His firm lips met like the lips of a vise; the
Delta of his forehead's veins swelled like overladen brooks; in
his very sleep his ringing cry ran through the vaulted hull:
'Stern all! The white whale spouts thick blood!'"
Conrad comes at the height of the age of science. The seas for him
are full of dark mysteries, but these mysteries are only the
reflections of man. Man dominates the earth and sea, man conquers
the typhoon, intelligent man subdues the savage wills of the
barbarians of the shallows, man has learned to master all but his
own heart. The center of gravity shifts from without to within.
The philosopher, reasoning of God and of nature, gives place to
the psychologist brooding over an organism that is seat of God and
master of the elements. Melville is centrifugal, Conrad
centripetal. Melville's theme is too great for him; it breaks his
story, but the fragments are magnificent. Conrad's task is easier
because it is more limited; his theme is always in control. He
broods over man in a world where nature has been conquered,
although the mind still remains inexplicable. The emphasis shifts
from external symbols of the immensities of good and evil to the
behavior of personality under stress.
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