The mid-nineteenth century was a transformative period in America, characterized by an evolving national identity and significant ideological shifts. As the nation expanded geographically, philosophical movements such as Transcendentalism emerged, challenging existing religious and social norms. Concurrently, the American whaling industry reached its zenith, capturing global attention and serving as a backdrop for one of the era’s most significant literary works, Moby-Dick.

America's Identity and the American Dream

During this period, the United States was fervently carving out its national and international identity. Despite this era's intense focus on westward expansion, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick diverged thematically, exploring the more abstract pursuit and capture of dreams. The narrative reflects on the American Dream, initially envisioned by the Founding Fathers, which had evolved into what some perceived as a dangerous national obsession. In a metaphorical reading, the Pequod could symbolize modern corporate America, with Captain Ahab as a figure of power-driven ambition, illustrating a critique of relentless pursuit.

Transcendentalism and Self-Reliance

Amidst America's evolving identity, Transcendentalism became a predominant philosophical and religious viewpoint, with figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson advocating for the divinity of individual intuition over societal conventions. Emerson’s essay "Self-Reliance" encapsulated this belief, urging individuals to "Trust thyself," and challenging the authority of tradition and public opinion. This movement rejected New England Puritanism and found inspiration in German philosophers such as Immanuel Kant. While Melville’s work often paralleled Emerson’s ideal of the misunderstood nonconformist, his acknowledgment of Calvinism’s inherent sin and depravity set him apart from Transcendentalist ideals.

The American Whaling Industry

America’s long-standing tradition as a whaling nation began in the seventeenth century, with early expeditions from Nantucket and Massachusetts. The accidental discovery of superior quality sperm oil in deep waters shifted the industry’s focus, leading to extended voyages and pioneering maritime cartography. At the peak of the American whaling industry, when Moby-Dick was published, the United States owned a substantial majority of the world’s whaling ships. This era was dramatically encapsulated by events such as the sinking of the whaler Ann Alexander by a sperm whale, mirroring the dramatic climax of Melville’s narrative.

The Spirit of the Age

The spirit of the age in which Melville wrote was marked by an adventurous ethos and rugged individualism, closely linked to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. This belief in the nation’s duty to expand and spread democracy across the continent spurred waves of pioneers to venture westward, especially after the economic setback of 1837. While frontiersmen conquered new territories, New England's whalers ventured into global waters, with New Bedford, Massachusetts serving as a bustling hub, and the launching point for Melville’s own seafaring adventures aboard the Acushnet in 1841.

Ideological Shifts and the Literary Scene

This period also witnessed substantial ideological shifts, particularly regarding slavery. As new territories were incorporated into the union, the debate over slavery intensified, with abolitionists, seminal works like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and legislations like the Fugitive Slave Law, fueling national discourse. During the same period, American literature flourished with writers such as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Poe, and Whitman contributing to a distinctly American literary canon, of which Moby-Dick would eventually become an integral part.

The Legacy of Moby-Dick

Despite its eventual acclaim, Moby-Dick was not immediately recognized as a masterpiece upon its release. Contemporary reviews were polarized, with responses ranging from enthusiastic praise to harsh criticism. One critic forecasted that the common reader would dismiss the book, a prediction borne out by its initial poor sales, with fewer than 3,000 copies sold. It wasn't until the late 1930s that Moby-Dick was solidified as a cornerstone of American literature, reflecting the era’s profound themes of ambition, ideology, and human connection.

Point of View
Melville’s earlier novels are primarily first-person narratives of romanticized sailing adventures presented as genuine experiences. In Moby-Dick, after the introductory sections of Etymology and Extracts, he begins with the famous line “Call me Ishmael,” signaling that the narrative voice in this novel will be more overtly fictional. In the initial chapters, Ishmael is an active character, narrating the story as an engaged first-person narrator. However, as the voyage progresses, particularly in the middle sections, Ishmael’s presence diminishes and the reader is often given an omniscient narrator’s perspective. This shift leads many readers to conflate the author, Melville, with the character of Ishmael. The narrative is interspersed with Shakespearean soliloquies and detailed discussions on whaling history and anatomy, which disrupt the flow of the story.

