4. Symbols of the Sublime: The Sea and the White Whale

The Romantic Sublime

Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant‟s treatise on sublimity were both the most influential of works during the Romantic period where the meaning of the sublime was passionately debated, defined and applied by scholars and artists (Riding 2013). In critical literature „the Romantic sublime‟ refers to the individual‟s transcendence of the natural and social world that no longer has the capacity to fulfil the mind‟s desire (Potkay 2012). As I have previously mentioned, Immanuel Kant‟s transcendental philosophy on the sublime served as a starting point for the Romantic sublime. However, this is not to say the Romantics continued writing in the footsteps of the Kantian sublime, but rather they used it as the catalyst for addressing the problem Kant‟s philosophy left behind: “the failure of imagination […] to realise the ineffable” (Shaw 2006, p.90). The failure of imagination produces melancholy, since we are unable to employ imagination anymore to grasp the sublime in our empirical world (Hamilton 1983). After the mind enters the realm of reason in order to comprehend the sublime, there is a “displeasure of knowing that one can never give sensual representation” to this sublimity via imagination (Shaw 2006, p.90). Shaw claims that this depravation induced Romantics to rekindle the relationship between the realm of ideas (noumena) and the realm of nature (phenomena). Furthermore, Romantics strive to bring back the supernatural into the realm of imagination as another means of comprehending the sublime.

The synthesis of mind and nature Shaw (2006) refers to is reflected in all the arts of the Romantic period where nature became the vehicle for the expression of human thought and emotion (Riding 2013). For Romantics, nature was the primary site of experiencing the sublime (Vaughan 1994). Certain themes, stock motifs and formal qualities were adopted accordingly to underline the sublime. As I have shown with Burke, the qualities are chiefly „negative‟ here too.

irrespective of theoretical texts. Painters would symbolically present the sublime in landscape imagery depicting mountains, volcanoes, storms, and the sea. The sea in particular is acknowledged for its profundity:
Humans live their lives and build their institutions on dry land. Nevertheless, they seek to grasp the movement of their existence above all through a metaphorics of the perilous sea voyage. The repertory of this nautical metaphorics of existence is very rich. (Blumenberg 1997, p.7)
The qualities of the sublime which I have enumerated above can all be ascribed justly to the sea. The sea, above all other phenomena of the natural world, epitomises the sublime in all its power. It is no wonder that the most common catastrophe portrayed in Romantic paintings and narratives of the sublime is that of shipwrecks, as Riding (2013) shows.
Potkay (2012) argues that critics of the Romantic sublime have neglected the morality writers from this period have pursued in their theoretical and fictional writings. His claim is that “the sublime of transcendence is related and finally subservient to the moral sublime” (Potkay 2012, p.205). This is to say that transcendence does not simply occur when the individual alienates him or herself in an attempt to attain false spiritual empowerment. Potkay sees it rather as an emergence of a fully moral human being “realising that the most awe- inspiring thing is either great virtue, pervading love or morality itself” (p.205). Therefore, the quest for the sublime for Romantic writers was also to “resurrect love” and associate it with God, who is a Being and a Force at the same time, as the highest apprehension of the sublime (Glenn 2001, p.574).
God. Coleridge‟s view on humanity is that humans themselves are sublime; they are “spiritual subjects whose Being transcends Space and Time” (Coleridge 2003, p.169). Once more, transcendence plays a fundamental role in sublimity, implying that the sublime is a mode of spiritual “elevation” (Vallins 2003, p. 132).
Coleridge addresses the function of symbolism as a product of the imagination. When the mind symbolises a thing, the newly created symbol does not serve to simply represent, but it rather “partakes of the Reality” as a “living part of that Unity which it is representative” (Coleridge 1972, p.30). To refer back to my example of the sea, Coleridge‟s theory implies that the sea is not only symbolic of the sublime but it is also an authentic a part of the sublime. Not a „part‟ in the literal sense that can be measured in size or percentage, but rather the „part‟ is the „whole‟ and the „whole‟ is the „part‟. The essence of the sublime is not divisible but it is distributional. In symbolism, the differences between subject and object, self and other, are deconstructed (Shaw 2006). However, even as Coleridge attempts to deconstruct these dichotomies, the distinction between word and thing, noumena and phenomena, cannot be refuted so easily, since it would be „self-destructive‟. This means that if word and thing converge to one entity, an individual would only have the capacity of understanding this entity provided it is within the confines of their experience. The attempt extinguishes the very principle that allows the individual to grasp something beyond their understanding of it, beyond experience. Sublimity can therefore only emerge when noumena and phenomena are maintained as two separate entities (Shaw 2006).
