The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is Stubb?
Stubb is the Pequod's second mate, a Cape Codder whose defining accessory — a short, blackened pipe that rarely leaves his jaw — doubles as a symbol for his entire philosophy. He is competent, courageous, and almost constitutionally incapable of solemnity. Where other men meet the violence of deep-sea whaling with either Ahab's feverish intensity or Starbuck's conscientious dread, Stubb meets it with a joke and a puff of smoke. Ishmael characterizes him early as a man for whom "the deadliest encounters" are conducted with "a sort of genial, desperado philosophy," and the novel consistently tests whether that philosophy is wisdom, cowardice, or something more troubling still. He is neither villain nor hero but an enormously revealing middle figure: the ordinary man who keeps the ship running, asks no hard questions, and laughs his way toward catastrophe.
02·Arc & motivation
What is Stubb's arc and motivation?
Stubb's arc is a prolonged, cheerful self-revelation. He does not change so much as become progressively exposed. His foundational motivation is comfort — not luxury, but psychological ease. He needs the universe to be manageable, and humor is his instrument for making it so. When Ahab kicks him in a dream (Chapter 31, "Queen Mab"), Stubb's response is a masterpiece of self-protective reasoning: he decides that being kicked by a great man is actually an honor, not a humiliation. This early episode is a blueprint for everything that follows. Stubb never lacks perception; what he lacks is the willingness to act on what he perceives. He sees Fedallah's uncanny presence, hears Ahab's mad speeches, witnesses Pip's shattering — and at every turn he laughs, philosophizes, and lights his pipe again. His famous declaration, "I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing," reads as bravery but functions as abdication. His arc ends not in transformation but in confirmation: the universe he cheerfully accepted as indifferent turns out to be exactly that.
03·Key moments
What are Stubb's key moments?
- The Dream of the Kick (Chapter 31): Stubb recounts his dream to Flask with comic puzzlement, ultimately deciding submission to a great man's boot is philosophically sound. It establishes the pattern of rationalizing powerlessness as contentment.
- The Midnight Whale-Steak Supper (Chapter 64-65): Stubb demands a whale-steak cooked to his precise specifications at midnight, then directs the cook Fleece to preach to the circling sharks. Ishmael lingers lovingly on this scene, using it to construct Stubb's absurdist portrait in full — generous, self-indulgent, and oddly tender toward the ridiculous.
- Abandoning Pip (Chapter 93): When Pip jumps from Stubb's whaleboat a second time during a chase, Stubb makes good on his warning and leaves him. The open ocean unmakes Pip's mind entirely. Stubb's pragmatism here is not malicious but genuinely cold — the darkest expression of a detachment that elsewhere seems merely comic.
- The Three-Day Chase: Stubb rows against Moby Dick as a professional, not a crusader. His bravery is unambiguous, but it is without metaphysical investment, which makes his death in the final sinking quietly devastating in its ordinariness.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are Stubb's most important relationships?
Stubb's relationship with Ahab defines his moral profile. He is not broken by Ahab's authority so much as he actively constructs a worldview that makes submission comfortable. This is subtly more dangerous than mere obedience; Stubb neutralizes himself as a potential check on Ahab's madness. Against Starbuck, Stubb functions as Melville's counterpoint: same ship, same facts, entirely different burden. Starbuck's tragedy is that he sees clearly and cannot act; Stubb's is that he acts cheerfully without ever truly seeing. Their pairing suggests that neither moral seriousness nor comic fatalism is adequate to resist catastrophe.
His treatment of Pip is the novel's sharpest moral indictment of Stubb's cheerfulness. Pip is not abandoned out of hatred but out of an economic, impersonal logic — the whale cannot be lost for one cabin boy — and this makes it worse. The same breezy cost-benefit thinking that makes Stubb pleasant to sail with destroys a child's sanity. His unease around Fedallah is one of the few places Stubb's humor shows its seams; he jokes about the phantom crew, but the jokes are nervous, pointing to an intuition he refuses to develop.
05·Connected characters
How is Stubb connected to the other characters?
The evidence06
06·Key quotes
What are Stubb’s most famous quotes?
“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.”
