Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Hypothetical death by spermaceti

The narrator muses that had Tashtego perished in that head, it would have been a precious death—smothered in the whitest, daintiest fragrant spermaceti, coffined in the whale’s inner sanctum. He compares this to the “delicious death” of an Ohio honey-hunter who leaned too far into a hollow tree filled with honey and was sucked in, dying embalmed. He concludes with a philosophical question: “How many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato’s honey head, and sweetly perished there?”

第七十九章 The Prairie.

This chapter presents the narrator’s attempt to read the physiognomy and phrenology of the Sperm Whale, comparing the challenge to deciphering a leviathan’s features with Lavater scrutinizing Gibraltar or Gall manipulating the Pantheon. Ishmael acknowledges his lack of qualification as a pioneer in applying these “semi-sciences” to the whale but commits to doing his best, echoing his motto of trying all things and achieving what he can.

Physiognomy of the Whale

The Sperm Whale is described as an anomalous creature when regarded physiognomically. Noting that Lavater studied not only human faces but also attentively examined horses, birds, serpents, and fish, and that Gall and Spurzheim offered hints about other beings’ phrenological characteristics, the narrator resolves to apply these sciences to the whale despite his limited qualifications.

The Nose of the Sperm Whale

The Sperm Whale has no proper nose, and since the nose is typically the most central and conspicuous feature controlling the combined expression of the face, its absence should significantly affect the whale’s countenance. The narrator draws an analogy to landscape gardening, where a spire or tower completes the scene, arguing that no face can be physiognomically complete without an elevated “open-work belfry of the nose.” However, the whale’s mighty magnitude renders this deficiency not a blemish but an added grandeur—a nose would have been impertinent.