Homosocial Relations in Melvilles Moby Dick

Moby Dick is one of the most complex and therefore one of the most challenging and
enjoyable novels ever written. There are manifold layers of meaning and interpretation of this
gorgeous literary piece by Melville, one of the most evident of which this essay attempts to
deal with. Though one of the most evident interpretations was mentioned, the case is in fact
somewhat more difficult, because to be able to catch the spirit of the implied symbolic
meaning of the homosocial relations this is inevitable to read the original English edition of
the opus. Had someone read a translated version of Moby Dick, it can be taken for granted that
the main implicit message of the novel remains undiscovered and it is only the literally
explicit content that comes through.
Homosocial relations, though, were not only ignored by those who did not have access to it
because of the insufficiency of the translation. The merican readers of the !"
th
century also
tended to disregard the implications inserted in the text by Melville. The interpretation that the
explicit first layer of meaning suggested was #so scabrous, and so craftily insinuated, that any
reader$s notice of it would amount to a self%accusation of filthy%mindedness& '(chneidau,
)ettey !"*+ #at a time and in a place where homosexuality was regarded with a horror&
',iedler -./+. )rudish puritans even if they understood, pretended to receive only the surface
of the content0 thus Moby Dick is still referred to by many as a novel of mere adventures.
This essay aims to reveal how Melville applied second thoughts and puns on the language
and implications to express his hatred and contempt towards the various values of the
patriarchal society. 1y the implications and ambiguous references to homosexuality Melville
wished to take revenge on the oppressive and intrusive patriarchal society, and wished to
provide some kind of alternative to patriarchy and a chance to return to the more feminine and
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more gentle matriarchy. ,irst we will see the precedents of Moby Dick2s homosocial
references in Melville2s previous literary pieces and we also take a look at Melville2s personal
life. Then the main factors and characteristics of the patriarchal society will be discussed to
reveal exactly what it is that Melville revolted against. fter this one of the protagonists,
namely the character of 3aptain hab will be analy4ed and dissected as the main
representative of the patriarchal society. ,inally the metaphoric marriage between 5uee6ueg
and 7shmael will be discussed, on the one hand as an alternative to patriarchy, and on the other
as Melville2s personal desire in opposition to male%female marriage.
s for Melville2s other pieces, there are also numerous references to homosexuality and
homoerotic relationships between males0 #7n Melville, there are several attempts at portraying
the appropriate mate, from Toby, who is the narrator$s companion in the valley of the Typees,
to the various avatars of 8ack 3hase, the Handsome (ailor who appears in person in White
Jacket and who haunted Melville until the end of his life. The (ailor is represented by
1ulkington in Moby Dick '9full six feet in height, with noble shoulders, and a chest like a
cofferdam:9+, and finally by 1illy himself in Billy Budd, whose dedication recalls in
Melville$s last days his first love0 9To 8ack 3hase :;herever that great heart may now be:9
1ut 1illy is 8ack 3hase recast in the image of ntino<s '9head like moss%rose with curls and
buds9+, so 9welkin%eyed,9 angelic and beautiful that he threatens to 6uite give away the
homosexual secret he embodies& ',iedler -*=+. (o as we can see, Melville incased many
allusions to homosexuality in his previous pieces of literature as well, and this is not only
attributed to coincidental and casual love affairs taking place between in exclusively male
communities such as the crew of a ship, but it is rather due to Melville2s personal conviction
and sexual orientation. Though in any of Melville2s biographies one may read that he was a
married man and had children, in reality he was a latent homosexual, and though it is true
what >obert ?. Martin says, that this is not #merely the reflection of Melville$s personal
=
predispositions& 'Martin @/+ that led Melville in writing, but this is also true that it had a
significant driving force as well. ccording to ,iedler, there is a tradition of the portrayal of
6uasi%homosexual pseudo%marriages in the European novel as well, referring to the male
partnerships of >obinson 3rusoe and Aon 5uixote. 7n fact these novels were not on a par with
Moby Aick, because their portrayal of the male relationships was homoerotic neither on the
literal nor on the symbolic level, and only represented the subordinate relationship between
master and servant.
