|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
... The relationship of Ishmael and Queequeg is a symbol of what some may think to be as a homosexual marriage, and with the use Queequeg’s tattoos, Melville symbolizes the meaning of truth for Ishmael.
Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick, and Queequeg, the cannibal, are ambiguously intertwined in bed when they awake at the Spouter Inn. One can go further, and show that in the relationship of the two men, they are quite “unambiguously married” (Chin, Jan. ... Ishmael, virtually a new bride and a lusty seaman, appropriately goes to bed before Queequeg, the savage harpooner and bridegroom, shivers in anticipation of his husband fulfilling his wedding-night duty:
“I was all eagerness to see his face, but he kept it averted for some time while in unlacing the bags mouth. ...
Ishmael, like a terrified coy maiden, lies deathly still as he catches sight of the ‘bald purplish head’ of this ‘purple rascal,’ reminding one of another kind of purple head, lower on the body. Queequeg performs his before-bed ritual of undressing, and then springs under the covers with his tomahawk, yet another euphemism for the reader, whereat Ishmael shrieks out. There is some kicking about which echoes the landlords earlier promise about the erotic suitability of the bed, and Queequeg begins feeling Ishmael. Ishmael leaps out of bed, but the landlord comes running in and persuades him that there is really nothing to fear. ... Ishmael returns to bed, and decides that Queequeg is, after all, “on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal” (Melville, 34). They retire happily, and Ishmael later states that he “never slept better in his life” (Melville, 35).
The next morning Ishmael awakes with Queequegs arm thrown over him in the most loving and affectionate manner. Ishmael muses: “You had almost thought I had been his wife” (Melville, 36). ... Melville exemplifies to the reader that now this relationship is moving toward something more serious.
The Church thus far has not formally sanctioned their marriage, and Ishmael hears a sermon by Father Mapple that makes him feel guilty. ... Perhaps because of this reference to the sins of the cities of the plain, Ishmael and Queequeg that very same day enter into a formal marriage contract, but according to Pagan ritual rather than Christian. Together they sit down upon the mat in which Queequeg pointedly explains is the same mat upon which both of his sisters had been married.
Approximate Word count = 1940
Approximate Pages = 7.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|