Crazy Gabriel

[Hardeman]

John and Nick,
The recent punning and pratting about the craziness of "playing with
Moby Dick" appears to have ignored Melville's direct linkage of
Gabriel of the Jeroboam to Ahab. To me he is comparing two mad men.
Ahab called himself "madness maddened" and was "crazy Ahab" to
Ishmael and the mates. When confronted by Gabriel's challenge of the
dead mates letter he yelled, "Curses throttle thee." A liitle
experience with one's own craziness will reveal that we first see it
in others.

Consider this description, "The unflinching earnestness with which he
declared these things;--the dark, daring play of his sleepless,
excited imagination, and all the preternatural terrors of
real delirium, united to invest this Gabriel in the minds of the
majority of the ignorant crew, with an atmosphere of sacredness.
Moreover, they were afraid of him," also applies to Ahab.

Mad men often believe they are divine in their belief. "Gabriel
solemnly warned the captain against attacking the White Whale. When
challenged by Macey's actions to attack Moby Dick ignoring his warning
he "hurl[ed] forth prophecies of speedy doom to the sacrilegious
assailants of his divinity."

Ahab too had his divinity as he clearly states in "The Candles".
"O thou clear spirit of clear fire . . . I own thy speechless,
placeless power" is Ahab's mad hubris and Gabriel like claim of divine
cognition. When challenged with Starbuck's rational argument he
reacted by dominating him just as Gabriel did on the Jeroboam.

So we have Melville showing us how two crazy men project their fears
outward on an common object, Moby Dick. One says attack the object
that "tasks" him with "outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice
sinewing it." The other says with omnipotence do not attack the
object for it will kill you. Neither of them can reached with reason
for their madness is fueled by emotion that neither can integrate into
his self identity. Their madness has the same strange power over
people like not unlike Hitler's spell binding tirades.

It is interesting to me that Ahab filled out Gabriel's prophesy to the
letter and unconscious to the end that he was projecting his madness
into an external object. He closed out his unenlightened self with a
final affirmation of his "Curses throttle thee" still unaware he was
speaking to himself. "for hate's sake I spit my last breath at
thee. . . . Thus, I give up the spear!" Indeed the soul that was
Ahab did at last throttle "Crazy Ahab."

My wife thinks I am crazy for posting these Ishmail responses.
As my body corrodes away and the mind slips I have come to agree with
her.
I trust that this flexibility will enable me to not have to throttle
my craziness with a curse.

Hardeman

[tamar cummings]

Hardeman,   Your mind sounds better than most to my reading. I am sorry to hear that you are suffering health problems. While to others it may indeed appear "crazy" posting on such things as Melville at any time much less when confronting serious illness, I think perhaps posting provides a comforting release, particularly for those prone to love to share their thoughts and to work/play with words.   For lo these many long years you have posted on Melville and challenged the White Whale and his control. What you wrote about seeing in others what we are dealing with ourselves is so true. You have long been, like Ahab, shaking his fist at God, denying God's power and claiming to be in control of his own life as in The Candles passage you quoted. I think it is easy, especially for men blessed with great intellect, to do this. And when intellect begins to slip and life control becomes elusive it would be a good time to consider:   There is a choice   Yeah and Nay Each man has his say and there is no grey   I think that is what Melville has to say I hope you will choose The Way   We all will meet our end someday, some way and face the judgment day   The "King of Terrors" will have no sway if you know The Way   Oh grave where is thy sting? Oh death where is thy Victory?   Yeah, tho I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no evil For Thou art With me!   For God so loved you that He gave his only begotten Son that if you believe in Him you will have eternal life   This is the spiritual battle The battle for the heart and soul going on in each man   Choose Life Today is the day None of us knows what this day will bring forth Or if we will meet again before we leave this world   May the Lord lift up his Countenance upon you and give you Peace!   Shalom as always to you Hardeman,   Tamar   --- On Fri, 11/6/09, Hardeman <lhp...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Ackin]

Hardeman,

You raise a very important question. Yes, there is an obvious "direct
linkage" between Gabriel and Ahab. It was not omitted from our
reflection.

