Moby Dick Pequod

461 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: The theme of death used in literature

Throught the epic novel, Moby Dick, Herman Melville attempts to bring forth the pain and madness that one person can have. All of the men aboard the Pequod have heard of the legend of Moby Dick and some are afraid of it, but not Ahab. Ahab is filled with so much hatred for the White Whale. Ahab blames all the pain in his life on the White Whale. He believes that if he can kill the whale, he will not suffer anymore. Melville describes the hatred as “all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from adam down” telling of the limitless bounds of Ahab's hate. He has made Moby Dick the object of all his hate. Ahab believes that higher beings are against him, from that falsehood an aura surrounds Ahab that none of the other crewmen have. The aura and the pure rage he has, makes the men aboard the Pequod initially fear then come to join Ahab. In the start of the Pequod's journey the crewmen are terrified of Ahab, but by the end they are 30 men working as one coherent unit. …show more content…

Moby Dick is “all that most maddens and tourments,” even though Moby Dick was defending its self from Ahab. Melville wrote “all the subtle demonism of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable,” explaining of how Ahab has made the whale a symbol of everything bad or negative. Ahab fails to be able to rationalize what has happened to him. He does not realize that the loss of his leg is just part of the dangers of whaling. Instead of understanding that it was just a bad turn of events, Ahab “ piles upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race,” falsly making the whale a symbol of the pain and hate. Thinking those thoughts, creates his false belief that him killing the whale will bring him pease. In reality the whale was just defending

Show More
Related

  • Moby Dick Dialectical Journal

    260 Words  | 1 Pages

    On the first day the man on watch was sniffing the air and he declared that the whale must be near and Captain Ahab was frantic with excitement, constantly changing their course slightly during the day. Finally they spotted the white whale, and they left the ship into a small boat to hunt him. Moby Dick then wrecked their boat, but luckily nobody died.

    Read More

  • Moby-Dick: When In Doubt, It's From Shakespeare

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    Analysis: Melville's Great American Novel draws on both Biblical and Shakespearean myths. Captain Ahab is "a grand, ungodly, god-like man … above the common" whose pursuit of the great white whale is a fable about obsession and over-reaching. Just as Macbeth and Lear subvert the natural order of things, Ahab takes on Nature in his

    Read More

  • Moby Dick Captain Ahab Meaning

    630 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this case, the whale Moby Dick would be the oppressor that harmed Ahab by amputating his leg. Similar to his modern-day counterparts, the captain expresses this condemning rage through his speech. For example, he lashes out, "That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will

    Read More

  • What Influenced Margo's Black Notebook

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    9. Captain Ahab and Q and their stories are similar in a few ways. First, just like Ahab was obsessed with finding the white whale, Q was obsessed with finding Margo. Second, both characters cannot be identified as being foolish or heroic. Finally, both characters actions lead them to disappointment by Q not convincing Margo to come back with him and by Ahab not finding the whale, which caused his death. In conclusion, Moby Dick represents Margo and Q’s story and

    Read More

  • Moby Dick Ahab Character Analysis

    240 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Moby Dick, it follows the accounts of a young man named Ishmael. Ishmael is looking for money in the whaling business, the same thing as hunting game, but for whale blubber and whatever else they have to offer. At a tavern, he signs up to go whaling upon a ship named the Pequod, under the captaining of a man named Ahab. At first, Ishmael thinks he’s just your average whaling trip, but soon realizes there’s a deeper story behind Ahab. Ahab’s true intentions are to find a specific whale called Moby Dick. The whale is famous for sinking hundreds of whaling ships, and one was Ahab’s previous ship. In that process, Ahab also lost part of his leg at the knee. As you can imagine, most of the story Ahab is almost insane. At nothing anyone calls

    Read More

  • Moby Dick as a Protest Novel

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Ishmael’s discourse is often calculated to undercut the myth of white supremacy, asserting that society’s survival may ultimately depend on the acceptance of Ishmael’s democratic vision (seeing equality in diversity) and a rejection of Ahab’s tyrannical one (seeing only white).”

    Read More

  • The Duality of Man in Moby Dick

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    The outcome of choosing good or evil can not be seen as favorable or just.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Fedallah And Ahab In Moby Dick

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Moby Dick" is a novel written by Herman Melville that was published in 1851, and has since become known as a brilliant work of American literature. The story has characters that are complex and thought-provoking, a few of the interesting characters are: Fedallah, Pip and Ahab. The story revolves around Ahab and his desire to kill Moby Dick, but Fedallah and Pip are significant as well. Both, Fedallah and Pip may be seen as two representations of Ahab 's character. In order to fully grasp how Fedallah and Pip relate to Ahab, an analysis of both characters would be helpful.

    Read More

  • Melville shows anger at Christianity through biblical allusions in Moby Dick

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before exploring Ishmael, Ahab, and Moby Dick and their Biblical counterparts, it is important to understand Melville's background. He grew up as a baptized Calvinist in the Dutch Reformed Church. His parents trained him to obey God at all times, even if God’s commands seem unjust and cruel. However, he quickly turned against his faith after his father died. During his travels, he witnessed diseases, catastrophes, and hatred throughou...

