Abstract This essay focuses on the character of Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. This essay attempts to humanize Ahab by exposing the motivation behind his behavior, and placing him in his environment as a reactor to natural events. The paper looks at Ahab as a mirror reflection of the ugliest parts of humanity. By suggesting that Captain Ahab is in some ways a reflection of humanity, this essay attempts to humanize his monomaniacal characteristics. Ahab is the captain of the Pequod, but this essay also suggests that he is the captain of the novel, steering the fiction from beginning to end.
From the Paper "Captain Ahab appears to be a communion of man and man's perception of alterity. Man naturally detests and abhors all adverse characteristics to which he cannot deny he is akin. Captain Ahab seems to be the imperfect reflection that most would rather not acknowledge as their own. He is the modern "Everyman"-molded to encompass the raw nature that makes him human and intrinsically aligned with the industrial, religious, and economic paradigms characteristic of the nineteenth century. Captain Ahab is as mysterious and complex as all humanity, and one can no more hate him than he can hate himself. He is composed of "a thousand bold dashes of character" (Herman Melville's Moby-Dick MD 67) which makes him a virtual collage of human experience. He is a captain, an ever-branching tree of morals and virtues, and a deep mystic ocean many fathoms deep."
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses that one of the most attractive, yet mad aspects of the character of Ahab in Herman Melville's Moby Dick is the way that Ahab seems to attribute morality and intelligent design to the natural world, as embodied in the persona of the white whale Moby Dick. The writer explains that Ahab lost his leg to Moby Dick long ago, and he is determined the whale will pay for this transgression. Ahab is so bent upon his quest in avenging himself against nature that even when he admits that the whale may not have intended to take his leg it does not matter. The writer notes that Ahab says human beings must act as though life has meaning, even though life may be arbitrary and meaningless.
From the Paper "In other words, there may be a moral intelligence behind animals like the whale, in Ahab's view, and God or some intelligent force is acting behind the manipulation of the objects or pasteboard creations. After all, God gave the whale many human-like characteristics, like the need to be warm and the need to breathe above water, even though God also gave the whale the ability to do these things naturally, without recourse to culture like blankets and breathing apparatus. And Ahab believes that because Moby Dick deprived him of his leg, he must act as if there is moral, intelligent design and reason to the universe, and take vengeance upon either the whale itself or upon the forces or being that gave the whale the power to act against his leg."
Abstract This paper examines the character of Captain Ahab as a tragic hero in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick". The author discusses the criteria for a tragic hero and how Ahab fits each criterion. The paper looks at how Captain Ahab's weakness turned him away from success, and how he recognized his personal suffering.
From the Paper "Captain Ahab is a man of substance, or outstanding in a positive way. He is also turned aside from success due to his own weakness of character. This weakness of character causes him to suffer which in turn this suffering causes Ahab to find recognition of himself and discover what is happening to him. He also causes the sensitive and intelligent reader to feel a sense of waste. Ahab causes a disruption in a system of order as well. He is classified as a paradoxical figure and shows sign of humanity. With two proofs or more for each of the eight criteria of a tragic hero Captain Ahab proves himself to be a more than adequate tragic hero in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. "
Abstract In "Moby Dick", Herman Melville uses Captain Ahab to describe and critique the romantic hero. It shows how Melville establishes Ahab's superiority in several ways and shows how Captain Ahab is the perfect example of a romantic hero.
From the Paper "Captain Ahab is the perfect example of a romantic hero. He pursues the whale that in a previous voyage had caused him to lose a leg, with a murderous obsession. He wants only information about the whereabouts of Moby Dick. All civilities and pleasures are dispensed with, as Ahab gives his razor away and even throws his pipe overboard. The quadrant is smashed; and compass and chart are jettisoned, as Ahab, with the instinct of a maddened hunter, makes his own magnet, log, and line and pursues Moby Dick across the Pacific by dead reckoning. As the weeks and months pass, Ahab becomes ever more obsessive."
Abstract This literary essay details Herman Melville's use of blasphemy and blasphemous images in the novel "Moby Dick". The paper further discusses how it leads to Ahab's eventual downfall.