At no point does Ishmael narrate from a future perspective where he knows the voyage’s outcome. Since he would not be able to tell the story if he had perished with the ship, the reader understands this is a survivor’s tale. However, this does not imply that Ishmael’s initial attitudes and beliefs remain unchanged by the end of the novel; his experiences throughout the journey clearly impact him.

Symbolism
The sections that provide detailed information on whales and whaling, often awkwardly integrated into the narrative, emphasize that the story extends beyond a mere hunting expedition. It is not always clear who is presenting this information—Is it Ishmael? Melville?—but it is certainly not Ahab, who has lost interest in whaling as a practical and commercial endeavor. Nonetheless, some of this factual material offers insightful commentary on the themes of Ahab’s pursuit of a single whale, creating a layered symbolism within the book. The most basic and direct symbolism appears when groups of chapters draw clear analogies to allegorical qualities.

In Chapter 73, for instance, a whale's head is hoisted to the side of the ship, causing it to tilt until it is balanced by the head of another whale. The reader is informed that this is akin to being swayed by one philosopher and then attaining stability through the influence of another. The final advice given is to “Throw all these thunderheads overboard, and then you will float light and right.” However, a subsequent chapter shifts the analogy to a broader symbolic context. Chapter 76, titled “The Battering-Ram,” explains that a sperm whale's mouth is located entirely beneath its head, with its eyes and ears on the sides. This gives the whale's front a “dead, blind wall” appearance—a blank expanse of flesh and bone that Ahab confronts. The whale’s head thus represents the indifferent and unstoppable forces of nature.

Structure
After the episodic start of Moby-Dick, Melville experiments with the novel's structure. He incorporates very short chapters, some no longer than a page, and has characters speak as if they were on an Elizabethan stage rather than in a nineteenth-century novel. When compared to other nineteenth-century works by authors like Charles Dickens or Anthony Trollope, Melville’s deviations can seem pronounced. However, Melville's contemporaries accepted the traditional novel structures of the time without issue. Reviews of Moby-Dick from both sides of the Atlantic reveal that its critical reception was actually positive. Notably, English reviewers appreciated the novel in the context of Melville's earlier works, considering it his best effort thus far.

Regrettably, the general public did not appreciate the novel’s nuances and innovations. During Melville’s lifetime, the book sold fewer than five thousand copies. Its structure likely played a role in this. For some readers, it remains challenging to finish on the first attempt. Conversely, once completed, it is relatively straightforward to revisit its pivotal moments and reassess their significance within the whole. This quality makes it a highly accessible text for study, with the brevity of its chapters aiding students in navigating the content.

Epic Style
Newton Arvin was among the first critics to pinpoint the features of what he termed Melville’s “verbal palette.” This includes Melville's penchant for verbal nouns like “regardings,” “allurings,” and “intercedings,” which lend the novel a grand, classical tone. One of the sources for Moby-Dick was Os Lusiados (The Lusiads) by sixteenth-century Portuguese poet Luis de Camoens. In this work, Camoens did for Portuguese what Geoffrey Chaucer did for English and Dante for Italian. Melville became increasingly aware that no one had yet accomplished this for American literature. While working on Moby-Dick, he read and reviewed Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Mosses from an Old Manse. In his review, he remarked on the need for a heroic national literature that was truly independent.

Many of the epic allusions and grandiose elements in Moby-Dick are humorous, often mock-epic. The three-day battle with the whale at the book’s conclusion is on a monumental scale, and the connection to Prometheus (the Greek Titan who gave fire to humanity and was punished by Zeus) is deliberately “heroic.” However, Melville intersperses these with sections of ranting slang. As John McWilliams noted in his essay “The Epic in the Nineteenth Century,” “Moby-Dick represents a moment in literary history when generic terms retain old meanings that must be wilfully, even gleefully, broken down.”

"Moby-Dick," Herman Melville’s epic tale of obsession and the sea, unfolds across a tapestry of vividly depicted places that anchor its complex narrative. Each location carries its own significance, shaping characters and propelling the plot forward. These places, from bustling seaports to the vast, unyielding oceans, serve as both backdrop and catalyst for the unfolding drama.

