The whaling ship Pequod has been at sea for one week
Captain Ahab stands alone on deck in the hours before dawn. Below deck, while most of the
crew sleeps, the harpooner Queequeg prays and wakes Greenhorn, a loner and newcomer to
whaling. Dawn breaks and the call is made for “All Hands!” While the crew is raising the ship’s
sails, Starbuck, Stubb and Flask talk about Ahab, whom no one has seen since the ship left
Nantucket.
The crew sings of whales, wealth and home when suddenly, Captain Ahab appears. He tells
them of Moby Dick, the white whale that took off one of his legs, then nails a gold doubloon to
the mast and promises it to the man who first sights him. This is the real reason they have
sailed, he explains: to search the globe to find and destroy this one whale. His rousing call of“Death to Moby Dick!” excites everyone but the first mate, Starbuck. To no avail, he confronts
Ahab about what he sees as a futile and blasphemous mission.
Starbuck instructs Greenhorn about the dangers of whaling. When he ponders never again
seeing his wife and son, he is overcome with emotion and orders Queequeg to complete the
lesson. Stubb sights a pod of whales, but Ahab will not allow the eager crew to hunt since they
have not yet found Moby Dick. Starbuck orders the crew to sail on and sends Greenhorn up to
the lookout on the masthead, joined by Queequeg.
As the sun begins to set, Ahab looks over the wake of the ship and mourns that his obsession
deprives him of any enjoyment of beauty. All is anguish to him. At the masthead, Queequeg and
Greenhorn look over the world, while Starbuck, on deck, bemoans Ahab’s madness.
Three months later
After three months without a single whale hunt, Stubb jokes with the young cabin boy Pip about
the sharks circling the ship. The song ignites a dance for the full crew, but rising tensions take
over and a dangerous racial fight erupts. When Greenhorn suddenly sights a pod of whales,
Starbuck is at last able to persuade Ahab to let the men hunt. Starbuck and Stubb harpoon
whales, but Flask’s boat is capsized and Pip is lost at sea.
On board the Pequod, an enormous whale is being butchered and the oil rendered in the
burning tryworks. Flask tells Ahab that the search for Pip is under way, but Ahab thinks only of
finding Moby Dick. As they butcher the whale, the crew imagines Pip lost and struggling in the
heart of the sea. Flask tells Starbuck that many oil barrels are leaking and he goes below to tell
Ahab they must find a port for repairs.
Ahab is unmoved by Starbuck’s report, and is concerned only with the white whale. When
Starbuck refuses to leave, Ahab grabs a gun and orders him to his knees. From afar, Greenhorn
shouts that Pip has been found. Ahab orders Starbuck out of the cabin.
On deck, the crew listens to Greenhorn describe how Queequeg rescued Pip. As the men return
to work, Greenhorn pleads with Starbuck to get help for Pip. But, the first mate ignores him.
Greenhorn observes how life really works on the ship and decides to befriend Queequeg.
Starbuck returns to Ahab’s cabin, where he finds the captain asleep. He picks up the gun with
which Ahab had threatened him and contemplates what he should do. Pull the trigger and he
may survive to see his wife and child again. When Ahab cries out in his sleep, Starbuck
replaces the gun and leaves the cabin.
An enormous storm is approaching, but Stubb, Flask and the crew sing a jolly work song. From
the mastheads, Greenhorn and Queequeg talk of traveling together to his native island.
Greenhorn wants to learn Queequeg’s language and write down their adventures. Suddenly,
Queequeg collapses. The crew gets him down and Ahab announces he will take the masthead
watch himself.
Below deck, Queequeg tells Greenhorn that he is dying and asks that a coffin be built for him.
Pip enters from the shadows and sings a lament, joined by Greenhorn.
The massive storm now surrounds the Pequod. As Ahab sings defiantly to the heavens, bolts of
lightning engulf the ship and the masts glow with St. Elmo’s Fire. Ahab demands that the men
hold their posts, promising them the white flame is a sign from heaven to guide them to the
white whale. The crew is inspired once again by the captain, much to Starbuck’s distress.
The ship has made it through the storm. From afar, the voice of Gardiner, captain of the Rachel,
calls out. He pleads with Ahab to help him search for his 12-year old son who was lost in the
storm, but Ahab refuses. Pip, who has gone mad, shouts to Gardiner of the Pequod’s own lost
boy. Pip cuts himself and gets blood on Ahab’s clothes. The captain orders the ship to sail on,
leaving Gardiner behind. Ahab contemplates the heartless God who devastates so many lives
and baptizes his spear with Pip’s blood. Below deck, Greenhorn sees Queequeg’s newly built coffin and contemplates the madness that
seems to surround him.
On deck, Ahab and Starbuck gaze over the horizon. Ahab describes his forty years at sea and
all he has left behind. And why? To what end? He cannot say. But he sees in Starbuck’s eye a
human soul and it touches him deeply. Starbuck seizes the moment and persuades Ahab that
they should return to the wives and sons who wait for them in Nantucket.
Just as Ahab appears to relent, he sights Moby Dick on the horizon. Great excitement ensues
and the whale boats are lowered. Ahab looks again in Starbuck’s eye and orders him to stay on
board. The crew declares its loyalty to Ahab. During the chase, Moby Dick destroys two
whaleboats in succession, drowning their crews. Then, the Pequod is rammed and sunk, killing
all aboard. Ahab’s boat is then attacked and all but the captain jump or fall off. Finally alone with
the white whale, Ahab cries out and stabs at Moby Dick before being dragged down into the
sea.
Greenhorn floats on Queequeg’s coffin, barely alive, softly singing his lost friend’s prayer.
Gardiner calls from afar, thinking he has at last found his missing son. Instead, he learns that
Ahab and all the crew of the Pequod have drowned, except for this one survivor. |