7n Moby Dick this kind of subordination is also present, but its significance lays not in the
homosexual relationship, but on the contrary, in the denial of that and everything that may be
connected to it. (ubordination and oppression are two of the characteristic features of
patriarchal society, against which Melville, as we will later see, introduced homosexuality as
an alternative way of managing things. 7n Moby Dick Melville chose 3aptain hab as the
representative of all of the values or rather the detriments of ;estern 3hristian patriarchal
societies. hab and his ship, the )e6uod, can be taken as the whole of the merican, or in
general, as either of the imperialist nations. ,or the Bnited (tates was imperialistic as well,
just consider the westward movement backed up by the ideology of manifest destiny. The
merican westward expansion and the extermination or suppression of the continent2s
indigenous people is symboli4ed by the merican 7ndian on board, namely Tashtego. 1esides
Tashtego the two other harpooners were also non%whites0 5uee6ueg was a )olinesian
Ccannibal2 and Aagoo was a huge Degro from frica. ;ith the black people of the crew
another major problem of the !"
th
century turns up in Moby Dick0 the issue of slavery and
slave holding which, like every way of oppression, is also the symbol of the masculine
demonstration of manpower and aggression. The subaltern position of the harpooners stands
for the subordinate existence of the coloni4ed. 1esides these three main characters there were
other non%white people on board as well, for example hab2s personal apprentice, the )arsee,
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or the chef of the ship. 1y positing the representatives of the racial other into the stereotypical
position of the oppressed, Melville indirectly revolts against their status. Melville introduced
the implicit notion of homosexuality as a counterpart of the aggressive and assertive
experiences of patriarchy, and he did this being aware of that in merican #native mythology
the tie between male and male is not only considered innocent, it is taken for the very symbol
of innocence itselfE for it is imagined as the only institutional bond in a paradisal world in
which there are no 'heterosexual+ marriages& ',iedler -./+. The innocent homosexuality of
7shmael and 5uee6ueg smoothly defies hab and the world and values he stands for0
according to Melville, these worthless values are doomed for extinction and hence the
demolition of )e6uod takes place at the end of the novel, while on the other hand 7shmael
survives.
The notion of imperialism is firmly connected to the concept of capitalism, which is also a
characteristic feature of the pushy patriarchal societies. The whale hunt can be understood as a
metaphoric pursuit for wealth and capitalistic search for power, where white men2s 6uest is
kept in motion by the sweat of the colored men. The aim of the capitalist endeavor is the oil in
heads of the whales, that is, the Csperm2 of the whales. The ambiguous meaning of the word
Csperm2 gave Melville the opportunity to create a sophisticated allegory and a pun upon it and
to exploit the dual meaning to the extremes, thus implying homosexual and masturbatory
connotations in the otherwise innocent literal meaning. The main metaphoric masturbation
takes place when (tubb and his harpooners capture a sperm%whale and 7shmael with his
fellow sailormen start to s6uee4e the oil, i.e. the sperm out of the whale2s head. 7n his
enthusiasm and ecstasy felt over the sperm%s6uee4ing, 7shmael begins to paw and finger the
hands of other sailor and thus a non%literal common masturbatory event starts off0 #(6uee4eF
s6uee4eF s6uee4eF all the morning longE 7 s6uee4ed that sperm till 7 myself almost melted into
itE 7 s6uee4ed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over meE and 7 found myself
G
unwittingly s6uee4ing my co%laborers$ hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle
globules. (uch an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation begetE
that at last 7 was continually s6uee4ing their hands, and looking up into their eyes
sentimentallyE as much as to say,% HhF my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish
any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill%humor or envyF 3omeE let us s6uee4e hands all
roundE nay, let us all s6uee4e ourselves into each otherE let us s6uee4e ourselves universally
into the very milk and sperm of kindness& 'Melville chptr."G+. Thus the capitalistic hunt for
whales and search for the wealth enclosed in the heads of the whales was turned into a
homoerotic gang%bang of the sailors, and so Melville exploited the disliked patriarchal feature
of capitalism as a metaphor of his idealistic world of male eroticism. Masturbation was
important for Melville #both as a liberating act of self%discovery and as a social act, a denial
of the attempt to appropriate sexual energies for productivity& 'Martin @G+, that is,
masturbation was essential for those who believed in the purity and nobleness of man%and%
man relationship and refused the ignoble lust of man for woman.
