Brittany Frasca Eng 471 Research Paper 12.9.

2011

Moby-Dick and the Dragon - What Lies Beneath the Surface?

Introduction This topic caught my interest because as I was reading Moby-Dick I noticed a line where there was a comparison of dragons and whales, which will be provided later in this paper. It mentioned that only a Perseus, St. George, or Coffin (the Nantucket whaling family) can slay a dragon while referring to Moby-Dick. This got me to ponder the idea of dragons and whales and their very natures. As a young child I was always interested in dragons, myths, and folklore. My sketchbook was full of sketches of various depictions of dragons and Id get lost in fantasy books where they ran amok depicting various lores. St. George, likewise, ran rampant in my childhood because I grew up with a version of him in my mind. Weve had a painting of St. George in our entryway for as long as I can remember, mostly due to the fact that my Dad was confirmed with his name. I wanted to explore the ideas of St. George, Captain Ahab, the dragon, and Moby-Dick on a more in depth level and see how they could be related or contrasted as well as how they became so culturally significant in their respective countries. As well as the juxtaposition of St. George and Captain Ahab as they are paradoxical in relation to each other as are their tales and yet they are, in theory, fighting for the same cause. The Tale of St. George This story is a prime example of a savior and conversion tale. It takes place in a city in England called Lasia (though the locale is debated in the different variations of the legend) where there lived a godless King and his people. In the city there was a large sized lake where the people would go to get their water. A plague-infested dragon dwelled envenoming all the country-side;

to appease the dragon the people of Lasia would feed it two sheep a day. Eventually the sheep failed to appease the dragon. They then began to feed the dragon their own children using a lottery system to select the unlucky little one. The lot then fell upon King Selinuss daughter, Princess Sabra. The King then offered up all his gold, silver, and half of his Kingdom to spare the Princess, but the people refused and commanded the Princess be sacrificed. Princess Sabra was sent to the lake adorned in bridal attire to be forfeited to the dragon. It was by chance that Saint George rode by on horseback noticing the trembling Princess. St. George refused to leave the Princesss side and upon the dragons arrival St. George fortified himself with the sign of the cross and charged the dragon on horseback wounding him with his lance. Using the Princesss girdle the dragon became leashed and followed the Princess meekly around. Leading the dragon to town, St. George promised to slay the dragon before the town if they consent to become Christians and be baptized. The people of the city consented and the dragon was slain and 15,000 people were converted. Upon the site of the slain dragon the King built a church to the Blessed Virgin and St. George and from the altar a spring arose whose water cured all disease. The people who were poisoned by the dragons envenomed waters were cured and Saint George became the patron Saint of England. Dragons and the Dragon Lore on Dragons Dragon legends have existed in history, literature, and popular culture for centuries. Though the evolution of the dragon has shifted throughout the ages and transformed through the eyes of different cultures. Some cultures believe the dragons existed with the dinosaurs, others believe that they only ever lived in the myths passed from one generation to the next. As Estelle Alma Mare claims, In literate societies the dragons lineage is ancient and varied. In oriental cultures,

most notably those of Japanese and Chinese, dragons were imagined as benevolent creatures and depicted as atmospheric and celestial manifestations (195). This implies that the Eastern view of dragons was as a manifestation of a deity. The dragon in this instance is powerful and rules the sky and the Earth. This kind of dragon is one that is a helpful and powerful protector of the people. However, the dragon is seen differently by different cultures, especially when moving from the East westward, The Western dragon lore, by contrast, has its origins in the Babylonian myth in which Tiamat was the mother of all dragons and the daughter of primordial chaos (Mare, 195). Here there is an allusion to the myth that is the struggle against chaos in which a hero deity is battling against a chaos monster. In this case the monster of chaos is often in the shape of a serpent or dragon. This is one of the first accounts of dragons being the wreakers of havoc within the Earth. This myth is possibly the origin in which dragons become evil and are seen as creatures needing to be vanquished. This is where the myth has typically stayed within western culture through the ages. To this day, the dragon is still seen as an evil figure, Later, in the western mind the dragon was associated with the serpent, who in the Genesis myth was blamed for all the evil that befell the human race (Mare, 195). This is the dragon lore that most resembles the dragon that features in the St. George myth. The dragon decides to poison the water supply in hopes of getting the people to serve him which is similar to what the serpent that plays throughout the Bible wants as well. Its a motif within religious cultures to have the serpent or dragon be a malevolent character that antagonizes the humans created by the Lord. Description of the Dragon Like the lore on dragons, their features have changed to go along with the new versions of their myths. Some cultures depict them as snake-like and feathered such as the reptilian god

