Plot Summary
In Chapter 82 of Moby-Dick, Ishmael pauses the narrative to celebrate the ancient honor and noble lineage of whaling. He declares that his research into the profession has revealed an illustrious fraternity of demigods, heroes, saints, and prophets who have all, in one way or another, distinguished themselves as whalemen. By associating whaling with these legendary figures, Ishmael elevates a humble maritime trade into a calling worthy of the highest respect.
Key Characters and Events
Ishmael begins with Perseus, whom he names "the first whaleman" and "prince of whalemen." Perseus rescued Andromeda from a sea monster—a Leviathan—by harpooning it at the first dart, an exploit Ishmael considers unsurpassed even by modern harpooneers. He notes that in ancient Joppa (modern Jaffa), a vast whale skeleton was displayed in a pagan temple and later carried to Rome in triumph. He then turns to St. George, arguing that the dragon slain by England’s patron saint was actually a whale, since “whales and dragons are strangely jumbled together” in old chronicles. Ishmael reasons that Nantucket whalemen deserve enrollment in the Order of St. George more than its current knights. Next comes Hercules, who was swallowed and thrown up by a whale—making him at least an “involuntary whaleman.” The Greek myth of Hercules leads naturally to Jonah, whose Hebrew story of being swallowed by a whale is closely related.
Themes and Analysis
The chapter’s central theme is the dignity and mythological stature of whaling. uses Ishmael’s irreverent logic and creative reinterpretation of mythology to argue that whaling belongs alongside the noblest human endeavors. The rhetorical strategy of claiming legendary heroes as fellow whalemen serves a dual purpose: it elevates the profession while also gently mocking the pretensions of aristocratic orders like the knights of St. George. Melville’s characteristic humor is on full display as Ishmael insists that a dragon must be a whale and that Hercules qualifies as a whaleman because “the whale caught him, if he did not the whale.”
The Role of Vishnoo
The chapter culminates with Vishnoo (Vishnu), one of the three persons in the Hindu godhead, whom Ishmael names the “grand master” of the whaling fraternity. According to the Shaster, Vishnoo became incarnate in a whale to dive to the ocean depths and rescue the sacred Vedas after the world’s periodic dissolution. With this final figure, Ishmael’s roll call of whalemen ascends from hero to saint to demigod to prophet to god itself. He closes triumphantly: “Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there’s a member-roll for you!”