Plot Summary
With the Sperm Whale's enormous head already hanging from the Pequod's starboard side, the ship drifts into waters marked by patches of yellow brit—a sign that Right Whales are nearby. Although the Pequod is not commissioned to hunt Right Whales and the crew considers them inferior game, Captain Ahab unexpectedly orders that one be captured. and lower their boats in pursuit, and after a harrowing chase in which the whale nearly drags them into the ship's hull, they lance the creature to death as sharks swarm the fresh blood.
Stubb and Flask's Conversation About Fedallah
While making fast the Right Whale's carcass, Stubb and Flask engage in a revealing conversation. Flask explains that Fedallah claimed a ship with a Sperm Whale's head on the starboard side and a Right Whale's head on the larboard side can never capsize—a superstitious charm that apparently motivated Ahab's strange order. Stubb, deeply suspicious of Fedallah, declares he believes the Parsee is the devil in disguise, noting his snake-carved tusk, his habit of sleeping coiled in rigging, and his constant need for oakum to stuff in his boot-toes—supposedly to hide his devil's tail.
The Faustian Bargain
The conversation escalates into speculation about Ahab's relationship with Fedallah. Stubb theorizes that Ahab is "hard bent" after the White Whale, and the devil—Fedallah—is trying to strike a bargain with the captain, persuading him to trade his soul or his silver watch in exchange for Moby Dick. Stubb retells an old story about the devil requesting a man named John from a governor, receiving him, and giving him the Asiatic cholera—a parable that underscores the danger of dealing with infernal forces. Despite his bravado about confronting Fedallah physically, Stubb's jokes barely mask his genuine unease.
Philosophical Balance and Ominous Foreshadowing
Once the Right Whale's head is hoisted opposite the Sperm Whale's, the Pequod regains her even keel. draws a famous philosophical analogy: hoisting Locke's empiricism on one side and Kant's idealism on the other may balance a mind but leaves it "sorely strained." The chapter closes with Fedallah calmly studying the wrinkles in the Right Whale's head and comparing them to the lines in his own palm, as if reading the future, while his shadow blends with and lengthens Ahab's—a chilling image of the captain's fate becoming inseparable from the mysterious Parsee's influence.