Quetzalcoatl in the ancient Aztec culture who played a major role in the creation of mankind. Others depict them with long and slender snake bodies and without wings. They are as varied as the cultures which claim them, In popular Western depictions and descriptions, the dragon assumes monstrous proportions and is most often described as an enormous, winged serpent-like beast, half reptile, half mammal. It has a scaly body and a powerful tail, and is four legged like a crocodile, with protruding teeth and eyes, sharp claws and the capacity to exhale fire or noxious gas (Mare, 195-6). This description given by Mare is still the most popular today and what comes to mind when many contemporary minds are asked to describe a dragon. However, just because this is the common mental image that pops up in contemporary minds doesnt mean that it is the only subscribed view of dragons. While Moby-Dick was being written it would have been easy to believe that sea dragons still raged on in the seven seas. It is here that Melville grasped the idea of the connection between the mighty leviathan and the dragon. The Metaphor Dragons as a metaphor stand for different things depending on the culture telling the tale. The eastern dragons stand for power, knowledge, and protection. While the western dragon stand for evil, heathen ways of life, the devil, the sins of anger, and the corruption of power. This is often why dragons steal away maiden virgins and horde goal in certain legends. So, therefore the slaying of one leads to the protection of the people, a peace swept over the land, and natural order restored to the land. St. George The Greek/Latin George There is another accepted version of the identity of St. George based on two sources, Greek and Latin. The tale according to the Greeks, St. George's father died for his Christianity while he was

still a child and his mother fled with him to Palestine. Upon growing up there he became a Roman soldier and used his inheritance from mother's death to establish a position at Roman Emperor Diocletian's court (ruled 284-305 AD). Diocletian persecuted Christians and St. George distributed his wealth and proclaimed himself a Christian in front of the Emperor. St. George was sentenced to death due to this proclamation. "There followed a grisly series of tortures: George was crushed with heavy stones, bound to a wheel set with sharp blades, cast into a pit of quicklime, made to run in red-hot iron shoes, boiled in molten lead, scourged, and forced to drink poison; but after each episode, he was miraculously restored to life and health. Between tortures, George apparently found time to salute a passing angel, raise a man (and an ox) from the dead, and instruct his servant that after his death his body to was to be taken to Lydda, in Palestine for burial. Finally, by making the sign of the cross he caused all the statues of the gods to fall before him. This miracle converted the Empress Alexandra to Christianity" (Hogarth, 18). After the conversion of the Empress both were sentenced to death. This time St. George was decapitated and his death stuck. This story is important as it has specific references to the miracles required of being canonized as a Saint. According to Catholics the canonization of a Saint must have proof of their divine qualities and relationship to God - there must be at least two miracles performed by the Saint. That was one thing that the story of Saint George had been lacking in the story presented earlier and why it can be assumed this might be the Saint George of Legend as well. The Latin tale was similar except Diocletian was a Persian Emperor, Dacian, and the torture went on for eight years and contained more creative methods of torture. The conversion to Christianity count was much higher and even more people were raised from the dead. Still there is debate whether these St. George's are different men or whether this is the man in which the

