Chapter 123 of the novel Moby Dick, titled The Musket, is a chapter about the character Starbuck and his internal battle over the morality of direct versus indirect action and him succumbing to his own complicity. Towards the end of the chapter, Melville writes the passage, “The yet levelled musket shook like a drunkard’s arm; Starbuck seemed wrestling with an angel; but turning from the door, he placed the death-tube in its rack and left the place.” This passage to me is one that exemplifies and concludes the entire internal and external battle that Starbuck had been having, not just in this chapter, but throughout the entire novel.

“The yet levelled musket shook like a drunkard’s arm”. This as the introduction to this passage about decision is extremely impactful because it shows a more external feeling within this chapter about an internal battle. The weapon shaking in his hands becomes an externalization of this internal crisis Starbuck has been having. The diction in this passage is so poignant and purposeful. Melville calling the musket “levelled” represents the fact that Starbuck still has yet to abandon the choice of killing Ahab completely. However, that is juxtaposed within the same sentence with the use of the simile of a “drunkard’s arm”. This simile suggests the ideas and feelings of disorientation and the body acting on its own accord. It also evokes a feeling of shame from the readers, making it seem as if Starbuck already feels the guilt of the action in which he is contemplating, before even doing it one way or another. This internal battle and the choice he makes is sort of the moment in which his extreme complicity begins. When he begins to tremble, he is demonstrating the inability to be decisive and make a choice that isn’t necessarily self serving. This truly is what leads to the demise of the voyage. 

“Starbuck seemed wrestling with an angel”. This section is a reference to the biblical story of Jacob wrestling an angel. This story is one that represents someone letting go of both their own self-reliance and their weakness and becoming one with God. I think this is such an interesting and impactful reference because it evokes an image within the readers of a sort of divine test for Starbuck. It shows Starbuck fighting with his own moral identity and weakness, the internal battle of remaining obedient and under control or starting a mutiny and being responsible, and the decision of which one is necessarily good or bad. The ‘angel’ that Starbuck is fighting is both his own personal conscience that is wanting him to stop Ahab, knowing that if they continue it will lead to their demise, and the moral and legal law when it comes to murder. This quote and this struggle truly dramatizes the moral question of what exactly is good and what exactly is bad. Is him directly killing Ahab worse than him indirectly killing everyone else by remaining complicit as Ahab leads the crew to their demise? Him fighting the angel represents him being unsure of what to do and this inability to choose is what in the end makes him remain complicit. His need to have a clean moral conscience and need to have something be right or wrong is what truly holds him back. The religious imagery that Melville utilizes is so impactful because it really represents to the readers how the moral correctness that Starbuck possesses itself becomes a fatal decision. 

“He placed the death-tube in its rack, and left the place.” The diction in this section is also so extremely impactful. By calling the musket a “death-tube” instead of just its name, it shifts the tone for the readers from the gun being just a practical tool to being a representation of morality and mortality. Starbuck choosing to place the gun back is a gesture of surrender but physically and morally. He willfully relinquishes his agency and this act is a physical representation of him giving into his obedience to Ahab. By placing the gun back, Starbuck knows both his and the rest of the crew’s fate and is both complicit and resigned to see it through. This is the exact moment where Starbuck’s complicit behavior becomes something that is concrete and unwavering. By returning the weapon and not committing the act of murder, he lands the final blow of giving the power back to Ahab completely. His decision shows that he is choosing the comfort of hierarchy and indirect action rather than the courage of making a change. The simplicity of the end of the quote saying “and left the place” really just demonstrates how resigned to his own fate he has become. By simply calling the room a “place” it leaves room for this to represent not only Starbuck leaving the room, but also leaving his own responsibility, morality, and sense of justice behind with the musket. Something that Melville makes very apparent to the readers with his characterization of Starbuck and the rest of the crew is that not being able to stop evil when you can is a direct action of participating in the evil. By choosing to walk away and not take action, Starbuck remains a complicit participant and essentially is the one who seals the fate of the Pequod.