Schopenhauer‟s theory found its way into the postmodern philosophy of Jean François Lyotard who writes that “with the occurrence [of the sublime], the will is defeated” (Lyotard 1989, p.199). In „wrenching‟ oneself away from the will, the threat presented by the sublime object and the reciprocated fear of it subside. At this stage the individual is able to admire and marvel at the sublime, leaving it not so disparate to the notion of the beautiful. Schopenhauer refers to this as the ability to contemplate the Idea of the sublime (Guyer 2012). For the same reason, the sublime is known to have been described as “terrible beauty” (Brady 2012, p.182). The term deconstructs the sublime-beauty-dichotomy that Burke juxtaposed, singularising the sublime without a counterpart.

3. 
   Symbols of the Sublime: The Sea and the White Whale
   

I have applied the different philosophical viewpoints on the sublime primarily to analyse its effects on human nature. Ishmael and Ahab prove to be two contrasting characters in respect to their perception of the world. However, they share similarities in pursuing the same goal to transcend their current state of being as the Pequod begins its journey. Therefore, in Moby-Dick the contemplation of the sublime is branched into two different characteristics of human nature. It is as Lawrence Buell (2014) claims that Ishmael and Ahab constitute a bi-polar observer/hero narrative structure, with Ishmael being the observer and Ahab the „hero‟. By first analysing the dispositions of Ishmael and Ahab, I have primarily focused on two different views on the sublime. In this final chapter of my thesis, I aim to examine elements that Melville uses to symbolise the sublime in the novel. First and foremost of these elements is the epitome of the sublime in the novel, namely the White Whale himself, Moby Dick. Another element, which the reader is introduced to even before any reference to Moby Dick appears, is the sea.
In the theoretical section I have briefly drawn attention to the interrelationship between the sublime and the use of symbols to convey the authentic profundity of the former in literary form. Melville chiefly symbolises the sublime in Moby- Dick through his portrayal of various components of nature. Nature serves as the elemental backdrop to the plot of the novel, which is ultimately chaotic (Bezanson 2001, p.446). As a consequence of this „chaos‟, Ishmael is compelled to systemically order his narration which, as I have shown in Chapter 5, only ends in „careful disorderliness‟. For the same reason, Ahab leaves the reader under the impression that he is a madman only because he is unable to conform to a world of chaos. This chaotic world is represented by the sea, the main setting of the world of Moby-Dick.
The sea is a sublime element that envelops the novel from beginning to end, but is also constantly present throughout the novel. It is initially a
subliminal pull towards the sea that urges Ishmael to embark upon a journey of transcendence, as the reader finds out in the chapter „Loomings‟. The final events of the narrativetake place at sea and the Pequod‟s quest literally finishes in the sea as the ship and its crew are engulfed by it. The sea is the typical example of the Burkean and the Romantic sublime that incorporates terror, vast disorder, irresistible power and obscurity (Glenn 2001, p. 567). Still, the sea is just a part of one of numerous dichotomies Ishmael brings forth in his narration; to comprehend the sea, one must compare it to the land, its opposite. This juxtaposition of land and sea is thoroughly depicted in chapter „Brit‟, where Ishmael convinces the reader of the superiority of the sea to land and humanity. To Ishmael the sea is immortal, “masterless” (MD, p.299) and unequalled in power, capable of destroying the mightiest of whales and ships. In the chapter
„The Blacksmith‟, Ishmael likens the ocean to a source of death. It is not as straightforward a death as on land however; the ocean lures the individual towards it, disguised by offering “wonderful, new-life adventures” and “wonders supernatural, without dying for them” (MD, p.529).