Saint George legend is created (Hogarth, 18). So, the question is, why the change into the dragon slayer if he is indeed the same man? As a Patron Saint of England it might make more sense. Cultural Significance The tale of Saint George picked up in popularity due to the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) by Dominican Jacques de Voragine which was written between 1260-1275 A.D. It was one of the first compilations of the lives of the Saints and was a best-seller in the late medieval period. Since the popularity of this Saint has arisen hes continued to be seen as a hero and savior of heathen cities, even having England claim him as their Patron Saint. The Roman Catholic Church even officially canonized him so those confirming their faith can use his name as their Catholic one in the hope that they too might become brave. Hes iconic because hes gallant, brave, and has a mighty deity on his side. St. George is seen as a hero because he conquers the evil that humans have been battling since their creation, the metaphor of the serpent. He cleanses the Pagan lifestyle of Lasia and brings religion and peace to the people. That is why the story has lived through the ages, Because of the obvious symbolism of evil in the form of a dragon being vanquished by a noble hero, many Christian dragon slayers (St. Martha, St. Phillip [the apostle], St. Radeguix, St. Clement, St. Armentaire, St. Michael [the archangel], St. Margaret, and St. Magnus are the others) were dignified with Sainthood and bore the emblem of the dragon. Depictions of these saints show them slaying a dragon with a sword or lance and trampling it underfoot, thus symbolizing the triumph of Christianity over evil and the banishment of Paganism from the Earth (Mare, 196-7). This tale became integrated into the very foundation of England because St. George took the godless and suffering people and gave them hope, salvation, protection, and a fountain of healing. Its important because St. George saved the people and was the protector of England. He brought religion and peace to the entire country

through this story and showed it was a beloved nation. As well the prevalent cultural motif of knights, nobles, and heroes within England around. England has a long history of knighthood and it makes sense that they would choose a mighty knight as their saint. Moby-Dick, or The Whale Moby-Dick begins with the wandering Ishmael who is looking for a ship to sign up on to work as a Sailor again with his new friend Queequeg. They sign up with the whaling ship the Pequod commanded by Captain Ahab. Soon the crew discovers that Ahab only has one true purpose, to hunt down the elusive great white whale Moby-Dick. He is a sperm whale known to crash ships and wreak havoc out at sea. Ishmael learns that it was this whale that met with Captain Ahab previously and was the one that took his leg and drives Ahab into revenge and madness. The novel goes on to explain the descent to madness and revenge that Ahab goes through, gives details about the crew, and follows the ship on the voyage to hunt the whale. Along the way the ship is described, the biology of whales of the time period, the meetings with other ships at sea, the real intention of the voyage, and a commentary on the United States. This, of course, is a gross simplification of a great American novel in order to give background and doesn't do the novel the justice it deserves. The Leviathan and Moby-Dick The Leviathan The leviathan is a sea monster referred to in the Bible. It sometimes refers to one of the seven Princes of Hell and its gatekeeper. The word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature. A word to describe an encounter with a sea monster when you are not certain of what you have come across. However, Melville uses the term leviathan to refer to whales in Moby-Dick. In the novel at one point he refers to whales as dragons, Akin to the

adventure of Perseus and Andromeda indeed, by some supposed to be indirectly derived from it is that famous story of St. George and the Dragon; which dragon I maintain to have been a whale; for in many old chronicles whales and dragons are strangely jumbled together, and often stand for each other. Thou art as a lion of the waters, and as a dragon of the sea, saith Ezekiel; hereby, plainly meaning a whales; in truth, some versions of the Bible use that word itself. Besides, it would much subtract from the glory of the exploit had St. George but encountered a crawling reptile of the land, instead of doing battles with the great monster of the seep. Any man may kill a snake, but only a Perseus, a St. George, a Coffin, have the heart in them to march boldly up to a whale (Melville, 285). As mentioned in the section on dragon lore, historically speaking there have been those who believe that dragons begin life in the sea and evolve in their lifetimes to become land-bound. Here it could refer to the leviathans being their form when they begin life, which would explain why these two seemingly very different creatures become jumbled in history and myth. Stated in the quotation only someone with a mighty heart and courage can slay a beast of this size and therefore these kinds of slayers become linked forever in history and legend. Whales as Commerce To fully understand why whaling voyages were important in the 1800s knowing what the voyagers got as an end result is imperative. Whales were used for their meat, oil, blubber, bones, and teeth; whalers would use the entirety of the whales they captured. During the 19th century there was an increase in the demand for margarine which began to use whale blubber as a main ingredient. They were also used for whale steaks, oil to produce light and candle wax, bones for corsets, etc. The reason for Sperm Whales being such a high commodity was that they could hold as much as three tons of their oil for use, the meat could be consumed like other whales, and the

