Melville, Herman , 1819-1891

A literary text is a means for critics to analyze societal influence on the author, and both fashion and body modification serve this same function because they are legible texts with which to interpret the psychological motivations of the wearer in the cultural context in which he or she lives. Fashion theorists such as Roland Barthes and J.C. Flugel have detailed the reasons that they believe dress evolves throughout time, and the following thesis applies their theories to Melville's first novel Typee. In the first chapter, entitled, "Moral Fibers: Dress as the Extension of Self," much emphasis is given to archetypes of dress such as the veil, the corset and military uniforms in the Orient and the Occident. The second chapter, "Cut From the Same Cloth: Body Modification as Semiotic Modality," discusses ritualistic tattooing as a mode of literary expression.

This thesis considers the role of two rhetoricians, Petruchio from William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Captain Ahab from Herman Melville's Moby-DIck, and analyzes their use of verbal performances. BOth Petruchio and Captain Ahab use pathologically manipulative rhetoric to manipulate others emotionally. Through this manipulation, they attempt to gain control, power, and authority. While both Petrucio and Ahab appear to succeed in manipulating others, they actually fail. Petruchio attempts to manipulate Katherine, but fails to attain mental submission from her, and Captain Ahab attempts to manipulate the crew to pursue hunting the whale, but as the narrative progresses, the crew becomes too disillusioned with the hunt to be persuaded by Ahab's rhetoric. In conclusion, both Petruchio and Captain Ahab are unable to sustain rhetorical control, and they both fall into demagoguery, therby suggesting that while they are alike as rhetoricians, they both fail similarly as rhetoricians.