# Postscript explained — Moby-Dick

> Chapter companion for Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

## What happens

The narrator humorously argues for the dignity of whaling by suggesting that the oil used in the coronation ceremonies of kings and queens must be sperm oil, supplied by whalemen.

## Themes in this chapter

### Interpretation and Perception

Ishmael playfully interprets the unknown oil of coronation as sperm oil, reshaping the perception of whaling from a dirty trade to a noble supplier to royalty.

## Character check-ins

### Ishmael

Acts as the narrator and advocate, presenting a satirical argument to elevate the status of whaling by linking it to royal ritual.

## Key lines

> In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught but substantiated facts.

I want to argue for whaling's importance using only proven facts.

_Sets up the narrator's rhetorical stance._

> What then can it possibly be, but sperm oil in its unmanufactured, unpolluted state, the sweetest of all oils?

Therefore, the oil used must be pure, raw sperm oil.

_The core of the satirical argument linking whaling to regal dignity._

> Think of that, ye loyal Britons! we whalemen supply your kings and queens with coronation stuff!

Consider this, British citizens: we whalers provide the very substance for your monarchs' coronations!

_The triumphant, tongue-in-cheek conclusion championing the whaleman's trade._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xxv-postscript
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/moby_dick_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters