Previous

The Ghost Ship

The eerie ghost ship the narrator finds himself on represents the dire consequences of a quest for knowledge. The Old Swede’s cry of, “Almighty God! See! See!” as the ship approaches first ties the vessel to this theme. The ship is the first thing the Old Swede can see after an unknowable amount of time in darkness, making this exclamation almost a kind of epiphany. However, seeing only leads the Old Swede to his doom. The ship itself is tied to exploration and knowledge. The narrator unwittingly labels it “Discovery,” and in the captain’s room are esoteric manuscripts with metal bindings, navel charts, and scientific instruments, suggesting study, experimentation, and exploration. However, it is clear that the ship is haunted, damned, or otherwise doomed. Its occupants appear to be in a trance or perhaps are ghosts themselves. The narrator observes that their course appears to be “hurrying onwards to some exciting knowledge—some never-to-be-imparted secret whose attainment is destruction.” Thus, the ship serves as a potent illustration of the danger of knowing too much.

Darkness

Darkness throughout the story symbolizes the unknowable and mysterious. As darkness overtakes the narrator’s ship after the Simoom, he and the Old Swede are left in the dark, literally and metaphorically. They cannot calculate direction, observe weather patterns, or even discern the passage of time. The darkness makes knowledge and discovery impossible. Additionally, the more time they spend in the abyss-like night, the more superstitious the Old Swede becomes, and even the staunchly rational narrator admits to feeling “silent wonder.” This detail establishes a tie between the darkness and the unknown and uncanny. The less the narrator and the Old Swede can see, the more their minds must imagine. The mysterious significance of darkness also appears with the dark black color of the ghost ship, which resists all the narrator’s attempts to know and understand it. The ship is so dark the narrator can bring nothing about it to light.

Previous section Motifs

Take a Study Break