Yet the sea does not only symbolise death, but also the transitive state between life and death (Talley 2007) – a state of the sublime. Pip is the only character besides Ishmael and Ahab whose experience of the sublime is vividly described in the novel. And this experience occurs as Pip is temporarily abandoned at “heartless immensity” (MD, p.453) of the sea in the chapter „The Castaway‟. It is hardly the natural dangers of the ocean that induce terror, but rather the “awful lonesomeness” (MD, p.453) during such abandonment in the infinite openness of the ocean. In Burkean terms, it is Pip being a small and lonely figure in the vastness of the ocean that renders the scene so terrifying. Furthermore, the scene confirms the mysterious ways of the ocean since it does not literally kill Pip, but “jeeringly [keeps] his finite body up, [whilst drowning] the infinite of his soul” (MD, p.453). Through Pip‟s experience of the sublime, Ishmael delivers the underlying message that the sublime is never even conceived as the sublime to human beings but as madness instead: “[Pip]
In „The Candles‟, Melville illustrates the terror of the sublime by implementation of turbulent weather resulting in a sea storm and the destruction of the Pequod. Ishmael warns the reader that terror may be concealed beneath what appears as a tranquil scenery at sea, in that “[s]kies the most effulgent but basket the deadliest thunders” and “in […] resplendent Japanese seas the mariner encounters the direst of all storms, the Typhoon” (MD, p.546). Firstly, this can be understood as Burke‟s reference to the sublime assuming characteristics of obscurity. Secondly, hazardous sea storms, thunder, and the destruction of ships at sea portray the essence of the Romantic sublime inherent in nature. The sublime that results from the combination of nature and terror is capable of evoking a certain “supernaturalness” (MD, p.550). In this case, Melville shows it mainly through Ahab‟s hysterical behaviour and readiness to threaten the lives of his crewmembers. On a less abstract level, the „supernaturalness‟ is also symbolised by the “lofty tri-pointed trinity of flames” (MD, p.550) which itself resembles the Holy Trinity of the Christian faith.
Despite the terror of the sea, Ishmael also accentuates the beauty of it. The first chapter where this becomes apparent is in „The Lee Shore‟, where Ishmael equals Bulkington‟s joy for being at sea to a sense of belonging and comfort. He depicts land, however, as “direst jeopardy”, “treacherous” and “slavish” (MD, pp.116-117) not only for a ship but for the individual too. Figuratively speaking, the desire to go abroad to sea is “the soul [trying] to keep the open independence of her sea” (MD, pp.116-117); the sublimity of the sea in the phenomenal realm is likened to the sublimity of the mind (“soul”) in the noumenal realm. This is an example of Melville adopting characteristics of the Romantic sublime in the novel. On the other hand, „land‟, although a safe haven, restricts the boundlessness of the mind, figuratively speaking.
Another example where the sublime sea is vested with effects of beauty can be seen in „The Pacific‟ and „The Gilder‟. Here Ishmael exerts his full narrating abilities to describe the „sublime beauty‟ of the Pacific Ocean. Nostalgic feelings emerge as Ishmael basks at the serenity and mystery of the
storms” in one‟s life. Upon gazing into the “golden sea”, Starbuck is convinced in the supremacy of “faith” over “fact” and “fancy” over “memory”, stressing the role imagination plays in the experience of sublimity; Stubb recalls a life of happiness above all else (MD, p.535). All three characters, including Ishmael, experience a moment of transcendence from their everyday activities and the effects of the natural sublime of the sea are projected to the moral sublime of their minds‟ “secret golden treasuries” (MD, p.535).
As I have shown on the basis of selected chapters from the novel, there is sublimity both in the terror of the sea and in the beauty of it. This finding contradicts Burke‟s claim that beauty is the antithesis of the sublime. Rather, it leads to the assumption that the sublime is a universal quality in itself that has no opposite and therefore cannot be categorised. Additionally, Melville‟s implantation of thunder and lighting, sea storm, and ship wreckage in the novel emphasizes the manner in which writers of the Romantic period defined sublimity. Combined with the power of nature and human emotion, the resulting notion of the sublime has a supernatural effect.

All the characteristics of the sublime Melville instils in the novel are accumulated in the whale, Moby Dick. Ward (2001) sees the white whale as Melville‟s attempt to arrive at an understanding of the spiritual, metaphysical realm through an understanding of the physical realm. As a work of Romantic literature, Moby-Dick is the perfect example of where human thought and emotion are expressed in nature (Riding 2013) with the whale as object, central force and symbol of the novel (Ward 2001, p.462).

As an object, Moby Dick is first and foremost a living being like any other animal in the natural world. At the same time, however, he is a symbol of the true nature of the world. Drewermann (2004) describes Moby Dick as the living incarnation of all that in the world which is sinister, unfathomable, demonic, yet majestic in appearance and power (p.338).
do justice to the sublimity of Moby Dick. As a symbol, a whale is traditionally “the spirit of the Deep, the creature that mirrors its incomparable size […] – as ocean, [the] unconscious, memory, night, womb, and underworld” (Ronnberg & Martin 2010, p.204). The terms which are most relevant here are „ocean‟ and „unconscious‟. Figuratively speaking, Moby Dick is as deep as the ocean. Not only is this a creature which resides in the ocean but it is an embodiment of the ocean. That is, Moby Dick is as vast, unfathomable, dynamic, powerful, and sublime as the sea itself; “[v]isualizing […] Moby Dick is like visualizing the sea, his element. He is present but elusive, massive yet dissolving figureless into passing motion […]” (Callahan 2003, p.52).