But the real issue, to me, is to consider this important question from
the perspective of a theory of *correspondance*, for we are dealing
with bottles, containers, letters, envelopes, messengers and posts in
this chapter.

If Harry is a diminutive of Harold and the name Harold is semantically
related to the word "herald", we must consider the possibility of an
allusion to Hermes, the Archmessenger of the Gods.

Moreover, if Macey alludes to a "mace" or a wand, we're again
confronted to the staff of the divine messenger. That the caduceus is
an emblem of pharmacy is anecdotal, or is it? That Hermes is a master
of "double-entendres", puns, false promises and deceptions should keep
us alert. That Macey gets the post… mortem is hilarious.

Gabriel being a self-appointed "archangel" , it is clear that his
office is that of delivering a message, for the word angel comes from
the Greek "angelos" (Hebrew malakh), meaning messenger.

Gabriel wears a weird coat that "envelopes him". Macey receives and
envelope that is coated with green mould.

There is also a nice correspondance between the spirit of Strength
(Gabriel, from Hebrew gabar, strength) in chapter 71 and the "strong
spirit" denied to Queequeg in chapter 72.

Charity's charity is Devil's charity, as Stubb keeps repeating. Her
pseudo-kindness has nothing to do with "temperance" but only seeks to
kindle a fire. Ginger is hot and pungent. This "tuberbulum" is a
source of "swelling". By metathesis, the word ginger equals "nigger",
just as the etymology of "calomel" points to "beautiful blackness".
Bildad is nothing but the anagram of DDIABL (diable), French for
"devil". (Remember that Peleg means "division in Hebrew"?) Thus Aunt
Charity is the Devil's sister proselytizing.

We all know that "Religion is the opiate of the People". In chapters
71-72, we learn, through an archEngels, that blind faith is the
laudanum of the crews. We don't need the pinny Marks of Miss Macey to
get the message. Mutualism was a precursor of communism, and a "joint
stock company of two" means that assets and liabilities are capitally
important in any Siamese merging. Red flag anyone?

Nick

PS. Hardeman, to paraphrase Ahab, don't give up the S-PEAR, or the "S-
POIRE", French for "HOPE". Your mind is an Osprey...

[Hardeman]

Dear Tamar,
Thank you for your compassionate response. Please feel assured that I
have confidence in "The Way" although we may use different terms. I
have no problem with the concept of "God" although I prefer to use the
term "reality." There is nothing more omniscient than reality. It has
been my experience that joy results from adjusting one's perceived
reality to harmonize with absolute reality. I trust that you can
perceive that it comes down to "how" we harmonize with reality/God.
For all of us it is a never ending process of discovery with lots of
hints .

You recommend "Choose life" and indeed that was my choice years ago.
I identify with the life force or the "clear spirit " of light be it
in whales, trees or people. Since long ago Spinoza convinced me that
there is one substance, this spirit is not something separate from
material existence. It is a manifestation of the way, call it a soul
if you will, that animates a body and mind. As Melville described it,
an inner self identity looking through a autobiographical self, in a
masquerade. For those who identify with their persona and thus are
attached to it they may hope for its "after life." Those who do not
identify with their ego mask are free to choose life as identity. I
look at my mind and body as I do my cars and sailing vessels. I love
them and take care of them but they all wear out. So I choose to
identify with the life force that is immortal and takes away the
fear of death. All the rest is vanity. Who would want to save their
vanities and be judged for them ?

After some consideration of your posting I am unable to even
hypothesize what you mean by my "challeng[ing] the White Whale and
his control." Ahab's monomania towards Moby Dick is an illness that
does not allow him to accept reality or God as you might say. I see
the whole point of Melville's effort as an illustration how someone is
enslaved by his inner conflict and therefor blind to all "intimations
from life" that would aid him in adapting to reality. So the white
whale's response is but one of many hints from reality to Ahab that he
is out of synchronicity with his real living self. The white whale
controls nothing he just responds. Moby Dick defends his life force in
an combative manner to be sure but he is in the flow of reality. It is
that awareness which Ishmael also later discovered whereas Ahab did
not.

Ahab rules by fear and believes he is his intellect. Reread his
ideal man that he would construct. I advocate confidence, confidence
in thyself behind the masquerades where, God knows, you can't hide
from reality.

