Chapter 78 is a nice change of pace, after all the musings once again and again afterwards. There were some quotes worth mentioning, but if I had to pick only one, it would be the last sentence, “How many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato’s honey head, and sweetly perished there?” (p. 377) On the surface, this is about the whale Tashtego fell into, but what struck me is the specific mention of Plato… and why “honey head”?
First, the phrasing “How many, think ye, have likewise fallen…” invites us readers to think how many people fell into the very fate Tashtego would have had if Queequeg hadn’t come to save him. But the addition of “Plato’s honey head” suggests some kind of treasure, so the people who were “embalmed” by the whale’s spermaceti died comfortably? Maybe one of the things Melville is trying to say is that the whale’s spermaceti feels like honey, and when one falls into the mouth, they feel no need to escape? The last phrase, “and sweetly perished there,” suggests a “delicious” death.
Wait, the mere mention of Plato has to mean something. Plato is famous for philosophy… perhaps his thoughts were attractive to people. But some of Plato’s theories were questionable, and perhaps these theories are the “honey,” or like the whale’s spermaceti. If this is truly Melville’s intent, this chapter is about the dangers of blindly following an ideal – what seems sweet and harmless could end up being the very thing you should avoid.
Moby-Dick
ECL 522: Fall 2025. Professor Pressman
I love following your ruminations here; and of course Plato has meaning. I would suggest that you look him up and perhaps look up his relevance in this chapter…. but even without doing that, your interpretation has merit, and I’m glad to see you questioning these strange moments in the text as being philosophical in nature
Hi Zach, I like how you focused on that last line and connected “Plato’s honey head” to the danger of blindly following ideas that seem sweet. That mix of temptation and destruction fits perfectly with how Melville treats knowledge throughout the novel. The image of “sweetly perishing” feels like a warning about getting too caught up in trying to understand things that are beyond us.
I also like your point about the spermaceti feeling like honey, it ties the physical and the philosophical together. The whale’s head becomes both a literal trap and a symbol for how thought can consume you if you go too deep. And Ishmael’s tone in that line almost sounds amused, like he’s joking about philosophers drowning in their own ideas. It’s darkly funny, but it fits the book’s rhythm of mixing humor with unease.