New Bedford

The journey begins in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a vibrant fishing community about sixty-five miles southeast of Boston. It is here that Ishmael, the novel’s reflective narrator, arrives to volunteer for service on a whaling voyage. His initial stay is at the Spouter Inn, where he encounters Queequeg, a formidable harpooner from a far-off South Sea island. Their awkward introduction—necessitated by sharing a single bed—is steeped in cultural tension and foreshadows a developing friendship. The community’s maritime spirit is epitomized in the Whaleman’s Chapel, where a poignant sermon by the retired harpooner, Father Mapple, profoundly impacts Ishmael. Mapple's sermon on the story of Jonah and the whale mirrors the novel's thematic undercurrents of fate and divine retribution.

Nantucket

Nantucket, an island approximately thirty miles south of Cape Cod, epitomizes the heart of the New England whaling industry during the early nineteenth century. This renowned whaling hub is where Ishmael and Queequeg finally sign onto the Pequod’s crew, setting the stage for their expansive sea voyage. The island's bustling wharves and the sea-salty air encapsulate the spirit of adventure and danger that lies ahead.

The Pequod

The Pequod itself is a character as much as a vessel, under the enigmatic command of Captain Ahab. It is one of three meticulously outfitted ships in Nantucket, ready for their arduous three-year expeditions. Aboard the Pequod, the interplay of light and shadow reflects the ship's diverse personalities. The towering masts serve as crucial observation points, where crew members, including Ishmael, vigilantly scan the horizon for whales. As the ship embarks on its voyage during Christmas, Captain Ahab remains an elusive presence, ensconced in his cabin, fostering an aura of mystery and anticipation.

The Oceans

The Pequod's odyssey traverses multiple oceans, each phase significant in its journey. The initial course takes the crew southeast from Nantucket, across the Atlantic, past the rugged west coast of Africa, and across the equator to the Cape of Good Hope. The ship’s ventures into the Indian Ocean yield a bounty of sperm whales, but the quest continues eastward into the Pacific Ocean. This leg culminates in the treacherous waters of the Japanese Sea, a realm teeming with sperm whales, that Captain Ahab hopes will reveal the elusive Moby Dick.

The Japanese Sea

The Japanese Sea, bordered by Japan, Korea, and Siberia, represents a critical juncture in the journey. Rich with sperm whale populations in the early nineteenth century, it is here that Ahab intensifies his hunt for Moby Dick. The captain's obsessive pursuit alarms some crew members but galvanizes others, who see it as a daring challenge. This dangerous obsession is marked by the ever-present tension between Ahab’s fervor and the crew’s growing unease.

The Rachel

As the Pequod sails through the Pacific, it encounters the Rachel, a whaling ship bearing tales of recent tragedy. The Rachel has lost an entire boat, including the captain’s son, to Moby Dick's wrath. Despite the desperate plea for assistance in locating the missing crew, Ahab’s fixation on his own vendetta against the white whale prevails. This decision is seen as ominous by his crew, a portent of misfortune lurking ahead.

Ahab’s Boat

The climactic pursuit of Moby Dick unfolds in Ahab’s boat, one of three set to confront the great white whale. Over three grueling days, the chase becomes a crucible for Ahab’s unyielding resolve. On the final day, Ahab’s harpoon strikes the whale, but as the confrontation escalates, Moby Dick retaliates, ramming the Pequod and causing its demise. In a fateful twist, Ahab’s line entangles him, sealing his tragic fate as he is drawn underwater with the beast. The sinking of the Pequod marks the end of the perilous quest, leaving the reader with lingering questions about vengeance, nature, and the human spirit.

• 1850s: Whaling operates with minimal regulation. American whalers freely navigate the oceans, hunting whales in any waters.

  Today: In 1986, member nations of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) voted to prohibit commercial whaling. However, countries like Norway and Japan continue to hunt whales.

• 1850s: Americans persist in their westward expansion. The northern states' population surpasses the southern states by one million. Slaveholding states aim to extend their influence into new territories such as California and Utah. A compromise in 1850 maintains peace for a decade, but slavery evolves into a significant and divisive issue between the North and South.

