Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

The Vow of Vengeance

Ahab tosses both arms aloft and declares with measureless imprecations that he will chase Moby Dick round Good Hope, round the Horn, round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before he gives him up. He declares that this is what they have shipped for—to chase that white whale on both sides of land and over all sides of earth till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out. He asks if they will splice hands on it, saying he thinks they look brave.

The Pasteboard Masks

When Starbuck objects that he came to hunt whales, not his commander’s vengeance, and questions what profit his vengeance will yield in the Nantucket market, Ahab dismisses monetary concerns. He explains that all visible objects are but pasteboard masks, and in each living act, some unknown but reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. He compares himself to a prisoner who must thrust through the wall to reach outside, declaring the white whale is that wall shoved near him. He explains that what he chiefly hates is the inscrutable thing’s inscrutable malice sinewing the whale’s strength, whether the whale is agent or principal. He claims he would strike the sun if it insulted him, invoking a kind of fair play where jealousy presides over all creations. He tells Starbuck that what is said in heat, that thing unsays itself, and apologizes for the intensity of his words. He argues that the crew is with him in this matter, citing Stubb’s laughter and a Chilean seaman’s snorting approval. When Starbuck remains silent, Ahab interprets this as tacit acquiescence, whispering aside that Starbuck now is his and cannot oppose him without rebellion.