Fleur Green

This is a record of my studies and travels from 2006.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Moby Dick and the search for Pip...

Pip is a wonderful character. In the book, he's a young African-American. But in the opera by Jake Heggie which was performed in Adelaide recently, he's played as a young caucasian boy, and sung by a woman - the only female singer on stage.

He's initially thought of by the crew members as a dumb but jolly lad who entertains with his tambourine frequently.
When he is lost at sea, he goes mad. When he is found and rescued, the initial character "Pip" is lost, and this rambling madman is left.

I think it is Starbuck who seems to think he is not mad though, but has had some sort of mystical experience, as a lot of what he says in 'madness' is insightful. It's interesting and reminds me of this poem:

Much Madness is divinest Sense—
To a discerning Eye—
Much Sense—the starkest Madness—
..............(Emily Dickinson -1861)

I could go on about other wonderful characters in Moby Dick... Captain Ahab, Queequeg, Ishmael and Starbuck...

The thing that unites them? They are all Men lost at sea whether they realise it or not.

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