outlet of escape. In 237, the speaker says after she is “out of sight- in Heaven” will she be forgiven, which infers that she has some sort of guilt and fears retribution from the person she has wronged. She even uses the phrase “con” to infer that she has somehow cheated the other person by dying. 1172 also includes a speaker that is fleeing from the vengeance of nature, which I take to mean man, by hiding away in the security of the tomb. Both of these poems illustrate that vengeance is, unfortunately, a part of human nature and so is the desire to evade it. By framing it as a literal matter of life and death, Dickinson emphasizes the prevalence of revenge in society. While 1509 takes the perspective of the seeker of vengeance, not the guilty party, it also furthers the idea of retribution seeking as life and death when the speaker admits that “Anger as soon as fed is dead” and that only after their revenge is enacted can they move on in their life. Similar to Ahab in Moby Dick, the speaker in 1509 demonstrates a monomaniac focus on revenge.

Discussion Facilitation

Common themes in blog posts:

free will vs. fate

Fedallah's prophecy

Ahab makes his own compass

prophecy wins

good vs. evil

Moby Dick as principle

Ahab's Character:

Develops over the story

Ahab as an agent - accepts his fate

Soliloquy - gives Ahab a sense of humanity

Ryan - talks about Ahab and solopsism (everything exists only in his mind)

Will - Ahab and Oedipus

Fate

Throughout the novel, Ishmael seems too look at Moby Dick as having agency. We see this specifically on page 33. Ishmael says that the whale "enabled to keep himself" warm by having a thick layer of blubber. He makes it sound like whales chose to have lungs and warm blood, and even goes so far as to suggest that man "admire and model thyself after the whale". Then, at the end of the book, the way Ishmael describes Moby Dick is very human-like. To me, it sounded like a fight scene between two humans, rather than an animal and a human. The way that Ishamel elevates Moby Dick makes him seem a worth opponent to Ahab. This, I think, does play into the whole free will vs. fate argument. Moby Dick becomes a symbol of free will, as Ishamel gives him a sense of agency, and Ahab becomes a symbol of fate. Ahab's representation of fate is repeatedly bolstered by the bad omens that keep popping up. Is Melville trying to say that free will is more powerful than fate?

good v. evil

Throughout the novel, the crew provide a sharp contrast to Ahab, portraying good v. evil. Ahab, as we know is mad over finding the white whale however members of the crew repeatedly emerge on separate occasions to provide opposition to the captain, sometimes vocally, but sometimes just in his thought. In the second part of the book we see Ahab becoming increasingly deranged. Chapter 99 is one such example with Starbuck and Ahab's interpretations of the doubloon. Ahab interprets the doubloon saying, "There's something ever egotistical in mountain-tops and towers, and all other grand and lofty things; look here, - three peaks as proud as Lucifer. The firm tower, that is Ahab; the volcano, that is Ahab; the courageous, the undaunted, and victorious fowl, that, too, is Ahab; all are Ahab; and this round gold is but the image of the rounder globe....". In contrast, Starbuck interprets the doubloon saying, "A dark valley between three mighty, heaven-abiding peaks, that almost seem the Trinity, in some faint earthly symbol. So in this vale of Death, God girds us round; and over all our gloom, the sun of Righteousness still shines a beacon and a hope." Ahab personifies the coin to represent his madness. His references to Lucifer make us think that he has made a pact with the Devil in order to find the white whale. In contrast, Starbuck's interpretation of the doubloon is serene and he sees its images in a religious manner. The contrast between Ahab and Starbuck's interpretations gives us insight into Ahab's transformation throughout the journey. From obsession, Ahab has now transformed into evil, associating himself with Lucifer.

