Dread, Foolishness, Wisdom

This chapter explores Melville’s commentary on the collection of aphorisms known as the book of Proverbs and how he responds to its central propositions: fear of God as a prerequisite for attaining wisdom, the dichotomy between wisdom and folly, and the antinomian problem of God as the author of evil. Proverbs, it argues, enables Melville to frame his contemplation of theology and skepticism by confronting evil in its numerous guises as ontological fact. Because proverbs are portable and pragmatic, they allow Melville to comment politically on contemporary American reality (faith, economics, political and cultural institutions). The chapter discusses Mardi, “The Lightning-Rod Man,” The Confidence-Man, and Billy Budd, showing how proverbs initially connote revolutionary political potential in Melville’s work but soon are rendered ineffectual and used only to indict American political, economic, and cultural industries for successfully conspiring to purge wisdom from all personal interaction and jurisprudence.