“ They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself! ”
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851). copy citation
| Author | Herman Melville |
|---|---|
| Source | Moby-Dick |
| Topic | madness understanding calm |
| Date | 1851 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2701/2701-h/2701-h.htm |
Context
“Or, if you will, like so many ant-hills of powder, they all stand before me; and I their match. Oh, hard! that to fire others, the match itself must needs be wasting! What I've dared, I've willed; and what I've willed, I'll do! They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I'm demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that's only calm to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and—Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer. Now, then, be the prophet and the fulfiller one. That's more than ye, ye great gods, ever were.”
source
Meaning and analysis