A Calm Before the Storm: Fate, Prophecy, and Free Will

When I was reading the final chapters of Moby-Dick, I noticed a significant change in Melville’s use of certain literary elements. In these last chapters, we have seen Melville take a step back from the scenes of high fantasy that were repeatedly used previously. For example, in Chapter 119, “The Candles,” the ship’s three masts were struck by lightning and began lighting up with “white flames.” Ahab’s harpoon, which he had just forged of the blood of the three harpooneers, was also struck by lightning, and caught fire, despite being made of metal. The sheer fantasy that Melville wrote into these chapters gives the reader a sense of escalating tension, and the idea that the ship was traveling further and further away from the comfort zone of reality. However, there is none of this to be found in the later chapters. Instead, we see characters going on long, drawn out asides, and the Pequod encounters two ships. Repeated symbols including the black hawk which stole Ahab’s hat and the use of Queequeg’s coffin as a life raft seem to indicate impending doom.

Chapter 123, "The Musket," intrigued me. It was the first time in the novel that Melville seemed to poise fate against free will. Starbuck wrestled with the idea of shooting Ahab and taking command of the ship. Another example is the dramatic change in Ahab’s mentality throughout these chapters. He began to question his commitment to killing Moby Dick for the first time in the novel. He acknowledged his obsession and mental instability. He began pondering the idea of giving up the chase. In Chapter 132, Ahab explicated the doubts he was beginning to feel, “I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? Is Ahab, Ahab?”

Towards the end of the novel, Melville cut down on his use of high fantasy and began introducing the concept of fate vs. free will. Although ultimately, he decided that prophecy would hold its course.

Doubloon Perspectives

We discussed this topic earlier in class, but I wanted to take a minute to examine it in closer detail.  The way each character described the doubloon directly correlated to their own perspectives on life itself.  While several of the characters in the novel gave their descriptions of what the doubloon looked like and represented, I would like to take a minute and focus of just those of the officers of the Pequod, including Stubb, Starbuck, and Ahab.

Stubb’s description of the doubloon can best be described as indifferent.  At first he notices nothing in particular about this doubloon from any other he has seen in his life.  Upon closer examination, he is intrigued, and begins to go about describing the coins by making comparisons to constellations in reference to his almanac.  Contrary to Stubb’s very black and white perspective of the doubloon, Starbuck delves much deeper, taking a religious appreciation of the coin.  He compares its details to the Trinity and makes reference to Belshazzar, the Chaldean king found in the Old Testament.

In sharp contrast to Starbuck, Ahab believes the coin as an image of himself.  He calls out details such as courageous, undaunted, and victorious specifically. What I find interesting is when Ahab says, “three peaks as proud as Lucifer.” We have established that the captain is referring to himself when describing the coin, and here we find Ahab comparing his pride to that of Satan.  In a way its almost as if Ahab is finally realizing the evil behind his motivations.  Starbuck cancels this out with his more positive outlook of things, while Stubb remains indifferent to the matter, something that is projected into the rest of the novel as well.

Solipsism

               During the class discussion about the contrast between the respective views of Ahab and Ishmael on knowledge, we stated that Ahab is a monomaniac and briefly touched on his obsession metaphysical world.  The discussion reminded me of the idea of solipsism, or the idea that everything that exists does so only in one’s mind.  From Ahab’s actions in pursuing the whale and his speeches about “striking through the mask” and the doubloon, I would like to take it one step further and state that Ahab, for the majority of the novel, is meant to be a solipsist and analyze how it affects his decision making.

                In Orwell’s 1984 (where I heard the term the first time), an example of solipsism is one character explaining to another that 2+2=5 if someone believes it to be so, and that outside of that person’s mind there is no “natural” or external answer for 2+2.  Therefore, the answer is a reflection of what you believe, much like Ahab’s belief that the doubloon and everything else in life are Ahab.  Following that line of logic, Moby Dick and the evil Ahab perceives in him are reflections of Ahab’s own struggles embodied, meaning Ahab is really fighting against those evils that reside in himself.  Once projected on the whale, Ahab cannot turn away from a chance to conquer his own demons, although we are left to speculate what those demons are (futility, loneliness, weakness, and mortality are possibilities).

