# The Candles explained — Moby-Dick

> Chapter companion for Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

## What happens

The Pequod is caught in a violent typhoon. During the storm, St. Elmo's fire (corpusants) appears on the mastheads, creating a supernatural spectacle. Ahab delivers a defiant, blasphemous soliloquy to the fire, declaring his worship is defiance. Starbuck, seeing the fire also burn on Ahab's harpoon, interprets it as a divine warning and pleads with Ahab to abandon the quest, even inciting a near-mutiny. Ahab extinguishes the harpoon's flame with his breath to demonstrate his lack of fear, cowing the crew back into submission.

## Themes in this chapter

### Religion and Spirituality

The St. Elmo's fire is treated as a supernatural manifestation. Ahab engages in a perverse, defiant form of worship, addressing the fire as a 'clear spirit' and 'fiery father,' challenging its power and asserting his own will.

### Man vs. Nature

The Pequod and its crew are in a desperate battle against the overwhelming force of the typhoon. Ahab's speech extends this conflict to a metaphysical struggle against the elemental power represented by the fire.

### Madness and Sanity

Ahab's epic, agonized soliloquy to the fire marks a peak in his monomaniacal obsession, appearing as madness to Starbuck and the crew. Stubb's frantic singing is another response to the terror, which he labels cowardice.

## Character check-ins

### Captain Ahab

Delivers a monumental, defiant speech to the St. Elmo's fire, personifying it as a 'clear spirit' and declaring his worship is defiance. He physically asserts dominance over the crew and the omen by extinguishing the flame on his harpoon.

### Starbuck

Interprets the electrical fire as a divine sign against Ahab's quest. He confronts Ahab directly, pleading with him to turn home, and briefly rallies the terrified crew towards mutiny.

### Stubb

Attempts to cope with the terror of the storm and the supernatural fire by singing a darkly comic song about the ocean, admitting he sings because he is a coward.

### Fedallah

Is seen kneeling silently at the base of the mainmast beneath the doubloon and the flame, with his head bowed away from Ahab, in an enigmatic, worshipful posture.

### Flask

Works with Stubb to direct the men in securing the boats during the typhoon before the appearance of the corpusants.

## Key lines

> I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance.

Ahab declares he understands the spirit of fire and that the proper way to revere it is through outright defiance, not love or reverence.

_Core to Ahab's blasphemous philosophy and his rejection of submissive worship._

> "God, God is against thee, old man; forbear! 'tis an ill voyage! ill begun, ill continued..."

Starbuck tells Ahab that God is opposing him, that the voyage is cursed from the start, and begs him to turn the ship for home.

_Starbuck's most direct theological argument and plea for reason against the quest._

> And that ye may know to what tune this heart beats; look ye here; thus I blow out the last fear!

Ahab tells the crew to witness the intensity of his commitment, and he demonstrates it by blowing out the frightening flame on his harpoon.

_Ahab's dramatic physical act to dominate the omen and quell the incipient mutiny._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/cxix-the-candles
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/moby_dick_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters