Student 1
A Student
Mr. Harris
Period 1
3 December 2015
Weaving Destiny
Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick presents the guiding elements of life on The
Pequod’s voyage as fate, chance, freewill, and necessity. Ishmael contemplates to what length
these components interact with and limit each other in directing the paths and destinies of
individuals. Melville explores the divergent and interrelating roles of fate and chance while
examining freewill and necessity as independent elements, as well as the influence they hold
collectively, in guiding Ishmael’s life and The Pequod’s final voyage.
“The Mat-Maker” depicts chance, freewill, and necessity in a metaphor of weaving a
sword mat. This metaphor acts as a crucial component in developing the intricate and interlacing
themes of the driving forces of humanity throughout the novel:
I myself were a shuttle mechanically weaving and weaving away at the Fates.
There lay the fixed threads of the warp subject to but one single, ever returning
vibration, and that vibration merely enough to admit of the crosswise
interblending of other threads with its own. This warp seemed necessity; and here,
thought I, with my own hand I ply my own shuttle and weave my own destiny
into these unalterable threads. Meantime, Queequeg’s impulsive, indifferent
sword … thought I, which thus finally shapes and fashions both warp and woof;
this easy indifferent sword must be chance. (Melville 259-260)
Student 2
Queequeg’s sword interrupts the “the dreaminess” over the ship and sea, just as chance interrupts
the ideals, course, and regular exploits of life (Melville 259). Ishmael’s shift from discussing the
supremacy of fate over one’s destiny to the role of chance, indicates an uncertainty in beliefs and
the struggle of Ishmael to fathom the forces of nature and humanity as he applies the ordinary to
the abstract. The contrast between fate and chance is exposed as Queequeg lets Ishmael pick the
ship they will sail on, saying that Yojo insists the “selection of the ship should rest wholly with”
Ishmael (Melville 100). Queequeg believes in Yojo’s judgment and the predestination of
Ishmael’s decision. Ishmael, however, sees it as a choice of chance, contradicting his early
sentiments that “those stage managers, the Fates, had put me down for this shabby part of a
whaling voyage,” which more closely resembles the belief of Queequeg (Melville 31). Melville
juxtaposes the indifferent sword of chance against “the grand programme” of providential fate
(31). Just as the novel is not resolved by any conclusive action or meaning, Melville leaves the
exploration of fate and chance undecided.
In the sword mat metaphor, the warp represents unchanging necessities that constantly
influence motives and decisions. Just as the warp is strung first, necessity lies fixed as a result of
time, place, and previous events. Ahab’s willingness to put aside his desire to search strictly for
Moby Dick and forgo the ship’s purpose of obtaining spermaceti illustrates the role of necessity.
He understands that though the crew may “scorn cash now,” in time mutiny, “both moral and
legal,” could lead to the end of his command (Melville 258). Thus, protection of his voyage of
revenge necessitates Ahab’s adherence to “all customary usages” of a whaling ship (Melville
258).
Student 3
Ishmael weaves the woof through the warps of necessity. His words, “I ply my own shuttle and
weave my own destiny into these unalterable threads,” denote that the woof represents freewill
or the capacity one holds to guide and determine their own life (Melville 259). Ishmael’s
dropping of the “ball of freewill” as someone spots a whale, foreshadows the freewill of both
himself and the crew giving way to Ahab’s monomaniac revenge (Melville 260).
In “The Monkey Rope,” Ishmael further examines the connection of an individual with
numerous other persons, and how entwined lives limit freewill. Connected to Queequeg by the
monkey rope, Ishmael comprehends that his “freewill had received a mortal wound” and that he
resides in the “precise situation of every mortal that breathes; only, in most cases … he, one way
or another, has this … connection with a plurality of other mortals. … if the apothecary by
mistake sends you poison in your pills, you die” (Melville 376). The theme of limits on freewill
are also prevalent in Starbuck and Ahab’s relationship. Starbuck, wishing to turn back to
Nantucket, fails in convincing Ahab to stop his chase. Though Ahab feels he is protecting
Starbuck, his choice to keep Starbuck in the ship while he continues in pursuit of Moby Dick,
ultimately traps his chief mate as the whale attacks The Pequod and the sea swallows the
shattered ship and crew.
Ishmael not only observes the individual roles of chance, necessity, and freewill, but also
ponders the intricate balance of these guiding elements in an effort to determine the power of
each when woven together in the fabrics of life:
Chance, freewill, and necessity-nowise incompatible-all interweavingly working
together. The straight warp of necessity, not to be swerved from its ultimate
course- its every alternating vibration, indeed, only tending to that; freewill still
free to ply her shuttle between given threads; and chance, though restrained in its
Student 4
play within the right lines of necessity, and sideways in its motions directed by
freewill, though thus prescribed by both, chance by turns rules either, and has the
last featuring blows at events. (Melville 260)
Chance, freewill, and necessity all have influence in guiding the lives of Ishmael and the Pequod,
but each works within the constraints and patterns of the others. The long ropes of necessity lie
already in place and freewill is the one that must weave its way around and through necessity’s
stagnant lines. Chance, though both restricted and enabled by the freewill of man and the rules of
necessity, lands its last blow and, like Moby Dick, can leave freewill and necessity drowning in a
“closing vortex,” powerless as the Pequod’s crew in stopping the oncoming waves (Melville
655).
Student 5
Works Cited
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Print.