Starbuck’s Meditation on Ahab
Starbuck stands between the knight-heads, watching both the ship’s tumultuous passage and Ahab lurching along the deck. He reflects privately on the nature of life and destruction, comparing Ahab to a coal fire that burns brightly then wanes to dust. He wonders what will remain of this “old man of oceans” when all his “fiery life” has diminished to merely “one little heap of ashes.”
Stubb’s Comment on Ahab’s Resolve
Stubb responds to Starbuck’s meditation with characteristic irreverence, correcting him that these will be “sea-coal ashes—not your common charcoal.” He recalls hearing Ahab mutter about being dealt cards he must play. Concluding with grim approval, Stubb declares: “Ahab, but thou actest right; live in the game, and die in it!”
CHAPITRE 119. The Candles.
Chapter 119 depicts a violent typhoon striking the Pequod in Japanese waters. As the ship loses its sails and is reduced to bare poles, a crew member’s boat is stove in by heavy seas. Stubb responds to the disaster with defiant songs, drawing Starbuck’s rebuke. The captain argues that singing keeps up his spirits, and despite Starbuck’s attempts to restrain him, he continues his jocular ballad about the ocean. When the tempest reaches its peak, luminous flames appear on the yard-arms—the corpusants or St. Elmo’s fire—which the superstitious sailors interpret as an ominous sign. The phosphorescent light illuminates the crew members, including the giant negro Daggoo and the tattooed Queequeg, transforming them into ghostly figures. Starbuck interprets the burning masts as evidence of imminent disaster, while Stubb takes them as a promise of future wealth from the sperm oil they will harvest. The Parsee Fedallah is seen kneeling before Ahab at the mainmast’s base. Ahab seizes lightning rods and confronts the supernatural flames directly, delivering a defiant speech in which he acknowledges the fire’s power while insisting on his own personality and mastery. He kisses the fire as a son would kiss his father, yet maintains his antagonism toward it. The flames leap higher when he speaks, and the harpoon in his boat begins burning with forked fire—a sign Starbuck reads as divine warning against the voyage. Starbuck pleads with Ahab to abandon the hunt and return home, but Ahab extinguishes the burning harpoon with his breath and threatens to kill any sailor who attempts to flee. His words drive the crew to scatter in terror, much as men flee from an isolated tree in a storm because its prominence makes it a target for lightning.
CHAPITRE 119. The Candles.
The chapter opens with a meditation on how tropical climates nurture the most dangerous creatures and how serene skies may conceal devastating storms—specifically, the typhoons that plague the Japanese seas. The Pequod encounters such a tempest as darkness falls, losing all canvas and watching helplessly as a massive wave destroys Ahab’s boat. Stubb responds to the crisis with gallows humor, singing a comic song about the ocean’s playful cruelty while Starbuck orders the lowering of lightning rods. Ahab forbids this precaution, insisting on fair play despite their vulnerable position. The sky then erupts with corpusants—burning flames that crown every mast and yard-arm like ceremonial tapers. The enchanted crew stands transfixed beneath the supernatural light, their faces illuminated in the phosphorescent glow. Starbuck pushes Stubb to acknowledge the gravity of their situation, but Stubb interprets the flames as an auspicious sign promising abundance of sperm oil. As the light wanes, Starbuck and Stubb debate the omen’s meaning before the flames blaze again. Fedallah kneels at the mainmast’s base while Ahab, clutching the lightning rod links, launches into an extended monologue acknowledging the fire’s power while asserting his own sovereign will. He describes himself as the fire’s child, yet insists he will defy it to the last moment of his life. Thunder and lightning intensify as he speaks, and the harpoon in his boat begins burning with pale fire. Starbuck sees divine disapproval in the supernatural signs and begs Ahab to turn toward home. When the terrified crew begins moving toward the braces, Ahab snatches the burning harpoon and threatens to kill anyone who deserts. He then extinguishes the flame with a single breath, commanding such terror that the sailors flee from him like men fleeing a lightning-struck tree.
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