    Read More

  • Comparing the Creatures and Crew in Moby Dick

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before affiliating the crew aboard the ship with Moby Dick, there are some comparisons to be made between them and ocean inhabitants in general. While living in the ocean environment the men begin to acquire the same survival techniques as some of the organisms in the ocean. The manner in which the whalers go about slaughtering the whales is much like the way that the sharks react to the whale carcass being held stagnate in the water. "....because such incalculable hosts of sharks gather round the moored carcass, that were he left so for six hours, say, on a stretch, little more that the skeleton would be visible by mornong"(Melville 328). These sharks are savages in the face of sustenance. In most cases the sheer size of the whale prohibits it from being captured and consumed by the sharks. The only chance that they have at these huge beasts is when they are slung along side the whaling ships. Once they have their opening to this plethora of meat it becomes a barbaric feeding frenzy. These actions of the sharks reflect the actions of the whalers when taking part in the slaying of a whale. "Soon ranging up by his flank, Stubb, firmly planting his knee in the clumsy cleat, darted dart after dart into the flying gish.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Melville's Moby Dick and Bartleby

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ahab is dedicated towards regaining control of his life by conquering the whale. His obsession with Moby Dick is what fuels his desire to spend months and months at sea. Ahab is so involved that he tries to get into the mind of the whale. He becomes obsessed with the whale’s every move. Similarly, the narrator is highly analytical of Bartleby’s behavior. He feels the need to know exactly what it is that makes Bartleby ‘tick’. Eventually the narrator is mentally defeated by Bartleby and is forced to change the location of his offices in order to avoid him. Ahab on the other hand is constantly chasing his antagonist and does whatever he can to get closer to Moby Dick.

    Read More

  • Tom Walker Emotion

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ahab’s quest for the whale is not an honorable pursuit of God, but man’s vain endeavor in his hatred of God to destroy the all-powerful deity. The symbol of the whale as God makes sense as it is white a color that is associated not only with purity and honor but the deity of God himself. Because this whale caused him personal damage in an earlier encounter, Ahab views the whale as an “inscrutable thing”, making it his life’s quest to get revenge (335). Not only does he associate the whale with this damaging experience, he connects the deity of God with “the white whale that razeed me; made a poor pegging lubber for me forever and a day!” (334). His quest for vengeance distorts his ability to have a relationship of God as who can endure the pursuit of such a being if the pursuit is driven by enmity? Ahab’s pursuit of Moby Dick, “Be [he] agent, or be [he] principal” is driven strictly by hostility and a lack of righteousness (335). Only those who have experienced the sweetness of reconciling grace can look at the tremendous

    Read More

  • Going Insane in Moby Dick

    517 Words  | 2 Pages

    Going Insane in Moby Dick People's dreams can make them insane. One person can be entirely focused on a particular event, so that the event soon begins to take over their life and influence others. Captain Ahab's intent is to find and kill Moby Dick, the whale that maimed and disfigured him years ago. His obsession with this whale puts many others in danger, such as Ishmael, Starbuck, and himself. Captain Ahab uses his shipmates as bait for Moby Dick.

    Read More

  • Metaphysical Ideologies in Moby Dick

    1395 Words  | 3 Pages

    At first glance, Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, appears to be the story of a man, his captain, and the whale that they quest to destroy.  But a closer look reveals the author’s intense look at several metaphysical ideologies.  He explores some of the most ponderous quandaries of his time, among these being the existence of evil, knowledge of the self and the existential, and the possibility of a determined fate.  All of these were questions which philosophers had dealt with and written about, but Melville took it to a new level: not only writing about these things, but also doing so in a lovely poetic language backed by a tale packed with intrigue.  He explores the general existence of evil in his antagonist, the white whale, and through the general malice that nature presents to humans throughout the novel.  The narrator, Ishmael, gains a lot of knowledge about himself through his experiences on the whaling voyage, where he also is able to learn much about the phenomenon of existence itself.  Also, through Captain Ahab, he sees more about the existence of man and the things that exist within man’s heart.  Especially through Ahab and his ongoing quest for the white whale, and also in general conversation amongst the whalers, the issue of fate and whether one’s destiny is predetermined are addressed in great detail, with much thought and insight interpolated from the author’s own viewpoints on the subject.

    Read More

  • The Feminine Sea in Moby Dick

    3702 Words  | 8 Pages

    In this novel, it's hard to see Ahab surviving and the whale not. It's hard to see that because the feminine side of nature is so overpowering and overwhelming. Almost everything that is larger than man is female and all of it is indifferent to him. Indeed, the part of Moby Dick that is male is probably the part that wants to hunt Ahab so much. The rest of his power is that over-arching feminine power of the ocean, the sun, nature, and even the soul. The men's club doesn¹t stand a chance. In the end, Ahab must take whatever she decides to give them.

    Read More

More about Moby Dick Pequod

Open Document