  Today: Differences between northern and southern states persist, though not at constitutional levels. Slavery has long been abolished, but many African Americans still face racism. Foreign policy issues dominate the political agenda as America strives to uphold and expand its international influence.

• 1850s: In defiance of Calvinistic sobriety, many middle-class individuals explore hydropathy, hypnotism, and phrenology, though these are considered alternatives to mainstream religious and medical practices.

  Today: Advocates of alternative medicines like reflexology and aromatherapy promote them as comprehensive belief systems and replacements for conventional religion.

• 1850s: Body painting or tattooing is associated with paganism. Queequeg’s tattoos lead Ishmael to believe “that he must be some abominable savage or other shipped aboard of a whaler in the South Seas, and so landed in this Christian country.”

  Today: Tattoos and body piercings have gained widespread acceptance as fashion choices, alongside traditional jewelry.

• The first adaptation of Moby-Dick was a silent film titled The Sea Beast, released in 1926. John Barrymore starred as Ahab, and it was distributed by Warner Bros.
• In 1930, Warner Bros. produced a sound version of the novel, directed by Lloyd Bacon, with John Barrymore reprising his role as Ahab.
• The most famous adaptation is the 1956 color film directed by John Huston, featuring Gregory Peck as Ahab. While the film is a powerful and faithful rendition of the novel, opinions on the casting of Peck have been mixed. The cast also included Orson Welles, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, and Harry Andrews. The screenplay was written by John Huston and Ray Bradbury.
• In 1969, CBS News produced an educational film titled Moby Dick: The Great American Novel.
• An animated version called Moby Dick was produced by API Television Productions in 1977 and is available on video.
• George Kennedy's reading of the novel was released by "Listen for Pleasure Books on Cassette" in 1981.
• A radio dramatization was presented on NBC Theater and is available on a fifty-minute cassette in the Audio Library Classics series, distributed by Metacom in 1991.
• In 1992, Blackstone Audio Books produced a sound recording of the novel, read by Norman Dietz, on thirteen audiocassettes.
• A musical adaptation titled Moby Dick: A Whale of a Tale was staged in 1993 in London’s West End by Cameron Mackenzie. However, it was an unsuccessful adaptation and ran for only a few weeks.

Quotations from Moby-Dick are sourced from the following edition:
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick, edited by Charles Child Walcutt, Bantam Classic edition. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.

Other Sources
Ashley, Clifford W. The Yankee Whaler. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1926. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1991.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Interpretations: Moby-Dick. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.

Chase, Richard. “Melville and Moby-Dick.” In Melville: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Richard Chase. Prentice-Hall, 1962.

“Criticism and Context.” In Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, edited by Charles Child Walcutt, Bantam Classic edition. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.

Kazin, Alfred. “Introduction to Moby-Dick.” In Melville: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Richard Chase. Prentice-Hall, 1962.

Lee, A. Robert. “Moby-Dick as Anatomy.” In Herman Melville: Reassessments, edited by A. Robert Lee. Barnes & Noble, 1984.

McWilliams, John. “The Epic in the Nineteenth Century.” In The Columbia History of American Poetry. Columbia University Press, 1993.

McSweeney, Kerry. Moby-Dick: Ishmael’s Mighty Book. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1986.

Miller, Edwin Haviland. Melville. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1975.

Weaver, Raymond. Herman Melville: Mariner and Mystic. Oxford University Press, 1921.

For Further Study
Allen, Gay Wilson. Melville and His World. Thames & Hudson, 1971. An introduction to Melville’s life and era.

Arvin, Newton. Herman Melville. Methuen, 1950. A psychological, Freudian analysis of Melville, emphasizing his relationship with his mother.

Barbour, James. “The Composition of Moby-Dick.” In On Melville: The Best from American Literature, edited by Louis J. Budd and Edwin Cady. Duke University Press, 1988, pp. 203-20. A contemporary critical perspective on Melville’s narrative technique.

Bloom, Harold. Introduction to Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Chelsea House, 1986. An overview of the novel and an introduction to key critical essays.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Ahab. Chelsea House, 1991. A compilation of essays and critical excerpts.

Brodtkorb, Paul, Jr. “Ishmael: The Nature and Forms of Deception.” In Herman Melville, edited by Harold Bloom. Chelsea House, 1986, pp. 91-103. Brodtkorb examines the complexity of Ishmael’s narrative voice and perspective.

