There are small instances in which Ishmael or the crew does encounter more stereotypical supernatural-like beings, such as the ghostly sailors Ishmael saw in chapter twenty-one that vanishes when he and Queequeg boards the ship, and the unnoticed and disembodied “low laugh from the hold” in chapter thirty-six (Melville 140). All this adds to the dreadful, gloomy suspense of the Pequod’s setting, which is not uncommon for a Gothic novel. But perhaps the most supernatural being in the story is Moby Dick. In the minds of the “superstitiously inclined,” the ghostly white whale is “not only ubiquitous, but immortal” (Melville 154-155). They say that the whale seems to appear in multiple regions at once and is nearly impossible to slay, awingly praising its human-like intellect and malice. If sailors claim that Moby Dick is both omnipotent and omnipresent, does that not make it a god of spirit of some form? In fact, Ahab seems to blame the whale for all his “bodily woes… [and] all his intellectual and spiritual exasperations”, deeming it “the incarnation of all… malicious agencies” and the “intangible malignity which has been from the beginning” (Melville 156). Whether or not this may just be the musings of a middle-aged monomaniac, the fact that Moby Dick does not make a physical appearance till the very end yet holds such a strong influence throughout the novel helps enhance the plausibility. He initially exists for the reader only through the words and fears of others, through legend and story. This further demonstrates his omnipotence, omnipresence, and similarity to a god; Moby Dick may not be present physically yet he can be through either in thought or in fear, and once a belief has spread, it cannot be easily
There are small instances in which Ishmael or the crew does encounter more stereotypical supernatural-like beings, such as the ghostly sailors Ishmael saw in chapter twenty-one that vanishes when he and Queequeg boards the ship, and the unnoticed and disembodied “low laugh from the hold” in chapter thirty-six (Melville 140). All this adds to the dreadful, gloomy suspense of the Pequod’s setting, which is not uncommon for a Gothic novel. But perhaps the most supernatural being in the story is Moby Dick. In the minds of the “superstitiously inclined,” the ghostly white whale is “not only ubiquitous, but immortal” (Melville 154-155). They say that the whale seems to appear in multiple regions at once and is nearly impossible to slay, awingly praising its human-like intellect and malice. If sailors claim that Moby Dick is both omnipotent and omnipresent, does that not make it a god of spirit of some form? In fact, Ahab seems to blame the whale for all his “bodily woes… [and] all his intellectual and spiritual exasperations”, deeming it “the incarnation of all… malicious agencies” and the “intangible malignity which has been from the beginning” (Melville 156). Whether or not this may just be the musings of a middle-aged monomaniac, the fact that Moby Dick does not make a physical appearance till the very end yet holds such a strong influence throughout the novel helps enhance the plausibility. He initially exists for the reader only through the words and fears of others, through legend and story. This further demonstrates his omnipotence, omnipresence, and similarity to a god; Moby Dick may not be present physically yet he can be through either in thought or in fear, and once a belief has spread, it cannot be easily