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Although it has become standard for Herman Melville to be viewed as staunchly democratic, the author argues that Melville's views on the subject of democracy-elitism are far more complex. The origins of the idea that Melville was a democrat are traced to Melville's oft-quoted statements concerning his extreme egalitarianism, his sympathetic treatment of the socially-liberal Ishmael in Moby Dick, and the reinterpretation of Melville's work, and especially of Moby Dick, by scholars living amidst the anti-democratic philosophies that arose in Europe prior to the Second World War, and who were trying to reaffirm American democracy. However, if each of these is examined, more closely, it can be seen that Melville was far from consistent on the subject. In addition to his pronouncements praising the democratic ideals, he produced statements that were clearly of an elitist nature, and these statements grew in frequency as Melville aged, as did the conservatism of his work. This may have been influenced by Melville's personal plight of having to work at a low-paying job even though he considered himself to have qualities that should have precluded such a life. Looking closely at Mobv Dick, we can see strong elitist themes at work, not only in the presentation of the dictatorial Ahab as noble, but also in Ishmael's admiration for this supposed nobility, and indeed his profuse referrals to nobility in others. This inconsistency in Melville's views, this internal struggle between elitism and democracy, is not entirely negative, in that it endows his writing with an engaging complexity, depth, and contradiction.