I do appreciate your care but there are millions of others in greater
need. I am already in paradise as I live in rural France.

This too will pass,
Hardeman

[Hardeman]

Nick, John and Ffrangcon,
Perhaps I should have left this thread alone after Ffrangcon's
observations. Anagrams have long been a part of the Shakespeare cult
and Melville certainly loved puns so I appreciate they may worm up the
reader for literary diving. However when the hubris contradicts the
text in the case of literary criticism it causes me to discredit the
associations.

For example in Nick's evolution of the argument evolving Gabriel into
Cadmus you conclude, " As such, Gabriel is a plague to himself and his
prophecies are plain bullshit,." Whereas most readers will conclude
the Ahab did indeed fulfill Gabriel's prophecy about dying, your
"bullshit" conclusion makes your position irrational. To me you are
not comparing Melville's Gabriel with Ahab. To me you let your
preconception corrupt your conclusion.

I can't wait until you guys get to the candidate for an archbishopric
in his whale grandissimus. Perhaps Melville expected critics to mince
up his creations and he created this character to satirize those of us
who would cut him up.
Thanks for L'espoir
Hardeman

[Ackin]

Hardeman,

You're right, I should have introduced more nuances in my reading and
analysis. But I don't see a contradiction of logic in my approach.

From a narrator's point of view, Gabriel's prophecy may be considered
crap. On several occasions, Ishmael stresses the seamen's credulity,
he ridicules Queequeg's faith ("their half-crazy conceits", "most
absurd notions") and makes fun of Bildad's vengeful Quakerism.

However, from a reader's point of view, Ahab does indeed fulfill
Gabriel's prophecy "à la lettre". But what exactly is the spirit of
this letter and the letter of this spirit? That Ahab will eventually
die "a-sphyx-iated", a rope around his neck.

Does this double perspective go against the text? Is it irrational? If
that what you think, then you've forgotten the importance of double,
duplicity and duality in MD.

To me, Moby-Dick is fundamentally built on a logic of contradiction,
which is Melville's way to expose the dual or multiple nature of Truth
or God. According to Hawthorne, Melville could "neither believe, nor
be comfortable in his unbelief". Is that enough to call Melville's
attitude irrational, or was he not just trying to embrace his
contradictions?

Nick

[Hardeman]

Nick,
Thanks for the response. I agree with your suggestion that Melville
was
"trying to embrace his contradictions. " We are all a unique mix of
the irrational and the rational.
So in those domains were Melville is ambiguous he leaves it up to his
reader to find truth.

I have been suggesting that where Melville has his character make flat
out statements that reflect on the overall content of the work we must
consider this is A perspective of truth. Thus the character of
earnest authoritative madmen is critical to understanding Moby Dick
and he is not ambiguous about their effect."Nor is the history of
fanatics half so striking in respect to the measureless self-deception
of the fanatic himself, as his measureless power of deceiving and
bedevilling so many others." To me that is a key to understanding the
whole book.

For me we are witnessing in his oeuvre the process of giving up
beliefs of the author in his search for self identity. So any beliefs
we impose on the text must be supported by the text especially those
like my own which come from perspectives that developed after his era.
Therefor while anal retentive might be useful in understanding
Melville in retrospect, one must be careful in applying it to any
character. We might better apply to ourselves as we mince his words.

I do not happen to agree with your characterization that Ishmael
"ridicules Queequeg's faith." You are picking and choosing to support
your your own perspective on faith not Ishmael's. All of us do that.
In several places Ishmael favorably characterizes his friend attitudes
and actions . Consider the following as advice for all of us who
project our own values into a text that "we think we know about"
"I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these
things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals,
pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits on these
subjects. There was Queequeg, now, certainly entertaining the most
absurd notions about Yojo and his Ramadan;--but what of that? Queequeg
thought he knew what he was about, I suppose; he seemed to be content;
and there let him rest. All our arguing with him would not avail;
let him be, I say: and Heaven have mercy on us all--Presbyterians
and Pagans alike--for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about
the head, and sadly need mending." [The Ramadan]

Just another perspective from a head needing mending
Hardeman


On Nov 10, 8:09 am, Ackin wrote