And like the sea, Moby Dick also reflects images, in this case it is the
„image‟ of the beholder‟s conscience. He symbolises different things for different characters (Bernstein 1964, p.107). If pessimism and emotional inner conflict define the conscience, then Moby Dick is a terrible and malicious entity, which is the case for Ahab; if a quest for truth and willingness to transcend define the conscience, then to that individual Moby Dick is a mysterious and alluring entity, which is the case for Ishmael. The beholder is not aware of this effect of the whale, making it „unconscious‟. Already there is a shift from Burke‟s sublime, which depicts nature as an external power, to Kant‟s sublime which depicts conscience as an internal power part of nature (Wolf 1986, p.155; emphasis mine). Moby Dick allows both Ishmael and Ahab, or any other individual for that matter, to measure themselves against the, in Kantian terms, „almightiness of nature‟. It may be convincingly argued that Moby Dick is the “tormenting” yet “mild” “image” that is reflected in the water as the individual stares into it and tries to “grasp” it but in the act is only consumed, that is destroyed, by that “image of the ungraspable phantom of life” (MD, p.5). Therefore, Moby Dick is not only a whale that is sublime, Moby Dick is the sublime. As Coleridge would suggest, the whale as symbol becomes a living part of that what it represents. Furthermore, the “phantom” that “swayed [Ishmael] to [his] purpose” is Moby Dick himself (MD, p.8).
with darkness or even Ahab, both judging by his physical appearance and his personality. Darkness, by Burke‟s definition, almost always has negative connotations; only in some cases may it be considered somewhat less negative in that it is not deceitful by nature. Light, on the other hand, is deceitful to Burke because it may appear positive while concealing its true negative nature. Melville adopts this symbolic meaning of the complementary pair. However, instead of light, Ishmael puts emphasis on the colour white, giving it a more abstract notion by referring to it on the whole as „whiteness‟. The whiteness of Moby Dick is what produces the terrifying aura of the whale and that which renders him a model of the Burkean sublime. It is more terrible than both size and strength of the whale (Downard 2006). Gretchko (1991) claims that for Ishmael whiteness even seems to be “beyond the domain of the sublime” (p.140) and that this becomes evident in the following passage:
yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and honourable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness which affrights in blood […] This elusive quality it is, which causes the thought of whiteness […] to heighten that terror to the furthest of bounds. (MD, p.205)
However, I believe Ishmael does not depict whiteness as something „beyond the sublime‟ or, as Gretchko (1991) puts in in more detail, that “the significance of the whiteness requires more than a sublime experience” (p.140) to be understood. On the contrary, the passage proves once again my claim that the sublime takes on different, that is even opposing, forms. Previous to this passage, Ishmael enumerates in the same chapter many positive associations one traditionally has with the colour white: “gladness”, “innocence”, “benignity”, “majesty”, “divine spotlessness and power” (MD, p.205). That is why he places the word „sublime‟ in the same category as the words „sweet‟ and „honourable‟ in the above passage; he is shedding a positive light on the sublime. By the end of the chapter, however, the causes of the “elusive something” in whiteness that Ishmael discovers are equivalent to Burke‟s
qualities that are also inherent in whiteness. As with the sea, this underlines the double aesthetics of the sublime in that it is present both in terror (negative qualities) and in beauty (positive qualities) of whiteness.
Throughout the novel, Moby Dick is never described in his entirety, not by Ishmael nor by any other character. Ishmael even applies the term
„Leviathan‟ in most cases instead of referring to Moby Dick by his name. There are countless cetological chapters where Ishmael illustrates the anatomy of whales (including the sperm whale), the procedure of whaling, how whales act, and how whales are portrayed in the humanities. The chapters „Moby Dick‟ and
„The Whiteness of the Whale‟ are particularly important since they depict what Moby Dick means to Ahab and Ishmael respectively. All in all however, the identity of the whale remains obscured: “So there is no earthly way of finding out precisely what the whale really looks like.”, but also “his precise expression the devil himself could not catch” (MD, p.289; emphasis mine). Even though the sublime exists both in nature (“earthly”) and in the supernatural (“devil”), Ishmael informs the reader in this passage that that does not necessarily mean the sublime can always be conceived by natural or supernatural means.