oil was a basis for a protective paint for steel. To capture Sperm Whales and break them down into useable parts whalers could make a good amount of money due to the large demand during that time period as different parts of whales could be used for various products. This means that whaling could be used to make a fine living if you were a Captain, the owners of the ship, or just higher up on the list of sailors just because of how much the people of the United States relied on the supplies made as the end result of the whaling ventures. Moby-Dick as a Metaphor Moby-Dick as a literary character is more than just a whale that went rampant crashing ships, killing sailors, and eating legs. Moby-Dick stands as the untamable nature that is present in the world. He's the embodiment of nature when it is being pursued and refuses to be captured. He can also be seen as the embodiment of fate within the known world, "the outblown rumors of the White Whale did in the end incorporate with themselves all manner of morbid hints, and halfformed fatal suggestions of supernatural agencies, which eventually invested Moby Dick with new terrors unborrowed from anything that visibly appears. So that in many cases such a panic did he finally strike, that few who by those rumors, at least, had heard of the White Whale, few of those hunters were willing to encounter the perils of his jaw" (Melville, 153). No matter how much you chase your fate, or run from it, it is what can't be escaped in life. Moby Dick, then, is a supernatural representation of ferocity and evil in the eyes of many of the sailors. Yet he is also seen as metaphor for God. Moby-Dick won't be captured and he won't submit to man in the end instead he takes the ship down first. Then Moby Dick is viewed by his pursuers as pure evil and supernatural power, like the dragon in St. George's tale. However, Moby Dick's destruction of his pursuers first says that he is instead the ferocity of nature and the unconquerable force that maintains the balance of the world - often viewed as the responsibility of God. If Moby Dick is

the representation of God then this novel is a work that portrays the necessity for man to yield and not fight what they can't conquer. Captain Ahab Description Ahab is the Captain of the whaling ship the Pequod. He is described as an older, brawny gentleman with a peg leg whose eyes pursed in a very effective scowl. Nathaniel Philbrick gives the best description of Ahab, "Like American in 1850, Ahab is a man divided, seared and parboiled by the conflagration raging inside him... like a man cut away from the stake, when the fire has overrunningly wasted all limbs without consuming them..Threading its way out from among his grey hairs, and continuing right down one side of his tawny scorched face and neck, till it disappeared in his clothing, you saw a slender rod-like mark, lividly whitish" (33). Captain Ahab is exhibited as an old man who is consumed with a fire that burns in him for revenge as he fights the evil that runs rampant in the world. The Peg-leg It is later revealed that he lost his leg while out at sea previously by the king of the sperm whales, Moby-Dick. While Moby-Dick was tearing the ship apart he bit off Ahabs leg. Desiring revenge Ahab starts out on a new voyage and convinces the crew to go with him to hunt Moby-Dick getting all the crew to jump on the bandwagon. Ahab is an embodiment of two worlds, the natural world and the world through which compulsion takes control of his consciousness. The natural world he still tries to cling to can be spied when catching a glimpse of his peg-leg made of whale bone which is the tie to the real world. It works against his madness at times trying to pull him back into the natural world, "it seemed small matter for wonder, that for all his pervading, mad recklessness, Ahab did at times give careful heed to the condition of that dead

bone upon which he partly stood. For it had not been very long prior to the Pequod's sailing from Nantucket, that he had been found one night lying prone upon the ground, and insensible; by some unknown, and seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten, and all but pierced his groin; nor was it without extreme difficulty that the agonizing wound was entirely cured" (Melville, 355). This event explains that one cannot live harmoniously in both the worlds like Captain Ahab is trying to navigate and conquer. Descent into Madness Captain Ahab's madness didn't just happen suddenly, "In the days and weeks after losing his leg to the White Whale during his previous voyage, he found his agonies, both physical and mental, unbearable, and his mates had no choice but to 'lace him fast...raving in his hammock.' As the ship pounded through a succession of terrible gales and Ahab swung back and forth, writhing and screaming within his makeshift straitjacket, a terrible transformation took place within him: '[H]is torn body and gashed soul bled into one another; and so interfusing, made him mad" (34). It was the combination of being bound, in pain, and the days passing in unknowable numbers in his room that made his mad. No longer could his madness be contained by the time he reaches land once more and his wound begins to heal. By that time it is too late the transformation has consumed him already and he is left with only the desire for revenge upon that evil which overtook him, "In his madness, Ahab came to see Moby Dick as more than a mere whale; he was 'the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them, till they are left living on with half a heart and half a lung...[A]ll evil, to crazy Ahab, [was] visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick'" (Philbrick, 34). His madness