From the Paper "Many struggle to ever find religion in their life or understand its meaning and purpose on a personal level. In a time of crisis for those spiritual ones that do find religion, faith in a higher power can be questioned, leaving a person lost in existential deliberations or possibly cursing the heavens in anger. This topic of religious abandonment and the consequential sacrilegious actions that may follow has been explored in several works of literature. In Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, Captain Ahab's blasphemies, which include his extreme vengeance for Moby Dick, his relationship with the dark Fedallah, and his numerous impious actions toward God, result in his ultimate downfall."
Abstract This paper explains that one of the ways that Melville's establishes Ahab's superiority is by naming his protagonist after a biblical king, Ahab. The author points out that Captain Ahab is the perfect example of a romantic hero because he pursues the whale that in a previous voyage had caused him to lose a leg with a murderous obsession, but he wants only information about the whereabouts of Moby Dick. The paper states that, in Ahab, the reader can see exceptional courage, endurance, strength of purpose, and admirable heroic willpower; but at the same time, he is a destructive madman who has substituted egotism and self-love for the humility and self-abnegation of a true believer.
From the Paper "Ahab is preeminently fearless, a deep diver, a water-gazer, and a philosophical man given, to symbolic hermeneutics. The shearing off of his leg has brought home to him the problem of evil in the world, has in fact deranged him. For him Moby Dick could be merely a beast, but the creature seems to be much more than that; he may indeed be an agent of a malign power in the universe, the principle of evil itself. Captain Ahab is the dark brooding captain of the Pequod. He is portrayed as a brilliant, creative, sensitive as well as competent captain, yet the dark side of Ahab emerges in his obsession of the white whale, Moby Dick. In his mad pursuit, he does not consider anything or anybody (including his crewmembers) else important."
This paper discusses the influence of evil in three novels, "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville, and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.
Abstract This paper analyzes the evil component in the personalities of Captain Ahab from "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville, Roger Chillingworth from "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Pap Finn from "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. The author believes that Captain Ahab is one of the most evil characters in fiction because Ahab's evil is all encompassing because he is so obsessed with finding and killing the whale that took his leg. The paper concludes that Hawthorne and Melville's views were concerned with the danger of carrying revenge too far; while Twain was concerned with illustrating the evils of petty larceny and drunkenness, but with a tongue planted firmly in his cheek.
From the Paper "Unlike the other characters, Pap's evil is self-directed, and only really takes in Huck when he beats him and gets drunk around him. Pap does not influence others the way Chillingworth and Ahab do, and his evil is not based in vengeance or hatred. Pap is pitiable and comical because of Huck's amusing descriptions, while the other characters are anything but pitiable. Thus, Pap is the least evil of all three characters, and he is more sympathetic than the others are, because his evil is based on a disease of the body, rather than a disease of the soul. Alcoholism is not funny, but Pap is about as funny as a child beater can get, while there is nothing funny about Ahab and Chillingworth, who are far too serious about their goals of revenge and hatred."
Abstract This paper compares the similarities of two literary characters. More specifically, the paper compares and contrasts the character of Ahab from Herman Mellville's "Moby Dick" with the character of Julius Caesar from Shakespeare's famous story of the same name. The paper concludes that like "Moby Dick", "Julius Caesar" is a historical incident which Shakespeare puts meaning into in retrospect, imbuing the characters with traits which we admire or hate and placing around them others who seemingly act only in accordance with fate.
Outline:
Ways in which Ahab and Julius are similar
Ways in which Ahab and Julius Caesar are different
From the Paper "Caesar is hard to like. Ahab is also hard to like, but he appears more sympathetic as he is so dogged in his quest of the white whale. Ahab is shown to be a brooding and dark character that we sometimes see in literature, ambiguously evil, yet we sympathize with his madness. He sacrifices everything, including his life and his crew to capture Moby Dick, whom he has sought for so long: "Now it was that there lurked a something in the old man's eyes, which it was hardly sufferable for feeble souls to see. As the unsetting polar star, which through the livelong, arctic, six months' night sustains its piercing, steady, central gaze; so Ahab's purpose now fixedly gleamed down upon the constant midnight of the gloomy crew." (Melville, Chapter 130).
