MovieChat Forums > Moby Dick (1956) Discussion > Was Ishmael gay?

Was Ishmael gay?

posted 15 years ago by perineum1
13 replies | jump to latest

I am reading the book and there are scenes in the book that are definitely pointing in that direction. So far between Ishmael and Queequeg have done all but made out with each other. It's very surprising to say the least how the lines of companionship have changed on the last hundred or so years. Maybe Herman Melville was gay and it is just showing in his writing. Anyone have an opinion? No spoilers please as I haven't gotten far in the book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi5PFI3rMTQ

[–] pbl1 14 years ago

<insert Moby Dick joke here>

What the $%*& is a Chinese Downhill?!?

[–] IFeedPigeons 14 years ago

LOL

[–] MtnMan13 14 years ago

I think you're seeing what you want to see.

[–] wrfarley 14 years ago

There are definite gay implications in the novel. The scenes where Ishmael and Queequeg cozily lie in each others arms, then get "married" cannot, I think, simply be dismissed as "19th Century mores" of male bonding.

[–] Dream_Demon 14 years ago

I'm not sure, but there definitely was a lot of ho yay going around.

Welcome to my Nightmare- Freddy Krueger

[–] eddie_willers 11 years ago

Rum, sodomy and the lash.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

Long, lonely nights on the poop deck enlivened by a little...

Rum, sodomy and the lash.

[–] Dream_Demon 14 years ago

I'm not sure, but there definitely was a lot of ho yay going around.

Welcome to my Nightmare- Freddy Krueger

[–] berzelmayr 14 years ago

At least his short story "Billy Budd" had a lot to do with Billy's look and how the ship-crew loved him.

[–] Conspirator_Slash 14 years ago

Melville was gay. For Hawthorne.

There's Ishmael/Queequeg. And that sperm-squeezing scene. And Ahab/Pip.

Don't even let me BEGIN about the Billy/Vere/Claggart triangle! There's a reason a gay composer (and a gay librettist) made it to an opera.

[–] Aidy 14 years ago

Just wait til you get to the bit with Ahab and Pip...

[–] murdoch1111 11 years ago

@perineum1 » Mon Apr 26 2010

You ask, "Was Ishmael gay?"

With reference to the 1956 film, I answer, "No." Melville was simply representing male friendship in the manner of the nineteenth century.

[–] harro (499) a year ago

Ah, the old "is this character meant to be gay" discussions, how I have missrd them, LOL. They were so common back in the glorious IMDB discussion days. But not so numerous now in Moviechat.org. However, in short, no, I don't think Ishmael was gay, but I guess we see what we all want to see.