Authoritarian and Authorial Power in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick
Abstract
Herman Melville's writing reflects his numerous experiences with despotic
figures and his uncertainty regarding appropriate responses to them. Encountering
oppression in his professional and personal life, Melville grappled with effective ways
to challenge authority himself and to equip his readers to challenge it. In Moby-Dick;
or, The Whale (1851), Melville illustrates despotism's dangers through Captain Ahab.
Melville first shows readers how despots gain and retain power; he then illustrates
potential responses to this power through crew members' various actions. Ultimately,
the crew's failure to effectively oppose Ahab and his monomaniacal quest results in
the crew's annihilation. Simultaneously, Melville exposes his authorial control over
readers, thereby mirroring Ahab's control over the crew. As readers critique the crew
for endorsing Ahab's tyranny, Melville's text highlights readers' own propensity
to submit to authority, thereby teaching them to resist would-be oppressors and to
question authoritative figures. Further illustrating power's complexity, Melville shows
that authoritarian figures cannot fully obtain power without the compliance of those
under them. Just as Ahab needs the crew to create his authority and to hunt Moby
Dick, Melville needs readers to enable his authority as an author. Ultimately, Melville
demonstrates, everyone is culpable in the creation of tyrannical authority and its
devastating consequences.
Subject
Herman Melville
Moby-Dick
Authoritarian figures
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/70957Citation
Volume VIII, December 2013, pp. 40 - 55