Bill Lord

March 1, 2006
Eng 414
Prof. Kuebrich

Robert D. Richardson, Jr.’s “Myth and Literature in the American Renaissance”

Before the whale, there was the idea of the whale. This is Richardson’s claim regarding
Melville’s treatment of mythology in “Moby-Dick”. Richardson shows that Melville used his
knowledge of comparative mythology much differently than his predominantly Christian
contemporaries. Whereas most authors at that time were drawing from other religions and world
views in order to make comparisons with Christianity, Melville drew from a variety of
mythologies, including Christianity, to create a modern myth while demonstrating how myths are
made. Though he borrows heavily from the Bible, he is often quick to criticize the culture of
Christianity and his language should be taken as an indication of his familiarity with Christianity
rather than his desire to promote or decry it specifically. Melville’s concern, therefore, is not for
distinguishing between myths, but for establishing the unifying principle of all myths.
Essentially, Melville’s point is that the concepts of divinity and human greatness exist
without regard to a specific symbol. His is the mythology of democracy wherein the divine
resides in all things. It is upon recognition of this divine essence in some facet of nature that
generates mythology. In the chapter entitled “Cetology”, Melville completely deconstructs the
whale showing it with scientific regard which is his way of grounding the myth in truth. He then
shows how the reality of Moby-Dick transforms through “a veil of rumor, scholarship, legend,
and myth; [until] we eventually find ourselves regarding the whale as more than a whale.”
Melville applies the human conceptions of divinity to the whale making a god of Moby-
Dick, while he presents Ahab to show “how heroes arise from mighty human beings”. Richardson
points out that Melville describes the ideal captain while criticizing Bildad and Peleg. In pointing
out the qualities that these two captains lack, he introduces the concept of the great sea-captain.
“Just as Melville gave us the awesome idea of the white whale and then gradually let the actual
whale fill in the outline thus created, so now he first creates a theoretical hero – a pattern for a
hero – and then gradually realizes the pattern in Ahab”. It is a function of Melville’s democratic
mythology that Ahab is a common man thus signifying the potential for heroism among all
humans.
The portrayals of the whale and Ahab stay very realistic illustrating Melville’s belief that
all myth originates from some real event. Rather than base Ahab’s obsession on supernatural
causes such as demonic possession, he bases it on psychological constructs. It is Richardson’s
assertion that Melville thus validates psychology with mythology whereas in all other instances
researchers have done just the opposite. As a whole, “Moby-Dick” represents Melville’s
“conviction that myth will tell us the truth”. Melville proves that the modern myth must be
grounded in reality and asserts that the author “must reach the level of myth if he is to deal with
those deeper, more profound and often hidden truths of the human condition”.

1 – How does Melville’s treatment of mythology challenge theology? Would religion be more or
less effective without myth?
2 – In what ways does Melville create something more out of Ahab and the whale? How does his
portrayal influence our concepts of the divine and the heroic?
3- Why must mythology be the foundation for dealing with the “hidden truths of the human
condition”?