Plot Summary
Chapter 117 of Moby-Dick opens in the aftermath of a successful evening hunt in which four whales have been killed. Three carcasses are brought alongside the Pequod before nightfall, but the fourth, slain far to windward, cannot be reached until morning. Ahab's boat remains beside this distant whale through the night, the waif-pole thrust into the dead whale's spout-hole with a lantern casting a "troubled flickering glare" over the dark waters.
While Ahab's crew sleeps in the boat, only the Parsee (Fedallah) remains awake, crouching in the bow and watching sharks circle the whale's carcass. The scene is charged with supernatural dread: a moaning sound "like the moaning in squadrons over Asphaltites of unforgiven ghosts of Gomorrah" runs through the air. When Ahab starts awake, he finds himself face to face with Fedallah, and the two men seem like "the last men in a flooded world."
The Prophecy
Ahab reveals he has dreamed again of hearses, prompting Fedallah to repeat his enigmatic prophecy. The Parsee declares that Ahab cannot die on this voyage until two conditions are met: first, Ahab must see two hearses on the sea—one "not made by mortal hands" and one whose wood "must be grown in America." Second, Fedallah himself will go before Ahab as his pilot, and Ahab must see the Parsee again even after his death before Ahab himself can die. Finally, Fedallah adds a third pledge: "Hemp only can kill thee."
Ahab's Interpretation
Ahab interprets these conditions as virtual guarantees of his survival. He reasons that hearses cannot float on the ocean, that the prophecy about Fedallah acting as his forerunner is impossible to fulfill, and that "hemp" means the gallows—making him effectively immortal at sea. He laughs in derision, crying "Immortal on land and on sea!" His confidence, however, is built on a fatal misreading of the prophecy's riddling language.
Themes and Literary Significance
draws on the tradition of the equivocal prophecy—familiar from Shakespeare's Macbeth, where Birnam Wood and "none of woman born" seem to promise invincibility but carry hidden, literal meanings. Each of Fedallah's conditions will be fulfilled in unexpected ways during the final chase. The chapter also deepens the Faustian dimension of Ahab's character: his alliance with the mysterious Parsee increasingly resembles a pact with a demonic figure, and the nighttime setting amid circling sharks and ghostly sounds reinforces the sense that Ahab has crossed into a realm beyond ordinary human experience.