                Additionally, Ahab’s solipsism explains his recklessness with his crew’s lives.  Ahab is the only one that matters in his mind, since it is through him that everything takes form.  Pip becomes Ahab’s favorite person on the ship only because he reminds Ahab of his humanity, not because Pip is an interesting individual.  Finally, Fedallah’s predictions are warped by Ahab so that they mean what Ahab wants them to mean, proving that the truth is only what he believes.

the whale

During the last few chapters of the book, it seems as if the conquest of the whale, Moby Dick, is drawn out in such a long fashion. Ahab is constantly consumed by killing Moby dick and once he realizes that he is going to lose the fight to the whale, Moby Dick seems to go crazy. Throughout the end it seems as is Moby Dick is controlling Ahab’s emotions and everything about him. This reminded me of our earlier discussions of how the whale is seen as almost a god to Ahab. It seems as if Moby Dick is acting as a higher power towards Ahab, driving him even more insane. Ahab also seems to admit that his journey and conquest was driven by his emotion and revenge, therefore admitting his irrationality. In the end the prophecies appear to be fulfilled with Ahab accepting his fate. Ahab was trying to stifle his emotion and revenge by killing Moby Dick but the whale ended up taking his life from him. The end finally made the book come together for me because that driving force of revenge and vengence that was killing Ahab emotionally ended up physically killing him in the end. 

Ahab's Character Development

Throughout most of Moby-Dick, the little information that the reader has about Captain Ahab is through Ishmael. During the majority of the voyage, Captain Ahab is described through his actions or his very concise commands to his crew. Of course, there is the occasional “Hath thee seen the White Whale?” but the reader does not get a true sense of Captain Ahab’s emotions, except for his monomania. This approach changes however, when Captain Ahab has an extremely profound and intimate conversation with Starbuck. His dialogue with Starbuck helped me better understand the deep anguish that Ahab felt while on the Pequod. The increased dialogues along with Ishmael focusing more on the plot than on descriptions of the boat or Moby Dick, made the last chapters much more enjoyable to read. During Ahab’s soliloquy in The Symphony, he reveals to Starbuck that he has felt deep depression over the last forty years of his life (most of which were spent at sea). He goes into great detail about his wife and child, who he believes he has made a widow and an orphan by being away from Nantucket for so long. I believe that Melville included this piece to give Ahab a sense of humanity, whereas for the first 550 pages he served almost solely as a metaphor.

Ahab and Oedipus

While reading these last chapters, I began to realize a great amount of symbolism and connection to classic Greek mythology and drama.  This comparison even seems to be acknowledged by Melville, who writes a number of chapters, such as Chapter 108, in a fashion very similar to that of a dramatic play.  The Greek drama that I found to best exemplify Moby-Dick is the story of Oedipus that is well-known in Greek drama.  First off, both of the main characters are stung by a fatal flaw: their own hubris and blind arrogance.  Their lives are characterized by defiance to a prophecy that they have long known and avoided, but in the end their actions have only wrapped the noose around their neck even tighter.  The most significant connection that I noticed, though, occurred when Fedallah related his own prophecy to Ahab, who subsequently turned around and falsely interpreted it through his own vision and perspective by taking Fedallah’s words to mean that he would be hanged by hemp on land, even though the ship is full of the material.  I also found Ahab’s destruction of the ship’s navigational tools to be especially significant, as he built his own compass in response; a compass that would lead them by the will of Ahab rather than by nature.  This act, in essence, is Ahab attempting to dictate his own free will, just as Oedipus had done in his own time.  In continuation, Ahab threatens his second mate, Starbuck, when Starbuck attempts to compel him to act with reason, just as Oedipus had with Kreon. 

As the plot intensifies and continues, Ahab’s demeanor takes a noticeable turn and he even gives up his concept of free will by calling himself “Fate’s lieutenant” in Chapter 134.  This is similar to Oedipus’ acceptance of his fate when he blinds himself, something that is mimicked by Ahab continuing to face the whale even though it is apparent that he shall not survive the interaction. 