>efusal of the relationship with women, however, does not necessarily mean the rejection of
the feminine values by Melville. Hn the contrary, Melville though opposed marriage, and #to
no one did marriage seem so utterly )aradise lost ':+E to no one did bachelorhood appear so
enviable a state&',iedler -G!%-G=+, he intended to maintain the feminine values as an
alternative to those of patriarchy. s ,iedler suggests, there are further hints of Melville2s
refusal of female marriage in Moby Dick0 #the last glimpse of joy and peace enjoyed by the
crew of the Pequod comes in their encounter with another whaler named the Bachelor
',iedler -G=+. ccording to this and despite Melville2s own marriage the conventional
institution of marriage was disrespected by the author and he replaced it with the 6uasi%
marriage of 7shmael and 5uee6ueg, of which later in more details. Though traditional male%
female relationships were turned down by Melville, he was even more upset about the
.
patriarchal exploitation of women, just as he was upset about the patriarchal coloni4ation and
the patriarchal oppression of the coloni4ed. 7n Moby Dick the oppression of and aggression
against women may be symboli4ed by the act of whale%hunt itself. Hunting for whales is one
of hab2s metaphoric violations of matriarchy, that is, women. 7n one understanding the
whale symboli4es nature, which, according to the nature%cults previous to the initiation of the
patriarchal system of the 3hristianity, owns the attributes of the female sex, hence the name
Cmother%nature2. hab and his harpooners, in the name of wealth%making, symbolically chase
the whales through the oceans, but eventually it turns out that mother%nature cannot be
overcome, and thus everyone who attempts to destroy her, perishes. hab2s firm decision to
capture and kill the ;hite ;hale foreshadows his ultimate aim to reali4e men2s patriarchal
rights over women, and to reali4e the overlord status of men as coloni4ers over the racial
other. 7n the chapter #,ast ,ish and Ioose ,ish& Melville linked the issue of the slaves,
colonies and women together in a fishing metaphor, suggesting that the status of the three are
similar, for all of them are restricted in their libertiesE the slave by his master, the colonies by
the imperialist coloni4ers, and the women by their husbands. ccording to the fishing
metaphor women are compared to fish, or as it was suggested earlier, to whales, which are
harpooned, that is, in terms of human terminology, they are married, which results in their
subordination, just as it happens to the harpooned whales. The overall pursuit for property,
including women, did not appeal to Melville, which is an additional factor that made him
refuse the traditional institution of male%female marriage. The implicit union of 7shmael and
5uee6ueg is an alternative for the social reorgani4ation in order to create a more on%a%par and
e6ual standard of relationship between humans, based on affection and the respect for the
other.
