FATHER MAPPLE
AS SEEN IN:
"Moby Dick"
AS PLAYED BY:
Donald Sutherland
TV DIMENSION:
Land of Remakes
STATUS:
Recastaway
CREATED BY:
Herman Melville
Father Mapple, the famous preacher, was once a sailor and a harpooner, but
had dedicated his life to the ministry for several years. Father Mapple enjoys a
wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity, so Ishmael cannot suspect him of any
mere stage tricks. On the front of the pulpit is the likeness of a ship's bluff
bows and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting piece of scroll work, fashioned
after a ship's fiddle-headed beak. Ishmael wonders what the meaning could be,
for the pulpit is the earth's foremost part; all the rest comes from in its
rear, and the pulpit leads the world. According to Ishmael, "the world's a ship
on its passage out, and not a voyage complete, and the pulpit is its prow."
From the source:
Father Mapple rose, and in a mild voice of unassuming authority ordered the
scattered people to condense. ‘Starboard gangway, there! side away to larboard —
larboard gangway to starboard! Midships! midships!’
There was a low rumbling of heavy sea-boots among the benches, and a still slighter shuffling of women’s shoes, and all was quiet again, and every eye on the preacher.
He paused a little; then kneeling in the pulpit’s bows, folded his large brown hands across his chest, uplifted his closed eyes, and offered a prayer so deeply devout that he seemed kneeling and praying at the bottom of the sea.
This ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog — in such tones he commenced reading the following hymn; but changing his manner towards the concluding stanzas, burst forth with a pealing exultation and joy –
Nearly all joined in singing this hymn, which swelled high above the howling of the storm.
BCnU!
There was a low rumbling of heavy sea-boots among the benches, and a still slighter shuffling of women’s shoes, and all was quiet again, and every eye on the preacher.
He paused a little; then kneeling in the pulpit’s bows, folded his large brown hands across his chest, uplifted his closed eyes, and offered a prayer so deeply devout that he seemed kneeling and praying at the bottom of the sea.
This ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog — in such tones he commenced reading the following hymn; but changing his manner towards the concluding stanzas, burst forth with a pealing exultation and joy –
‘The ribs and terrors in the whale,
Arched over me a dismal
gloom,
While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by,
And lift me deepening down
to doom.
‘I saw the opening maw of hell,
With endless pains and sorrows
there;
Which none but they that feel can tell —
Oh, I was plunging to
despair.
‘In black distress, I called my God,
When I could scarce believe
him mine,
He bowed his ear to my complaints —
No more the whale did me
confine.
With speed he flew to my relief,
As on a radiant dolphin
borne;
Awful, yet bright, as lightning shone
The face of my Deliverer
God.
‘My song for ever shall record
That terrible, that joyful hour;
I
give the glory to my God,
His all the mercy and the power.’
Nearly all joined in singing this hymn, which swelled high above the howling of the storm.
BCnU!
No comments:
Post a Comment