The Romantics considered God to be the highest form of the sublime, who also lacks concrete description as an entity. Melville has applied this same principle for Moby Dick, even though I disagree that Moby Dick serves as a symbolisation of God because despite being looked upon with admiration, fear, or contempt, Moby Dick is still „only‟ a creature of the physical realm. As such, whether sublime or not, the only considerable option of “[deriving] even a tolerable idea of his living contour, is by going whaling” (MD, p.289) which is implying Burke‟s empiricist approach that Moby Dick can be (and has been) seen, heard, felt, and is therefore within the sensory realm (unlike God). The setback lies in the fact that if the individual ventures to meet that reality, the absolute infinity of it will most likely destroy the individual (Friedman 1970, p.59). In spite of this “existential truth”).
It is by this approach that Ishmael narrates the story and attempts to classify and describe Moby Dick to the reader.
Until now my analysis of the sublimity of Moby Dick has centred on the associations and ideas of the white whale. I have only examined Moby Dick prior to his appearance in the three concluding chapters of the novel. What still remains to be discussed is how Moby Dick is perceived in reality, that is when he is encountered „face to face‟. The three final days of the Pequod‟s journey and Ahab‟s sublime quest “flow together in one continuous intense pursuit” (MD, p.617) that forms the climax of Moby-Dick‟s storyline and where both narrator and reader are confronted with the long-awaited phenomenon that is the White Whale. It would be false to assume, however, that simply because the reader now experiences the „physical reality‟ of Moby Dick, that imagination is no longer required to perceive the whale. Ishmael continues to apply imagination in his description of Moby Dick‟s movement, which is more poetic and symbolic than scientific:
A gentle joyousness – a mighty mildness of repose in swiftness, invested the gliding whale. Not the white bull Jupiter swimming away with ravished Europa clinging to his graceful horns; […] not Jove, not that great majesty Supreme! Did surpass the glorified White Whale as he so divinely swam. (MD, p.596)
In this scene it is the mere visible appearance of Moby Dick that cancels out all previous rumours and legends of the whale that have “invested [him] with new terrors” (MD, p.196) (Baker 2011, p.97). The sublime is of such nature that despite being encountered in reality it is still powerful enough to “strike the imagination with unwonted power” (MD, p.198). Ishmael continues:
And thus, through the serene tranquilities of the tropical sea […] Moby Dick moved on, [slowly rising from the water] his whole marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia‟s Natural Bridge, and warningly waving his bannered flukes in the air, the grand god revealed himself (MD, p.597)
Another aspect that becomes apparent in the above extracts is Melville‟s use of the binary opposition motif concerning terror and beauty. When Moby Dick is first sighted, Ishmael describes him as a creature of serene beauty. However, when provoked, Moby Dick reveals the terror of his malevolent fury (Novak, pp.337-338); he now becomes “appalling” and “vengeful” (MD, p.599). In contrast to his tranquil appearance on the first day of the chase, on the second day Moby Dick “[reveals his vicinity] not by any calm and indolent spoutings; not by the peaceable gush of that mystic fountain in his head […] but by the far more wondrous phenomenon of breaching” which is “his act of defiance” (MD, p.607). And on the final day of the chase the fury of the white whale is so intense that to Ishmael he even takes on supernatural characteristics: “maddened by yesterday‟s fresh irons that still corroded in him, Moby Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fell from heaven” (MD, p.618). In these dramatic scenes Ishmael depicts Moby Dick‟s transgression from a physical to a metaphysical state. The whale now shows no characteristics of beauty but only “retribution, swift vengeance [and] eternal malice” (MD, p.622). Ishmael, Ahab, and the rest of the crew, now all feel in the object (Moby Dick) the “presence of something that transcends the object” (Lyotard 2006, p.260), and there is ultimately nothing “mortal man” can do to prevent or defeat this sublime power. Human will is both individually and collectively defeated by the sublime. Melville visualises this defeat as the Pequod and every single crew member (except for Ishmael) are engulfed by the sea and as Ahab meets his doom alongside Moby Dick. All in all, it is a disastrous scene visualised by the shipwreck, which is a depiction of the Romantic sublime (Blumenberg 1997; Riding 2013). The underlying idea in the three final chapters of the novel is that Moby Dick, as the epitome of all that is sublime, is both terrible and beautiful and that human will is powerless against the force of the sublime.