Moby-Dick · Chapter
CXVII: The Whale Watch explained
Ahab's boat crew spends the night beside a slain whale far to windward, waiting to retrieve it in the morning.
What happens
Ahab's boat crew spends the night beside a slain whale far to windward, waiting to retrieve it in the morning. In the dark, Ahab and Fedallah converse about Fedallah's prophecies concerning Ahab's death, with Ahab expressing a derisive belief in his own immortality and his inevitable triumph over Moby Dick.
Themes in this chapter
Fate, Free Will, and Predestination
The central dialogue revolves around Fedallah's prophecies, which seem to dictate the conditions of Ahab's death, pitting Ahab's defiant will against an apparently foretold fate.
Madness and Sanity
Ahab's laughter and declaration of immortality in the face of ominous prophecy highlight his monomaniacal state, blurring the line between defiant resolve and delusion.
Characters to notice
- Captain Ahab
Awakens from a dream about hearses, engages Fedallah on the prophecies of his death, and defiantly declares he will slay Moby Dick and is 'immortal on land and on sea.'
- Fedallah
Crouches watchfully in the bow, reiterates his cryptic prophecies about the hearses and Ahab's death, and states that only hemp (the gallows) can kill Ahab.
Key passages
“I have dreamed it again... Of the hearses?”
Ahab tells Fedallah he has again dreamed of hearses, referencing the earlier prophecy.
Shows the prophecy preys on Ahab's mind even in sleep.
“Believe it or not, thou canst not die till it be seen, old man.”
Fedallah insists Ahab cannot die until the prophesied sights are witnessed.
Emphasizes the conditional, predestined nature of Ahab's fate.
“Hemp only can kill thee.”
Fedallah states that only a hangman's rope can kill Ahab.
Adds a specific, cryptic detail to the prophecy of Ahab's death.
“I am immortal then, on land and on sea... Immortal on land and on sea!”
Ahab laughs derisively, interpreting the prophecy to mean he cannot be killed by normal means at sea.
Highlights Ahab's hubris and his twisted, defiant interpretation of fate.