Stubb · Chapter 39: First Night-Watch · Stubb's soliloquy alone on the deck of the Pequod at night, reflecting on the voyage and Ahab's quest
Why it matters
This bold statement comes from Stubb, the Second Mate of the Pequod, in Chapter 39 ("First Night-Watch") of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851). This short chapter unfolds as a dramatic soliloquy where Stubb, alone on deck at night, reflects on his personal philosophy about life and fate. After witnessing Captain Ahab's obsessive quest and the crew's frenzied vow to hunt the White Whale, Stubb contemplates the perilous journey ahead with his usual laid-back attitude and dark humor.
Thematically, this quote is important because it positions Stubb as a contrast to Ahab. While Ahab faces the unknown with fury and an obsessive drive, Stubb responds with laughter—a form of fatalistic cheer. His words capture one of the novel's key philosophical dilemmas: how should humanity confront an indifferent, unknowable universe? Stubb's laughter isn't a sign of ignorance; it's a deliberate, almost Stoic acceptance of uncertainty. The line also hints at the crew's impending doom, making Stubb's carefree bravery both admirable and deeply ironic. It stands out as one of Melville's most memorable expressions of resilience in the face of the void.
Study07–08
07·Questions
Questions readers ask about Stubb
What is Stubb's most famous quote in Moby-Dick?
Stubb's most celebrated line is "I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing" (Chapter 39: First Night-Watch). The declaration suggests courageous acceptance, but Melville frames it as philosophical abdication — Stubb's humor serves as a refusal to seriously confront the catastrophe he senses building around Ahab's obsession.
What role does Stubb hold on the Pequod?
Stubb is the second mate of the Pequod, ranking below Starbuck and above Flask. He commands the second whaleboat and is a skilled, fearless harpooner who dispatches whales effortlessly. His position places him in the ship's middle tier of command — competent enough to keep the voyage running, but lacking the authority or will to challenge Ahab's disastrous course.
What happens to Pip because of Stubb?
Pip is driven to madness after Stubb abandons him in the open ocean. When Pip jumps from Stubb's whaleboat a second time during a whale chase, Stubb fulfills his warning and leaves him behind. The experience of floating alone in the vast sea shatters Pip's mind entirely. Stubb acts from cold pragmatism — the whale cannot be lost for one cabin boy — which renders the outcome morally worse.
How does Stubb react after Ahab kicks him in a dream?
Rather than feel humiliated, Stubb reframes the insult as philosophically acceptable, deciding that being kicked by a great man is actually an honor (Chapter 31, "Queen Mab"). This dream episode reflects his entire character: he recognizes a troubling reality but converts it into something comfortable through humor and rationalization, neutralizing himself as a check on Ahab's authority.
How does Stubb's relationship with Starbuck reveal his character?
Stubb and Starbuck serve as Melville's structural counterpoint among the mates. Starbuck sees Ahab's madness clearly and is paralyzed by moral anguish; Stubb deflects the same reality with jokes and pipe smoke, never burdened enough to act. Their contrasting temperaments produce the same result — inaction — suggesting that neither conscientious dread nor comic fatalism can resist a catastrophe like Ahab's obsession.
Why does Stubb carry a pipe throughout the novel?
Stubb's pipe — short, blackened, and almost never out of his jaw — symbolizes his philosophy of comfortable detachment. It is his instrument for maintaining psychological ease in the face of violence, death, and the supernatural unease Fedallah provokes. Just as the pipe converts tension into smoke, Stubb turns every disturbing reality aboard the Pequod into something manageable and amusing.
Is Stubb a villain in Moby-Dick?
Stubb is not a villain — he is cheerful, competent, and genuinely likable — yet Melville constructs him as morally troubling. His breezy complicity allows Ahab's obsession to go unchecked, and his abandonment of Pip, while not hateful, destroys the boy's sanity through impersonal pragmatism. The novel suggests that Stubb's cheerful indifference may be more corrosive to moral resistance than open cruelty.
How does Stubb die in Moby-Dick?
Stubb dies in the final sinking of the Pequod after Moby Dick destroys the ship. He rows bravely against the White Whale during the three-day chase, operating without Ahab's obsession or Starbuck's moral dread — purely as a professional. His death is quietly devastating in its ordinariness: the whale kills the indifferent and the driven alike, and Stubb's lifelong laughter is finally silenced by the indifferent universe he accepted.
08·Essay angles
Use this in your essay
Tool · Essay angles
Humor as ideology: Examine how Melville uses Stubb's comedy not simply as comic relief but as a sustained philosophical position
Stubb and Starbuck as a structural pair: Compare how Melville constructs the first and second mates as two failed alternatives to Ahab's madness, arguing that their contrasting temperaments ultimately produce the same result