Himself

Himself was too much for himself. --Herman Melville, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities (1852).

... the imprisoned hero himself sank overwhelmed....  -- Scenes Beyond the Western Border (March 1853); and Scenes and Adventures in the Army (1857).

In the examples below, all from Moby-Dick (1851) and Pierre (1852), the reflexive pronoun himself functions also as an intensive pronoun that emphasizes its antecedent (the noun, pronoun, or proper noun that comes before it). Page numbers refer to First American editions, digitized and available online courtesy of HathiTrust Digital Library:

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t3kw6ns1s

Pierre; or, The Ambiguities
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044011420494

and the Internet Archive:

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
https://archive.org/details/mobydickorwhale01melv/page/n7

Pierre; or, The Ambiguities
https://archive.org/details/pierreorambigui00melvgoog

MOBY-DICK [39/205]

1. the great whale himself --Chapter 1, Loomings - page 6
2. Dives himself --Chapter 2, The Carpet-Bag - page 11
3. the great leviathan himself --Chapter 3, The Spouter-Inn - page 12
4. the devil himself  --Chapter 3, The Spouter-Inn - page 24
5. Jove himself --Chapter 7, The Chapel - page 41
6. he himself [Queequeg] --Chapter 17, The Ramadan - page 96
7. a deacon himself [Queequeg] --Chapter 18, His Mark - page 98
8. Father Mapple himself --Chapter 18, His Mark - page 99
9. Bildad himself  --Chapter 20, All Astir - page 107
10. Peleg himself --Chapter 22, Merry Christmas - page 116
11. The whale himself  Chapter 24, The Advocate - page 123
12. God; Himself! The great God absolute! --Chapter 26, Knights and Squires - page 128
13. the great Sperm whale himself.   --Chapter 32, Cetology - page 158
14. he himself [Ahab]  --Chapter 34, The Cabin Table page 165
15. the Baron himself  Chapter 41, Moby Dick - page 199
16. Great Jove himself  Chapter 42, The Whiteness of the Whale - page 208
17. he himself [Ahab]  --Chapter 44, The Chart  - page 219
18. Starbuck himself   --Chapter 48, The First Lowering - page 245
19. he himself [Daggoo] --Chapter 48, The First Lowering  - page 246
20. Beelzebub himself  --Chapter 50, Ahab’s Boat and Crew. Fedallah - page 257
21. the captain of the Town-Ho himself.  --Chapter 54, The Town-Ho's Story  - page 270
22. the devil himself  --Chapter 55, Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales - page 297
23. the fanatic himself [Gabriel] --Chapter 71, The Jeroboam's Story - page 351
24. the captain himself  --Chapter 71, The Jeroboam's Story - page 352
25. Death himself  --Chapter 71, The Jeroboam’s Story  - page 354
26. the Evil One himself  --Chapter 78, Cisterns and Buckets - page 380
27. man himself  --Chapter 79, The Prairie - page 385
28. the great Leviathan himself.  Chapter 82, The Honor and Glory of Whaling - page 404
29. this divine Vishnoo himself --Chapter 82, The Honor and Glory of Whaling - page 405
30. the all-seeing sun himself --Chapter 60 - The Line - page 314
31. Moby Dick himself --Chapter 87, The Grand Armada - page 426
32. great leviathan himself  --Chapter 98, Stowing Down and Clearing Up - page 476
33. Jimimi! here’s Gemini himself  --Chapter 99, The Doubloon - page 481
34. the patient himself [Captain Boomer] --Chapter 100, Leg and Arm - page 489
35. Queequeg himself  --Chapter 110, Queequeg in His Coffin - page 531
36. the blacksmith himself  --Chapter 112, The Blacksmith - page 538
37. the stranger captain himself  --Chapter 128, The Pequod Meets the Rachel - page 584
38. the judge himself  --Chapter 132, The Symphony - page 600
39. the mad fiend himself  --Chapter 134, The Chase—Second Day  - page 613

PIERRE [32/246]

1. Pierre himself  (8x) pages 26, 321, 328, 333, 334, 354, 358, 386, 393.
2. the American that himself - Book 1 page 15
3. the noble beast himself - page 39
4. the Evil One himself - page 187
5. he himself (11x) pages 83, 96, 152, 186, 234, 241, 298, 301, 392, 400, 490.
6. God himself - page 222
7. God himself - page 448
8. the original man himself - Book 17.3 page 345
9. the author himself - page 352
10. the first man himself [Adam] - page 353
11. the eminent Jugglarius himself - page 356
12.  Plotinus himself - page 398
13.  —the face itself—the man himself—this inscrutable Plotinus Plinlimmon himself— page 400
14.  the individual himself - Book 26 page 478 

MELVILLE'S CORRESPONDENCE

• "...the Devil himself cannot make him say yes." --Letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, April 1851
• "Crash! comes Moby-Dick himself.... " --Letter to Evert Duyckinck, November 1851

Southern Literary Messenger Vol. 19 - March 1853. Cub, a tragedy in three acts.

In crossing the Platte this morning, the grizzly bear cub came on the scene in his final act.

It will be remembered by the patient and attentive future reader of this dry and methodical narrative, that its first appearance on any stage, was in "high" tragedy—that the first act embraced an unusual amount of sanguinary incident—that an innocent brother, (or sister,) being ruthlessly slain, and the baffled lady-mother left (unceremoniously) full of towering and demonstrative rage,— the imprisoned hero himself sank overwhelmed,—or in a well-acted counterfeit of death, (and was borne off, remember, on a "real" horse). That in the next act, (and three acts shall do for the tragedy of my bear,—originally they had but one,—but that was at the sacrifice of a goat,) he came to life in a manner that might very well have been criticized as an overdone piece of stage-effect,—but that in fact, the spectators were much moved, and gave full credit to the dangerous passion of his howl.

To-day, then,—for I scorn anachronism— was performed the final act. The stage (wagon) was on "real water." Enraged at his wrongs, his losses, and his galling chain, the "robustious beast" acted in a ridiculous and unbearable manner; aye, ''tore his passion to tatters, to very rags,"—splinters; the stage (wagon) could not hold him: and finally in despair, he "imitated humanity so abominably," as to throw himself headlong, and so drown—or hang himself: (the author cannot decide which—even after a post mortem examination;—and so leaves the decision of this important point to the commentators).

My tragedy is all true,—and if not quite serious, has, as is proper, its moral;—but rather, as I have alluded to the primitive tragedy, let that "future reader" here imagine the entry of Chorus, and their song to Freedom! That dumb beasts prefer death to slavery! Liberty lost, they can die without the excitement of the world's applause, or hopes of a grateful posterity! (It is not possible, I think, that the cub could have known that I would immortalize him.)  --March 1853 Scenes Beyond the Western Border"; and Scenes and Adventures in the Army.

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