"The book Moby Dick is about a quest and a challenge to the universe in which Ahab lives. He will fight it to the death because he believes he can conquer it. He does not know that no matter how big he may be, it is bigger than he, but he will die in the attempt. "He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it." (Melville, Chapter 135). Like Moby Dick, Julius Caesar is a historical incident which Shakespeare puts meaning into in retrospect, imbuing the characters with traits which we admire or hate and placing around them others who seemingly act only in accordance with fate."
Abstract The paper states that "Moby Dick" tells a story of obsession, with the object of Ahab's obsession being Moby Dick, the White Whale who cut of Ahab's leg. The paper discusses that the central character in the story is Ishmael who is curious about the White Whale. The author believes that Pequod is symbolic of human life adrift on the dangerous sea, and the White Whale is the unnatural symbol of death that seeks out the ship and destroys it.
From the Paper "The different members of the crew each have their own personal journey where the physical and the spiritual meet, and this multiplicity of reasons reflects the dominant idea that each action in this world can have many causes and many consequences. For Ishmael, the telling of the story is announced in the first line, "Call me Ishmael" (29). For Ahab, the entire journey is directed to one goal--to find Moby Dick. Stubb tells him that as long as they are making this trip, they should capture other whales and fill the casks as they would do on a "normal" voyage. Ishmael is also on a spiritual journey: he is perhaps the most aware individual on the ship. His specific purpose in going to sea is to learn about life and to achieve a closer connection with the natural world and the world of man both, though at first he speaks as if his journey is only a way to break the routine:"
Abstract Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" is a novel constructed as an allegory, with different representations of entrapment and imprisonment delineating man's place in the universe. The paper shows that these also have a spiritual element as the Pequod represents all mankind adrift on God's sea, beset by dangers on all sides and constantly tested for spiritual strength. The paper describes how images of death are also found throughout the book, foreshadowing the death of the ship and all its crew except the outcast, Ishmael, who survives to tell the tale by holding onto a floating coffin. Ishmael is free as he holds onto the ultimate prison, the prison that holds the dead.
Outline
Introduction
Allegory and Moby Dick
Images of Entrapment and Enclosure
C. The Pequod as an Enclosure for the Crew
II. The Novel
A. Motivations for Different Crew Members
1. Ishmael
2. Ahab 3. Stubb and Starbuck
B. Symbolism
1. The Pequod
2. The Sea
3. The Crew
4. Symbolic Chapters
C. Relationship Between the Pequod and the Whale
D. Imagery of the Whaleman's Chapel
E. Theme of Isolation
F. Death and Entrapment Intertwined
1. The Ship
2. Ahab 3. Queequeg
III. Conclusion
From the Paper "Melville makes much use of symbols in Moby Dick, and many objects stand as symbols of other entities. The Pequod is one of the main symbols, and the ship becomes a symbol of the world, self-contained and moving across the sea. The crew represents all of humanity. The voyage itself has symbolic meaning, as a representation of the journey from birth to death. Queequeg's coffin becomes a symbol of death and then ends up as a symbol of life with Ishmael clinging to it after the Pequod goes down. In different chapters there are symbols that are explored at length, such as Chapter 60, "The Line," in which a rope attached to a harpoon represents all the things that bind people, tie them down, and pull them through life."
Abstract The paper shows how the presence of good and evil in "Moby Dick" is best represented and personified by the two major characters, Ishmael and Captain Ahab. The paper illustrates how young Ishmael is the symbol of goodness, paradoxically aligned with Ahab who, although he tries to establish himself as a hero, is essentially evil.
From the Paper "According to Melville scholar John Bryant, commenting in Ungraspable Phantom: Essays on Moby Dick, the Old Testament Hebrew word for "good" refers to that which "gratifies the senses and which gives aesthetic or moral satisfaction," while the New Testament Greek word means "moral or physical quality and sometimes that which is noble, honorable, admirable and worthy," 1 a reference to specific traits held by a human being which are expressed via his/her psychological makeup and how one behaves under ordinary and at times extraordinary circumstances. In contrast, William S. Glein, writing in The Meaning of Moby Dick, declares that "evil" comes from the root Hebrew meaning "to spoil. . . to break into pieces and so make worthless which binds together both the evil deed and its consequences.""
