Moby Dick Captain Ahab Quotes

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One of the main characters in Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick is Captain Ahab. Captain Ahab has an obsession with the white whale named, Moby-Dick, ever since his leg was taken off by him. Throughout the novel we see Ahab's obsession grow and shape his character. Ahab is blinded by his persistence that he lies to his crew about what their soul purpose is actually until their out at sea. “All ye masterheads have before now heard me give orders about a white whale! Look ye! D’ye see this Spanish ounce of gold? --holding up a broad bright coin to the sun-- ‘it is a sixteen-dollar piece, men. D’ye see it?... Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever of ye raises me that white-headed whale

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  • Moby Dick Captain Ahab Meaning

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    "He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. (280)" At first glance, a modern reader might mistake this quote for that of a social justice warrior complaining about the patriarchy and not a line proclaimed by Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. However, as one deconstructs Herman Melville's classic, he will observe that this gaffe is actually justified. Despite originating over a hundred years before the equality movements, Captain Ahab symbolizes one of their ambassadors because of his hatred for the system that wronged him; his driving will to enact revenge; and being disdained upon for his actions. To commence elaboration, the first characteristic exemplified by Ahab that establishes his symbolism is his loathing for the body that ruined him.

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  • 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

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  • Melvilles Characters/comparison Of Captain Ahab And Billy Budd

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    Neither Ahab or Billy can see more than one side of an issue. Throughout the entire trip, Ahab never thinks of chasing the whale as something dangerous, something that shouldn’t be done. Nearly everyone else on the ship, excluding Fedallah, thinks that chasing after one whale, the most dangerous whale in the entire ocean, is crazy and that it’s an unnecessary risk of the crew’s lives. But Ahab, because of his inability to consider his crew’s views about the hunt and because he can only think of the whale as pure evil, condemns them all to death.

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  • The Hypocrisy of Religion in Moby Dick

    1418 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stubb decides to give Old Fleece a lecture on religion after waking him to complain about his overcooked whale steak. Not only does Stubb ask Fleece to "preach" to the sharks who are making a considerable din eating the dead whale chained to the ship, but he compares Fleece's inability to "correctly" cook a whale steak to Fleece's un-Christian ways. This passage is an excellent example of the theme of the hypocrisy of religion in Moby Dick.

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  • Moby Dick Qoutes Ch.36 and 86

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    On Pg.172 and 173 Ahab talks about his feelings toward moby dick. Ahabs feelings are a twisted view on reality that relate to transcadentalism because he believes that getting revenge on the whale is worth risking his life and other mens lives. All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event . . . some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there's naught beyond. But 'tis enough. He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me!"

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  • AHAB in moby dick

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    Although Ahab’s insanity appears to be what shuts him off from humanity, in reality it is what makes him human. Ahab desperately wants to be freed from his obsession – to not have to rely upon it to feel. It is because Ahab is no longer in control of his obsession that the reader eventually discovers that besides what the book originally seems to insinuate, Ahab is only human.

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  • Innocence In Moby-Dick

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    In the novel Moby-Dick, Herman Melville explores the theme of the impossibility for a man to return to his original innocence, whether in the sense of the beginning of mankind or the innocence of a young child. Primarily written in the first person point of view and set on a mid-nineteenth century American whaling ship, the novel illustrates how the sailors on board the ship respond to the hardships and internal conflicts of whaling. Symbols, metaphors, biblical allusions, and personalities of main characters all weave into an intricate display of how all men become corrupt with varying forms of evil and how any attempts to reverse the effects are futile.

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  • Moby-Dick as an Absurdist Text

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...the boulder with the intent of being free from his task, so too, Ahab did not pursue the white whale with the intent of finding meaning. He hunts Moby Dick to find choice.

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  • 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.

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  • The Whiteness Of The Whale

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ahab viewed the White Whale only as the symbol of all evil in the universe, which eventually leads him to his downfall. On the day that Ahab threw his harpoon into the White Whale and Moby Dick ate his leg, Ahab decided that the Great White Whale meant only one thing, evil. From then on Ahab decided that there was something unusual about this whale, as if it had hidden inside him all the evil in the world. Since Moby Dick attacked Ahab, he then had cherished a wild vindictiveness against t...

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  • 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.

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  • Theme Of Horror And Suspense In Moby Dick

    1615 Words  | 4 Pages

    He is an unknown force that haunts Ahab and drives him into insanity. It creates the feeling that something is always lurking underwater watching the Pequod while the surface is benign. The chapter that best describes this feeling would be chapter 42: The Whiteness of the Whale. In this chapter Ishmael is able to capture the feeling of not knowing what to expect. He states that white is usually referred to being pure and innocent but once associated with a creature, it creates a horrific outcome. Whiteness also creates a sort of fear of unknowingness since “...by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe...that as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as the visible absence of color…”(Melville 165). The whiteness of Moby Dick combined with the terrifying nature of his species creates even more horror than the cool grey sperm whale they hunt daily. With each encounter with other ships, Captain Ahab and his crew seem closer and closer to finding Moby Dick especially when they meet the captain from Rachel and Delight. Rachel had just been hunting Moby Dick when he may have tugged their spare boat away

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  • Captain Ahab's Revenge In Moby Dick

    442 Words  | 1 Pages

    Captain Ahab grows insane on getting his revenge on the whale that ate his leg. He does everything he can to try to catch the big whale, but his efforts are done in vain as the whale remains alive even after the crew’s death. To motivate the crew to kill Moby Dick, Captain Ahab distributes a gold coin to each member. Due to his irrational obsession and stubbornness, however, Ahab’s goal ultimately gets he and his crew killed, expect for Ishmael. Moby Dick ends up escaping

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  • Evil In Scarlet Letter

    811 Words  | 2 Pages

    The iniquity and anger that manifested within Ahab began the day that his leg was bitten off by the white whale named Moby Dick. Ever since this incident, Ahab has set a plan of seeking revenge against the creature that took away a part of him. Captain Ahab states, “Oh he’s not a whale, he’s the devil himself!” Ahab perceived Moby Dick to be such a devilish creature that he would soon take his crew on a journey where not seeing home again was inevitable. The Pequod’s original mission was to sail the sea in search of oil from whales’ blubber, but instead since Captain Ahab’s mind was solemnly over taken by the sight of killing Moby Dick, he steers his men towards finding the whale to finish the task the it started. Because he had no concerns for his crew, never worried about the safe travels home or even collecting the oil they were sent to retrieve, Ahab’s mind began to only function as a clock ticking away the days it would take to kill his enemy once and for all. When the story finally reaches the climax, Ahab is met eye to eye with the devilish creature that would soon take his life, though he was not aware of this. When someone’s mind becomes corrupt with madness, their actions are attributed to selfish greed indifferent to significant truths that should be fulfilled. In a rage, Captain Ahab casts himself upon the beast himself and inflicts a fatal wound from his

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  • Ahab's Three-Day Pursuit Of Moby Dick

    173 Words  | 1 Pages

    The novel's assigning framework is vital in looking at Ahab’s character. Ahab has here set himself past any reasonable figuring; refusing any fear that the bona fide cost of seeking after what he himself calls 'a losing case' may be more dominant than its fanciful pickup. This brings into setting Melville's representative components of Ahab’s three-day pursuit of Moby Dick. The imagery of the number three is of high significance in Christianity. Christian bellwethers amid the fourth century established that God is comprised of three things which are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit where each of them is God and make up the Trinity. Using the three-day pursuit as an image for the Trinity strengthens the thought that, Melville utilizes

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