Traces of Homer in Ishmael’s Double Vision

Abstract:Among the many complex stylistic features that contribute to the enduring appeal of Moby-Dick is Ishmael’s tendency to effect sudden, often perplexing shifts in attitude and tone of voice, particularly when describing activities associated with whaling. In recent years, Melville scholars have enriched our understanding of this narrative instability by applying Mikhail Bakhtin’s theoretical concepts, particularly his dialogical views of language, consciousness, and the novel. This essay argues along similar lines, and examines salient instances of tonal and rhetorical disjuncture in Ishmael’s narrative in light of their dialogical implications. However, the author also posits that some of Ishmael’s tonal anomalies strongly echo the discrepant and ambivalent narrative tone that can be found in Homer’s Iliad. The similarities in tonal discord are made all the more conspicuous by Ishmael’s prominent adoption of literary devices that are closely associated with the epic, such as hypallage and the Homeric simile. One potent effect of this dual-voiced echoing of Homeric narration is to illustrate the seductive resilience of heroic-epic attitudes towards martial glory and honor, which endure in the cultural consciousness, albeit in a state of dialogic tension with voices that value principles of peace, brotherhood, and compassion.