Abstract This paper discusses the common themes in mythology reflecting the fears, emotions and flaws of the human mind as well as the classic struggle against horrible creatures with the power and potential to destroy those who are unfortunate enough to cross paths with the beasts. The paper specifically focuses on the mythological story of "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. It discusses not only Moby Dick as a horrible creature, but also the obsession that Ahab has with the whale and his view of it as the root of all evil in the world.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Ahab's Obsession Explained
What Moby Dick Represents Symbolically
Moby Dick as Mythological Creature
Conclusion
From the Paper "More than just a whale, even the most horrible whale that ever existed, Moby Dick symbolizes much more in this story. Again, Ahab has made the whale the symbol of all of the problems he has ever encountered, and feels that by killing the whale, he will gain true emotional freedom. Obviously, it is impossible for a whale to have caused all of these problems for a human being, but in portraying the whale this way, Ahab is also shown as a symbol in himself. In this instance, Ahab can be viewed as all of the hatred and ignorance of man, represented in one physical being. If, as is intended, the story of "Moby Dick" is to be interpreted as mythology, then Ahab can be seen as a symbol for negative human emotions and reactions to the world around them, just as much earlier tales of mythology used various gods and even inanimate objects or forces of nature to represent something else."
This paper covers a series of motifs that can be found in Melville's novel. The four motifs explored in this paper are: Diving, Falling, Returning, and Drowning.
Abstract This essay was designed to explore recurring motifs in Herman Melville's most famous novel: "Moby-Dic"k. The essay covers a very large portion of the book, and focuses mainly on instances of Diving, Falling, Returning, and Drowning. In addition to the motifs, it also explores the characters of Ishmael, Queequeg, and Captain Ahab and delves into the reflective nature of the novel as it pertains to self-exploration.
From the Paper "There dwells in the lineage of individual creation a defining genesis in which rudimentary elements congeal and emerge from the tempestuous pandemonium of a primordial sea. The oldest of earthly wombs, the ocean reigns sovereign to all portals of existence. In the most tranquil of lulls, and whispering softly through the grand tumultuous gales, the sea remains a boundless lung of all existence. Inhaling death, she recycles the discarded refuse that even scavengers deny. And, exhaling life, she matches souls with empty vessels in one all-encompassing breath. Herman Melville believed that God shaped the universe around an endless web of purpose and meaning. According to Melville, man's innate sense of futility is rooted in his impulsive desire to grasp for purpose and meaning in randomness. At the beginning of the novel, Ishmael's breath is growing faint. His soul is steeped in "a damp, drizzly November"(12), and his spirit longs for an escape from monotony. Rather than fight this lethargy head on with "pistol and ball"(12), Ishmael boards a ship and quietly sails away. As Ishmael drifts into the fathomless expanses of two unpredictable seas, he falls from the comforts of his former life into the harsh complexities of an unknown world. Diving deep into the core of his substantive elements, and sometimes drowning in the darkest shadows of humanity, Ishmael successfully completes his protracted voyage of self discovery."
Abstract This paper examines how Herman Melville struggled to reconcile the implications of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution with his Protestant beliefs. This paper traces the rise of pre-Darwinian and Darwinian evolutionary ideas and their impact on the characters in "Moby-Dick", specifically Ahab, who sees his crew in evolutionary terms and his struggle with the white whale as survival of the fittest. The theme is explored further through an examination of the poem, Clarel, in which Melville conducts a theological debate with himself through the characters. Some of Melville's biographical information is included to reinforce the thesis.
From the Paper "The nineteenth century proved to be a time of great upheaval and change in both religion and science. Even before the publication of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species in 1859, advancements in the fields of biology and geology had begun to demonstrate that life on Earth had not always been as it is today and that the biblical account of creation could no longer be held as a literal truth. This conclusion led many to question man's role in the universe and his previously assumed superiority over the world. Furthermore, these findings brought into question the nature of God and the very existence of God itself."
Abstract Discusses how Melville used Biblical allusion as a device of narrative development. Describes the major line of narrative action and Captain Ahab's obsession with the white whale, Moby-Dick. Examines Ahab's determination for revenge.
From the Paper "This research examines the dreaded fate of the Pequod, Captain Ahab's vessel in Moby-Dick, as a foregone conclusion, based on Melville's liberal use of biblical imagery and symbolism as a device of foreshadowing the climax of the narrative. The plan of ..."