Starbuck and Stubb

Moby-Dick is filled with relationships between conflicting characters. The novel begins with the friendship formed between Ishmael and Queequeg, two very different people coming together despite their conflicting views. Perhaps the most differing personas exist within the crew of the Pequod. Ahab and his first mate Starbuck exist as figures relying on opposite sets of spiritual values. Ahab bases his world around darkness and revenge, focusing solely on the white whale. Starbuck, on the other hand, maintains strong faith in a higher power. His sense of hope and faith guides him through the perils of the sea. The interaction between the two is limited, as Starbuck seems to distance himself from confrontation with the deranged captain. Stubb, the lead harpooner of the ship, differs dramatically from both character. Where as Starbuck stays away from action, Stubb is always in the middle of it. Starbuck keeps his faith through any situation, while Stubb feels as though death is always inevitable. Ishmael notes the difference between the two, noting that each's personality makes them better at their respective jobs. Starbuck's calm demeanor makes him a good leader, while Stubb's fearlessness makes him the ideal harpooner. Stubb and Ahab differ in their ideas on how to interact with the world around them. Ahab's monomania leads him to believe he has the ability to control the world around him, while Stubb seems to leave his fate up to the mercy of the sea.

Shannon Wheeler and Elizabeth Spangler

1.     Use of Comparison

a.     Sperm Whale vs. Right Whale

                                               i.     Differences may create balance

1.     Chapter 73: “Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale Then Have to Talk over Him”

                                              ii.     Further, compares the heads to different classical philosophers—Stotic and Platonian

b.     Breeze Riley

                                               i.     Chapter 85

1.     “Ishmael continues to build the parallel between the whale and great men by contesting that the vapor that appears from a whales spout is similar to the “vapor” appearing from the minds of great men”

c.      fast-fish and loose-fish

d.     Stubb and Starbuck

                                               i.     Stubb yells at the crew, while Starbuck prefers to whisper

2.      Foreshadowing and word choice

a.     Sarah Munday

                                               i.     “Why mention it then, if it’s not a pressing enough topic to address immediately?”

b.     Abby Winn

                                               i.     “laid out his words, even at slow points in the book; it seems to me that every word was meticulously chosen by Melville.”

c.      How carefully do you think Melville chose each of his phrases?

3.     Differences between appearance and reality      

a.     Queequeeg’s personality is not encompassed by his outward appearance.

b.     Art cannot fully express the spirit of a whale.

c.      Chapter 80 tells us that a whale head is not a good representation of the brains that lie inside.

                                               i.     “The whale, like all things mighty, wears a false brow to the common world.”

4.     Is the drizzly November in his soul gone?

a.       Nina gave a quote on p. 299…. "For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies on insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed  by all the horrors of the half known life.  God keep thee!  Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!"

                                               i.     Made her think about the first page of the book and compare to the Tahitian Island

b.     At this point in the voyage people have accepted that they might not come back, and it opens up new emotions they haven’t had before

c.      Romantic connections with the ship mates

5.     Homosexual Tendencies

a.     Chapter 94 “A Squeeze of the Hand”

b.     Chase—“ Ishmael related the experience of squeezing lumps of

                  congealed spermaceti back into their liquid state. To me, it seemed that his

                  description of this process was a metaphor for his developing homosexual

                  relations with his fellow Pequod crew.”

c.      Other tendencies?

                                               i.     Monkey rope—unites the harpooner and the paddler, increased the reliability of the paddler

                                              ii.     Pg. 351—like marriage?

6.     Symbolism

a.     Brendan pointed out in book, white represents fear and power, rather than the normal religious white meaning of purity and other cultures beauty and joy

                                               i.     p. 204

                                              ii.     “holy tool of punishment”

1.     rather than just a symbol of purity

2.     makes  sense that sailors fear Moby Dick b/c he is God’s wrath