Herman Melville and the Problem of Evil



88            Public Lectures

In the subordinate allegory of the various islands which
make up Mardi, the world, the problem of evil contends for
place among many other problems, such as democratic
government, but it is clear that Melville has by this time in
his mental voyage thrown off his orthodox religious beliefs
and that the basic paradox of good and evil is assuming more
importance. He writes, “For evil is the chronic malady of
the universe; and checked in one place, breaks forth in
another.” As the party proceeds, the debates follow the
patterns of old arguments that echo down through the
centuries. Here is a sample:

Well, Oro [that is, God] is everywhere. What now?

Then, if that be absolutely so, Oro is not merely a universal
onlooker, but occupies and fills all space; and no vacancy is
left for any being, or anything but Oro. Hence, Oro is
in all
things, and himself
is all things—the time-old creed. But since
evil abounds, and Oro is all things, then he cannot be per-
fectly good; wherefore, Oro’s omnipresence and moral per-
fection seem incompatible.6

But these debates are inconclusive, Yillah still is unfound,
and they become grave. Babbalanja, the philosopher,
mourns, “Yillah still eludes us. In all this tour of Mardi how
little have we found to fill the heart with peace: how much to
slaughter all our yearnings.”7 Evil is everywhere.

Here at last is the basic problem of evil. But a recapitula-
tion of philosophical arguments does not make a moving
work of art. The working of these basic themes into an
effective novel was to come later. Melville had not yet ac-
quired a concept of the essential nature of literary tragedy.

This is no place for a detailed discussion of the nature of
tragedy; theories of tragedy are too numerous. Just as every
philosopher must somewhere in his system take account of
the problem of evil, so most philosophers are led to some
consideration of the appeal and the nature of tragedy. For
the two are kin. As Nietzsche said, “Banish evil, and it will



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