Plot Summary
Chapter 70 of Moby-Dick, titled "The Sphynx," opens with a detailed description of the difficult art of beheading a sperm whale. Melville explains that because the whale has no proper neck—the thickest part of its body is where head and torso meet—the surgeon must operate from eight to ten feet above, cutting deep into the flesh and dividing the spine at a critical point near the skull, all while working over a turbulent sea. Stubb boasts he can accomplish this feat in just ten minutes.
The Severed Head
Once the Pequod's whale has been decapitated and stripped, the enormous head—comprising nearly one third of the whale's bulk—is hoisted against the ship's side, half-submerged in the ocean. Melville compares it to the head of the giant Holofernes hanging from the girdle of Judith. At noon, the crew goes below for dinner, leaving the deck in silence under an "intense copper calm" that spreads like a "universal yellow lotus" across the sea.
Ahab’s Soliloquy
Captain Ahab emerges alone from his cabin, takes Stubb's spade, and leans over the massive head, gazing intently at it. He describes it as a "black and hooded head" resembling the Sphynx in the desert. In a powerful soliloquy, Ahab commands the head to speak and reveal its secrets: it has dived deeper than any creature, rested among drowned sailors and sunken navies, witnessed locked lovers leaping from a burning ship, and seen a murdered mate thrown overboard by pirates. Ahab declares the head has "seen enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham," yet it remains utterly silent.
The Interruption
Ahab's brooding meditation is broken by a triumphant cry of "Sail ho!" from the masthead. Ahab, suddenly energized, welcomes the news. He reflects on the connection between the physical world and the human soul, musing that "not the smallest atom stirs or lives on matter, but has its cunning duplicate in mind." The approaching ship brings a breeze to the becalmed Pequod, and the chapter closes on a note of renewed momentum after the stillness of Ahab's encounter with the silent, sphinx-like head.