The Whiteness of The Whale
What the white whale was to Ahab, has been hinted;
what, at times, he was to me, as yet remains unsaid.
Aside from those more obvious considerations touching
Moby Dick, which could not but occasionally awaken
in any man’s soul some alarm, there was another
thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning
him, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered
all the rest; and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable
was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible
form. It was the whiteness of the whale that
above all things appalled me. But how can I hope
to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random
way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters
might be naught.
Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly
enhances beauty, as if imparting some special virtue
of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls;
and though various nations have in some way recognised
a certain royal preeminence in this hue; even the
barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu placing the title
“Lord of the White Elephants” above all
their other magniloquent ascriptions of dominion;
and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white
quadruped in the royal standard; and the Hanoverian
flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger;
and the great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to overlording
Rome, having for the imperial color the same imperial
hue; and though this pre-eminence in it applies to
the human race itself, giving the white man ideal
mastership over every dusky tribe; and though, besides,
all this, whiteness has been even made significant
of gladness, for among the Romans a white stone marked
a joyful day; and though in other mortal sympathies
and symbolizings, this same hue is made the emblem
of many touching, noble things— the innocence
of brides, the benignity of age; though among the
Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of
wampum was the deepest pledge of honor; though in
many climes, whiteness typifies the majesty of Justice
in the ermine of the Judge, and contributes to the
daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white
steeds; though even in the higher mysteries of the
most august religions it has been made the symbol
of the divine spotlessness and power; by the Persian
fire worshippers, the white forked flame being held
the holiest on the altar; and in the Greek mythologies,
Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a snow-white
bull; and though to the noble Iroquois, the midwinter
sacrifice of the sacred White Dog was by far the holiest
festival of their theology, that spotless, faithful
creature being held the purest envoy they could send
to the Great Spirit with the annual tidings of their
own fidelity; and though directly from the Latin word
for white, all Christian priests derive the name of
one part of their sacred vesture, the alb or tunic,
worn beneath the cassock; and though among the holy