ncient matriarchal systems, as it was mentioned, were overthrown by the patriarchal
8udeo%3hristian religion in the western and middle%east cultures. This system attempted to
*
eradicate the former matriarchy and the interconnected nature%cults, which, as the pantheistic
religions in general, fetishi4ed the different segments of nature and worshipped certain natural
elements. The 3atholic religion, when possessed the appropriate infrastructure and
administrational system, turned against the so%called pagan sects and made a more or less
successful attempt to exterminate the cult of the female sex and pagan goddesses. Aue to this
patriarchy took over the place of matriarchy, which was, on the contrary to the recent
patriarchal system, based rather on the balance of the two poles of the opposite sexes than on
the overrepresentation of either side. 7n Melville2s view the patriarchal system became
extremely intrusive and overrepresented during the centuries of 3hristianity, and he opposed
to the canonical propaganda of the 3hurch that everything without the 3hurch is evil. Melville
intended to decompose, even if only metaphorically, the hypocritical attitude of the 3hurch
and the representatives of the 3hurch too. Though the representatives and the members of the
3hurch consider themselves as immaculate in morals and flawless in deeds, Melville applies
numerous puns and jokes to point out the vices of these conceited and complacent men of
religion. Hn the one hand Melville emphasi4es the contradiction between the principles of
5uakerism that stress peacefulness, tran6uility and social e6uality, which characteristics do
not coincide with the actual deeds and morals of the 5uaker whale%hunters in Moby Dick, and
the cannibalistic racial other, be it 5uee6ueg or anyone else, who behaves in a more 3hristian
way than the 3hristian members of the crew of the )e6uod. Hn the other hand, through the
jokes in Moby Dick, Melville calls attention to the abuses and misbehavior within the 3hurch.
7n the sentence $$;hat a candidate for an archbishoprick, what a lad for a )ope were this
mincerF$$ 'Melville chptr.".. + Melville lucidly refers to the latent homosexuality and
pederasty showing up within religious male communities such as 3atholic bishoprics or the
)ope2s residencyE again Melville gives a turn of the screw by that he accuses the hypocritical
@
clergymen, not without malice but not without well%established suspicion either, of
committing sins that they themselves condemned.
(ome of the phallic jokes were also designed to make a blasphemous assault on the
clergymen. Hne of them makes a pun on the cassock by comparing it to #the skin of the
whale$s own penis, suitably trimmed& '(chneidau, )ettey !"J+. Hther jokes are not always this
obvious, but rather have a more metaphoric and symbolic meaning. Hut of the four major
phallic symbols to be mentioned here three are, in one way or another, connected to 3aptain
hab, as the symbols of patriarchy. Hne of them is the harpoon, which can be referred to as a
sexual metaphor0 as it was mentioned earlier, Melville uses a fishing metaphor that can be
applied to women either0 that women are harpooned refers obviously to the sexual intercourse
taking place between man and woman and the marriage that comes afterwards. The harpoon,
as the main instrument of the imperialist hab, represents patriarchy and it is the symbol of
aggressive heterosexuality which is linked to the desire of con6uest and ownership. nother
phallic symbol is the ;hite ;hale itself, Moby Aick. Though it may sound a little bit strange
that Moby Aick, whom in this essay we have already referred to as the embodiment of
mother%nature, can also be a phallic symbol, that is, a metaphor of the patriarchal society.
Devertheless, this duality of Moby Aick is tangible0 the ;hale is pursued by hab as the
representative of the mother%nature, and at the same time it is worshipped and marveled at by
the captain as the symbol of masculinity and patriarchy0 the name Moby Aick itself is a slang
expression for phallus. ,rom another point of view Moby Aick can be understood as a whale
being chased because of Melville2s own hatred towards the relationship with women and
hatred towards the values of patriarchy as well. The third phallic symbol that can be
connected to hab is his artificial leg which #is a marvelous synecdoche for his mechanical,
contrived self and a perpetual phallic energy that can never be relieved& 'Martin "-+.