Camus, Albert. “Melville: Un Createur de mythes.” In Moby-Dick as Doubloon: Essays and Extracts (1851-1970), edited by Hershel Parker and Harrison Hayford. Norton, 1970. Melville has captivated French writers and critics, including Camus, more than any other American novelist of the nineteenth century.

Critical Essays on Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, edited by Brian Higgins and Hershel Parker. G. K. Hall, 1992. An updated collection of significant critical essays from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Fiedler, Leslie A. “Moby-Dick: The Baptism of Fire and the Baptism of Sperm.” In Love and Death in the American Novel. Meridian, 1962, pp. 520-52. Fiedler interprets the novel as a “love story” of “innocent homosexuality.”

Fieldsend, Andrew. “The Sweet Tongues of Cannibals: The Grotesque Pacific in Moby-Dick.” In Deep South, Vol. 1, No. 3, Spring, 1995. An article exploring Ishmael’s character development and the significance of the Pacific.

Freeman, John. Herman Melville. Macmillan, 1926. Freeman’s book aided in reviving Melville’s reputation during the 1920s.

Gale, Robert L. A Herman Melville Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, 1995. This comprehensive guide covers characters, plots, and biographical and historical information related to Melville and his works.

Gilmore, Michael T., ed. Moby-Dick: A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice-Hall, 1977. A compilation of classic essays and excerpts from significant critics.

Hayford, Harrison, Hershel Parker, and G. Thomas Tanselle. “Historical Note” to Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Vol. 6 of The Writings of Herman Melville. Northwestern University Press and the Newberry Library, 1988. This work provides a valuable overview of Melville’s life, the novel’s composition, and its critical reception over the years.

Higgins, Brian, and Hershel Parker, eds. Herman Melville: The Contemporary Reviews. Cambridge University Press, 1995. This book includes a reprint of the October 24, 1851, London Morning Advertiser article, which offers an extensive and favorable review of the three-volume English edition of Melville’s book.

Irwin, John T. “Melville: The Indeterminate Ground.” In American Hieroglyphics: The Symbol of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics in the American Renaissance. Yale University Press, 1980, pp. 285-349. Irwin explores the “inherently undecipherable character of the hieroglyph” as it appears in the novel.

Lewis, R. W. B. “Melville: The Apotheosis of Adam.” In The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century. University of Chicago Press, 1955, pp. 127-55. Lewis examines Melville’s role as a “myth-maker” in the context of American ideas of innocence.

McSweeney, Kerry. Moby-Dick: Ishmael’s Mighty Book. Twayne, 1986. McSweeney focuses on Ishmael to delve into Melville’s interests in psychology and metaphysics.

Miller, James Edwin. “Moby-Dick: The Grand Hooded Phantom.” In A Reader’s Guide to Herman Melville. Farrar, Strauss, and Cudahy, 1962, pp. 75-117. An introduction and analysis of the novel’s major themes.

Olson, Charles. Call Me Ishmael. City Lights, 1947. In this energetically poetic study, Olson interprets Moby-Dick as a “mythic odyssey.”

Parker, Hershel. Herman Melville: A Biography Vol. 1: 1819–1851. John Hopkins University Press, 1996. This detailed biographical study is the first volume of a planned two-volume set, providing exhaustive information on Melville’s early life up to the publication of Moby-Dick.

Parker, Hershel, and Harrison Hayford, eds. Moby-Dick as Doubloon: Essays and Extracts (1851-1970). Norton, 1970. A broad collection of reviews and reactions to the novel from its publication through 1970.

Sealts, Merton, Jr. Pursuing Melville. Wisconsin University Press, 1982. This book contains illuminating correspondence between Sealts and Charles Olson, discussing Melville’s philosophy.

Sedgwick, William Ellery. Herman Melville: The Tragedy of Mind. Harvard University Press, 1945. Sedgwick identifies parallels between Melville’s and Shakespeare’s development.

Wright, Nathalia. Melville’s Use of the Bible. Duke University Press, 1949. Wright traces Melville’s fascination with truth and signification back to Biblical influences.