calculated Moby Dick to be the personification of all the bad in the world and he took it as his own duty to slay the beast. Cultural Significance Moby-Dick becomes a vital literary work to the United States because it embodies the country, during that time period, but even now exactly as Melville had wished but never got to witness in his lifetime. It holds history for our country, touches on so much of the life of the time, and remains a great work that brings us together, "Reading Shakespeare, we know what it is like, in any age, to be alive. So it is with Moby-Dick, a novel about a whaling voyage to the Pacific that is also about America racing hell-bent toward the Civil War and so much more. Contained in the pages of Moby-Dick is nothing less than the genetic code of America; all the promises, problems, conflicts, and ideals that contributed to the outbreak of a revolution in 1775 as well as the civil war in 1861 and continue to drive this country's ever-contentious march into the future. This means that whenever a new crisis grips this country, Moby-Dick becomes newly important. It is why subsequent generations have seen Ahab as Hitler during World War II or as a profit-crazed deep-drilling oil company in 2010 or as a power-crazed Middle Eastern dictator in 2011" (Philbrick, 6). As the years pass Moby-Dick continues to be the novel that leads readers into realizations about the world, especially for those that live in the United States. It becomes an 'American Bible' that leads us in the direction we need for the new world that is springing up around us. Even years after it is written reading those pages still feel like home to many Americans,Embedded in the narrative of Moby-Dick is a metaphysical blueprint of the United States. Melville fills the book with telling similes and metaphors that allow a story set almost entirely at sea to evoke the look and feel of America in 1850 (Philbrick, 62). Melville keeps the setting at sea, while still placing imagery found in American society in 1850 which gives the

novel a tone of life in America and the personal ownership and connection of the people to the novel. For example, After a whale has been cut up, the Pequods crew use block and tackle to drag out [the] teeth, as Michigan oxen drag stumps of old oaks out of wild wood-lands.The thick curled bush of white mist rising from a massive herd of sperm whales looks like the thousand cheerful chimneys of some dense metropolis, descried of a balmy autumnal morning, by some horseman on a height. We are on the deck of the Pequod with Captain Ahab, but we are also visiting the scenes, commonplace and noteworthy, of inland America (Philbrick, 63). By placing scenes and allusions to the United States in the novel it gives the country a connection to the time, place, and story of Moby-Dick. The allusions keep the United States wanting to take ownership of the novel as our own because of the very nature of Ahab, the Pequod, and the tale. It creates nostalgia for the past and a continual yearning to keep that connection to our history as the future within the United States unfolds. St. George/ Ahab Paradox As St. Georges cultural integration into the foundation of England, Moby-Dick became to the United States. Moby-Dick, the white whale, is also terrorizing a body of water where Ahab takes it upon himself, like St. George, to save the land from the ferocious, poisonous beast. Though the motivation of Captain Ahab is one born out of revenge and madness, not the desire to save humanity like that of St. George. However, both Captain Ahab and St. George (especially the Greek George) aren't willing to give up and they will fight to the death for what they believe in exhibiting a nobility in the willingness to die for what you believe is right. The biggest difference remains that Moby Dick is not really the metaphor for evil, as the dragon is, instead Moby Dick is the embodiment of the untamable nature -- a deity figure-- that refuses to be tamed and instead rips defeat from the hands of Captain Ahab.

Works Cited
Hogarth, P.J. "St. George: The Evolution Of A Saint And His Dragon." History Today (1980): 17. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. 30.4

Mar, Estelle Alma. "There Is No Hero Without A Dragon: A Revisionist Interpretation Of The Myth Of St. George And The Dragon." Religion & Theology 13.2 (2006): 195-203. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick: A Norton Critical Edition. 2nd. United States: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. , 2002. Print. Philbrick, Nathaniel. Why Read Moby-Dick?. 1. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Print.