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

The Hypocrisy of Religion in Moby Dick Stubb decides to give hoar thieve a lecture on religion after open-eyed him to complain about his overcooked whale steak. Not only does Stubb ask Fleece to preach to the chisels who are making a considerable din take in the dead whale chained to the ship, but he compares Fleeces inability to powerful 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, castaway compares the actions of the chisel 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 make mastications, thousands on thousands of sharks, swarming round the dead leviathan, smackingly feasted on its fatness (Melville ___). By analyse Stubb to a shark, pariah portrays him as beastly and uncivilized, two traits that contradict the Christianity he professes a nd ministers to Fleece. Two more references are made 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 few sleepers below in their bunks were often startled by the sharp slapping of their tails against the withdraw, 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 content when he says within a few inches of the sleepers hearts is... ...es of Stubb, he is creation ordered to perform a number of tasks, including bowing to Stubb. Religion is zippo more than a hierarchy, where those in power are able to map others in the name of religion. Fleece never shows any sign of re liever or enjoyment at being a Christian instanter in fact, he seems to have gone through the conversion besides 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 civil Christian, are quite similar. This makes Stubb a hypocrite, and his Christian belief system questionable. kit and caboodle Cited Mellville, Herman. Moby Dick. Indianapolis Bobbs-Merrill, 1964.