The Hypocrisy of Religion in Moby Dick Essay -- Moby Dick Essays

The Hypocrisy of Religion in Moby Dick Stubb decides to give Old Fleece a lecture on godliness after waking him to complain ab emerge his overcooked whale steak. Not only does Stubb ask Fleece to preach to the sharks who are making a considerable din eating the idle whale chained to the ship, but he compares Fleeces inability to correctly cook a whale steak to Fleeces un-Christian ways. This passage is an excellent example of the theme of the hypocrisy of religion in Moby Dick. Before Stubb calls on Fleece, Ishmael compares the actions of the shark to the actions of man. He first compares Stubb to the sharks Nor was Stubb the only banqueter on whales flesh that night. Mingling their mumblings with his own mastications, thousands on thousands of sharks, swarming round the defunct leviathan, smackingly feasted on its fatness (Melville ___). By comparing Stubb to a shark, Ishmael portrays him as beastly and uncivilized, two traits that contradict the Christianity he professes and m inisters to Fleece. Two much references are do to solidify the comparison Ishmael describes the smacking of Stubbs epicurean lips, and Stubb himself says he prefers his whale steak the way the sharks prefer it. Next, Ishmael alludes to the bond between sharks and man in general. The some sleepers below in their bunks were often startled by the sharp slapping of their tag against the hull, within a few inches of the sleepers hearts (___). This line poses contradiction how can the tails of the sharks be within inches of the crews hearts in the tails are slapping the hull of the ship, for the hull of a whaleboat would be much wider than a few inches. What Ishmael agency when he says within a few inches of the sleepers hearts is... ...es of Stubb, he is being ordered to perform a number of tasks, including bowing to Stubb. Religion is nothing more than a hierarchy, where those in power are able to use others in the name of religion. Fleece never shows any sign of relief or enjoy ment at being a Christian now in fact, he seems to have gone through the conversion just so Stubb would let him go to bed. As Fleece walks away from Stubb, he mutters to himself, Wish, by gor whale eat him, stead of him eat whale. Im bressed if he aint more of shark dan Massa Shark hisself (___). This is the culmination of the scene, where Fleece spells out that sharks, savage beasts without religion, and Stubb, a cultured Christian, are quite similar. This makes Stubb a hypocrite, and his Christian belief system questionable. Works Cited Mellville, Herman. Moby Dick. Indianapolis Bobbs-Merrill, 1964.