Herman Melville and the Problem of Evil

Melville and the Problem of Evil 95

The antagonist is an inscrutable Fate, in the form of a
whale, of all evil, of God himself. And the protagonist, Cap-
tain Ahab, is a worthy one. Ahab, like all the great heroes of
tragedy since the Greeks, is a complex figure, noble, tortured,
doomed to destruction by his tragic flaw, his pride. As you
watch Ahab’s gradual realization that he cannot strike back,
that his very defiance, which had seemed so noble, is pre-
ordained, and as you watch the eternal sea pour over captain,
crew, and ship, you are stirred to pity and terror, which
Aristotle pointed out to be the emotions produced by true
tragedy.

The critical reception of Moiy Dick was what might have
been expected. Most reviewers simply did not understand it,
and it is only fair to say in their defence that it has been
persistently misunderstood to this day. While they were
impressed by the powerful writing in Moby Dick, they felt
that Melville had let them down; they had him typed as the
author of White Jacket, of Tyfee, of pleasant stories with an
element of reform. Most of them were simply not prepared to
grapple with the problem of evil.

Melville himself must have feared such a reception. It is
quite clear that he regarded Moby Dick as his most serious
work thus far, that he had as it were collected himself for one
mighty effort. During its composition he was painfully aware
of the impossibility of reconciling serious literary work and
popular sales. In 1851 he wrote: “Dollars damn me; and the
malicious devil is forever grinning in upon me, holding the
door ajar . . . What I feel most moved to write, that is
banned,—it will not pay. Yet, altogether, write the oZ⅛ftway
I cannot. So the product is a final hash, and all my books
are botches.”¹⁶ And again, “But Truth is the silliest thing
under the sun. Try to get a living by the Truth—and go to
the Soup Societies. Heavens! Let any clergyman try to

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