Amanda Schenk Precis

Amanda Schenk

Précis Assignment 

1/18/2013

Elliott, Geoffrey. "Melville's MOBY-DICK." Explicator 67.4 (2009): 252-254. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

In “Melville’s MOBY-DICK” writer Geoffrey Elliot explains that Melville’s novel, specifically the two “Knights and Squires” chapters, take resemblance to Arthurian romances with the feudal court Melville creates on the ship. Through his critical essay Elliot makes many connections between Arthurian romances, the stories of the legendary King of Britain and his knights,  and the hierarchy on the Pequod. Elliot compares many of the characters to those of Arthurian romances; Starbuck to Sir Gawain and Ahab to Arthur to further his point of the Pequod’s  medieval hierarchy. Elliot compares  the Pequod to Arthurian romances in order to create a parallel between the structure of Medieval society and the role each of the characters play on the Pequod. 

Elliot begins his explanation by finding the textual evidence where Melville directly makes a comparison to Medieval Society. The chapter title “Knights and Squires” is the first glimpse that Melville will create a comparison between a feudal court and the Pequod. He recognizes Melville’s simile of comparing the ship’s mates to “Gothic Knights” and the ship’s harpooners as “modern swordsmen.” Melville compares the common crewmen to peasants by placing the mates and harpooners above them. Melville paints an image of a feudal hierarchy by taking the mates, harpooners, and common crewmen and giving them a rank. 

Elliot continues his essay by focusing on Melville’s description of Starbuck and how as the first mate he can be seen as the highest ranking Knight. Melville takes an entire chapter by addressing Starbuck’s credentials as the first mate of the ship, he addresses Starbuck’s heritage as well as his many honors at sea. Elliot compares these to the blazons, a knight’s code of arms, that can be read in many Arthurian romances like, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Alliterative Morte Arthure. In the second “Knights and Squires” chapter Melville lumps the rest of the characters’ descriptions together similar to the long lists of knights that would follow after the most prestigious knights were described. Melville fails to recognize the rest of the crew members in this chapter with any distinction.

Elliot continues his knight to Pequod comparison by addressing how all knights fall from grace and how the members of the Pequod fall from grace as well. Elliot addresses how all knights eventually fall victim to the fate of death. The Pequod and all its crew eventually falls from grace when Ahab is drowned by Moby Dick and the ship is sunk leaving the entire crew, besides Ishmael, to die. Elliot believes that Melville wrote Moby-Dick with the intention of writing an Arthurian romance where the characters face a tragic fate. 

Elliot’s comparison to Arthurian romances fails to address the influence Shakespeare’s writing had on Melville.  In Moby-Dick Ahab appears to play the tragic hero by his inevitable downfall during his quest for Moby Dick. Shakespeare also focused on the feudal court of Europe and that is where Melville may have found inspiration to create a hierarchy on the Pequod.