MOBY DICK
A monologue from the
novel by Herman Melville
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Moby Dick; or, the Whale. Herman Melville. New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1851. |
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PELEG: And what dost thou want of Captain Ahab? I don't
think thou wilt be able to see him at present. I don't know exactly
what's the matter with him; but he keeps close inside the house;
a sort of sick, and yet he don't look so. In fact, he ain't sick;
but no, he isn't well either. Any how, young man, he won't always
see me, so I don't suppose he will thee. He's a queer man, Captain
Ahab--so some think--but a good one. Oh, thou'lt like him well
enough; no fear, no fear. He's a grand, ungodly, god-like man,
Captain Ahab; doesn't speak much; but, when he does speak, then
you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab's above the
common; Ahab's been in colleges, as well as 'mong the cannibals;
been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance
in mightier, stranger foes than whales. His lance! aye, the keenest
and the surest that out of all our isle! Oh! he ain't Captain
Bildad; no, and he ain't Captain Peleg; HE'S AHAB, boy; and Ahab
of old, thou knowest, was a crowned king! A wicked one, it's
true, a very vile one, but look ye, lad; never say that on board
the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name
himself. 'Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed
mother, who died when he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet
the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that the name would somehow
prove prophetic. And, perhaps, other fools like her may tell
thee the same. I wish to warn thee. It's a lie. I know Captain
Ahab well; I've sailed with him as mate years ago; I know what
he is--a good man--not a pious, good man, like Bildad, but a
swearing good man--something like me--only there's a good deal
more of him. Aye, aye, I know that he was never very jolly; and
I know that on the passage home, he was a little out of his mind
for a spell; but it was the sharp shooting pains in his bleeding
stump that brought that about, as any one might see. I know,
too, that ever since he lost his leg last voyage by that accursed
whale, he's been a kind of moody--desperate moody, and savage
sometimes; but that will all pass off. And once for all, let
me tell thee and assure thee, young man, it's better to sail
with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one. So good-bye
to thee--and wrong not Captain Ahab, because he happens to have
a wicked name. Besides, my boy, he has a wife--not three voyages
wedded--a sweet, resigned girl. Think of that; by that sweet
girl that old man has a child: hold ye then there can be any
utter, hopeless harm in Ahab? No, no, my lad; stricken, blasted,
if he be, Ahab has his humanities!
MORE
MONOLOGUES BY HERMAN MELVILLE |
