Herman Melville and the Problem of Evil

86            Public Lectures

Here is the story, told in the first person by Taji, the
central character: Off the coasts of an unknown archipelago
in the western Pacific Taji and two companions rescue a
mysterious white girl, Yillah, from a group of natives, after
killing the priest who was taking her to be sacrificed. With
Yillah the rescuers go ashore on one of the islands, where
Taji is received as a demigod by the inhabitants. Soon, how-
ever, Yillah, with whom Taji has fallen in love, is recaptured
by the followers of the old priest. Taji, accompanied by
various people, most notably a king, a historian, a philoso-
pher, and a poet, sets out on a search for her through the
islands of Mardi, the archipelago. They visit islands which
represent allegorically various religious and philosophical
systems, other islands which represent Britain, America, and
other countries. Throughout their voyage they are pursued
by three sons of the dead priest, seeking revenge, and three
maidens, emissaries of Hautia, a dark queen who seeks the
love of Taji. Finally, Taji, having left the others behind, goes
to his death in the swirling waters, still pursuing the elusive
image of Yillah.

Upon this rather ridiculous framework the immature
Melville, groping for a literary method, tried to hang all the
philosophical and political speculations that were flooding
his mind. Mardi is a very ragbag of mid-nineteenth century
thought. What does it tell us about Melville’s development?

In the first place, it, like so many of Melville’s books, is
an account of a sea voyage, and here the author develops a
symbol that is to be central in Moby Dick. The land becomes
a symbol of conformity, of ease, of intellectual sloth, of the
Known; the sea, on the other hand, represents speculation,
hardship, intellectual adventure, the Unknown. In a chapter
of Mardi significantly called “Sailing On” this twin symbol
of sea and land is used to make the most direct statement of

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