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| Character | Peleg | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Adult (36-50), Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Angry, Descriptive | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Year | 1851 | |
| Period | 19th Century | |
| Genre | Drama, Adventure | |
| Description | Peleg describes Captain Ahab | |
| Location | Chapter 16: The Ship | |
Summary
The narrator of story is Ishmael, a young sailor who decides to work on a whaling ship. He decides to take a ferry to Nantucket, the whaling center of New England. He first goes to New Bedford and spends the night at the Spouter-Inn, where he has to share a room with a harpooner. He is at first scared of him, considering him a savage and a "cannibal", but they soon become good friends. They go together to Nantucket to try to find work in a whaling ship. Wandering around Nantucket, Ishmael sets his eyes on a ship called "Pequod". He strikes a deal with the ship's owners, Peleg and Bilbad.
In this monologue Peleg tells Ishmael about their ship's captain, the mysterious Ahab. He tells him that he is secretive and inscrutable. Also he is now very moody because he lost his leg trying to kill a big white whale, Mody Dick. He doesn't speak much and he doesn't leave his cabin very often. He assures him, however, that he is a very skilled captain.
In this monologue Peleg tells Ishmael about their ship's captain, the mysterious Ahab. He tells him that he is secretive and inscrutable. Also he is now very moody because he lost his leg trying to kill a big white whale, Mody Dick. He doesn't speak much and he doesn't leave his cabin very often. He assures him, however, that he is a very skilled captain.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
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| PELEG: "And what dost thou want of Captain Ahab? It's all right enough; thou art shipped.....I don't think thou wilt be able to see him at present. I don't know exactly what's the matter with him; but he keeps close inside the house; a sort of sick, and yet he don't look so. In fact, he ain't sick; but no, he isn't well either. Any how, young man, he won't always see me, so I don't suppose he will thee. He's a queer man, Captain Ahab--so some think--but a good one. Oh, thou'lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. He's a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn't speak much; but, when he does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab's above the common; Ahab's been in colleges, as well as 'mong the cannibals; been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier, stranger foes than whales. His lance! aye, the keenest and the surest that out of all our isle! Oh! he ain't Captain Bildad; no, and he ain't Captain Peleg; HE'S AHAB, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a crowned king!..... A wicked one, it's true, a very vile one, but look ye, lad; never say that on board the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself. 'Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died when he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that the name would somehow prove prophetic. And, perhaps, other fools like her may tell thee the same. I wish to warn thee. It's a lie. I know Captain Ahab well; I've sailed with him as mate years ago; I know what he is--a good man--not a pious, good man, like Bildad, but a swearing good man--something like me--only there's a good deal more of him. Aye, aye, I know that he was never very jolly; and I know that on the passage home, he was a little out of his mind for a spell; but it was the sharp shooting pains in his bleeding stump that brought that about, as any one might see. I know, too, that ever since he lost his leg last voyage by that accursed whale, he's been a kind of moody--desperate moody, and savage sometimes; but that will all pass off. And once for all, let me tell thee and assure thee, young man, it's better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one. So good-bye to thee--and wrong not Captain Ahab, because he happens to have a wicked name. Besides, my boy, he has a wife--not three voyages wedded--a sweet, resigned girl. Think of that; by that sweet girl that old man has a child: hold ye then there can be any utter, hopeless harm in Ahab? No, no, my lad; stricken, blasted, if he be, Ahab has his humanities!" |
