How Moby-Dick or, The Whale drew on Daniel
A documented line of influence: Herman Melville demonstrably engaged Daniel’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
Daniel
Daniel · c. 165 BCE
BibleThe influenced
Moby-Dick or, The Whale
Herman Melville · 1851
The Age of the NovelRelevance
7/10
On Moby-Dick or, The Whale’s page
- The dread that hangs over the Pequod is borrowed from Daniel 5 — Belshazzar's feast, the hand that writes the verdict on the wall, the doom that comes whether or not anyone reads it
- Starbuck names it outright in the doubloon chapter: Ahab "seems to read Belshazzar's awful writing," "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin"
- The Bible was Melville's deepest well; reading Daniel first gives that allusion — and the novel's whole prophetic key — its full weight
On Daniel’s page
- Daniel 5's writing on the wall — "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," the verdict that Belshazzar has been weighed and found wanting — becomes Melville's image for doom foreseen and unread
- The Bible was Melville's foremost source, and Moby-Dick hangs the Pequod's fate on this scene
- In the doubloon chapter, Starbuck watches Ahab and says "the old man seems to read Belshazzar's awful writing" — Daniel's prophecy of a kingdom already condemned