J
Hne of the major phallic symbols is linked to the, by Melvillian measures, positive
characters of the novel, namely 7shmael and 5uee6ueg. Their implicit homosexual love is
sealed by smoking 5uee6ueg2s tomahawk pipe. This object, on the contrary to the harpoon,
which is a symbol of aggressive masculinity, has a dual nature, and it can stand for a weapon
of war as well as for an instrument of peace. The double nature of this instrument symboli4es
the dual nature of men, and it is also a symbol of Melville2s intention to reconcile the 7ndians
and the white settlers of the Bnited (tates. This symbol is the sign of the metaphoric marriage
of 7shmael and 5uee6ueg, by which marriage Melville offers an alternative to the dominant
social patterns of the !"
th
century merican society. mong the members of the crew of the
)e6uod, these two males represent the feminine and maternal attributes, and 7shmael2s
survival at the end of the novel means, in Melville2s view, that their relationship is not merely
an alternative to patriarchal values, but it is the exclusive way out of the decadence of
patriarchy. 7t has a great significance that 5uee6ueg and 7shmael spent their wedding night on
the land and not on the shipE in fact there is no further reference that the two of them or
anyone else had sexual intercourse on the ship, probably for the reason that Melville did not
want to degrade the importance of their 6uasi%homoerotic relationship by creating homosexual
couples in the all%male community of the ship. Thus the significance of the male bond
between 7shmael and 5uee6ueg increases because on the land 7shmael had the choice whether
to go to bed with another male or to have a girl company. nd 7shmael did not choose the
une6ual heterosexual relationship but chose the homosexual one based on e6uality, and from
this on, the novel cannot be simply read as one of adventures and whale%hunt, but it should be
read as a story of emancipatory endeavors. The relationship between the two, though, is not
always that obvious0 when 7shmael first meets 5uee6ueg, he is afraid of his tattooed dark
skin, his tomahawk, and the shrunken heads the cannibal carries, and 7shmael also shows the
other side of his self hen he swears fealty to hab. However, 7shmael wakes in the embrace of
"
the )olinesian cannibal after the night they spent in the same bed, and by this time he is calm
and feels safe. The intimidating tomahawk in the morning turns into a peace%pipe that they
smoke as the sign of friendship. 5uee6ueg even claims that he would die for 7shmael, and in
fact, in the end of the story it will be 5uee6ueg2s coffin that saves 7shmael2s life. Their
peaceful and co4y honeymoon seems to end after they get on board, but the chapter #The
Monkey%>ope& #presents, in effect, a picture of married life after the honeymoon& ',iedler
-@*+. Iet alone this scene 7shmael and 5uee6ueg do not fre6uently meet each other0
5uee6ueg is placed into another hunting ship, and since hab turns up in the book the theme
of love and marriage is pushed into the background, but in the end this is 5uee6ueg2s love and
devotion that saves 7shmael from drowning.
s we could have seen, Moby Dick is indeed a gorgeous literary piece with manifold layers
of meaning. Moby Dick, on the literal level, can be an exciting reading for even children, but
for those who wish to understand the author2s real intentions it is highly recommended to read
the original, English language edition of the book, to be able to understand the main message
that can be read only between the lines of the original text. possible interpretation of the
novel could have been read above, concerning Melville2s opposition to the values of the
patriarchal societies. Though Melville2s alternative may be an appalling one, it must be noted
that he did not obviously visuali4e the utopia of an all%male society, and it is not necessarily
suggested that it is exclusively homosexuality that may be the alternative to patriarchy, but
evidently, because of Melville2s predispositions, it was an obvious choice to portray another
option.
!/
Works cited
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick; or the Whale. http0KKwww.online%
literature.comKmelvilleKmobydickK
,iedler, Ieslie . Love and Death in the American Novel. Dew Lork0 (tein and Aay,
!"**.
>obert ?. Martin. Hero !a"tain and #tran$er% Male &riend'hi" #ocial !ritique
and Literary &orm in the #ea Novel' o( Herman Melville) 3hapel Hill, D30 B of Dorth
3arolina ). !"J*.
(chneidau, Herbert D.E )ettey, Homer 1.0 #Melville$s 7cthyphallic Mod&.
#tudie' in American &iction *De"t o( +n$li'h Northea'tern ,niv) Bo'ton MA- '=*0=+
Nutumn !""JO , p.!"-%=!=.
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