Moby-Dick as an Absurdist Text

899 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Symbolism in moby dick

Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick and Albert Camus’s idea of Absurdism share the same philosophical core. This core consists of the absurdity of the individual’s role in the quest for meaning. While Moby Dick and Camus are separated by a century’s worth of literary and cultural changes, the very same ideas present in Camus’s work are also found in Moby Dick. The readings of The Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger,—two of Camus’s major works—are in their own facet, related to the themes of determinism and individual meaning present in Moby Dick. With regard to determinism in Moby Dick, Camus’s essay The Myth of Sisyphus offers up its own case for the motives behind Ahab’s vengeance and concludes that Ahab must therefore be an Absurd hero. While in Camus’s novel The Stranger, the idea of individual meaning is examined by comparing the protagonist, Meursault’s existential ambiguity to Ishmael’s own lack of characterization. These examples illustrate that Albert Camus’s writings not only lend credence to but also share the same philosophical backbone as Moby Dick; in order to understand Moby Dick, one must first understand Absurdism.

Johannes Silentio explained the concept of Absurdism best in his forward to Fear and Trembling “The Absurd [Absurdism] refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent meaning in life and the human inability to find any” (Silentio 17) The main distinction between this belief system and all of its predecessors is that Absurdism is first to say that an inherent meaning to the universe has yet to be detected. It makes no claim as to whether or not meaning exists. And this is the central point being an Absurd hero, an acceptance of ignorance but still traversing on through life.

In Moby D...

... middle of paper ...

...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.

Up until now, all the similarities between Sisyphus and Ahab have been in their justification for their actions, yet not necessarily in their causes. As stated, Sisyphus was condemned to push his boulder, but no such stated axiomatic limitation was placed on Ahab. So then, what, external to Ahab, caused him to continue his pursuit? The answer lies within idea determinism. Indeed, Melville hints that the men aboard the Pequod are not there of their own volition. “[D]oubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances” (Melville Chapter 1)

Show More
Related

  • 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

    "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.

    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

  • 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

    ...o warn against pursuing the whale, such as when the captain of the Samuel Enderby proclaimed, “There would be great glory in killing him… but, hark ye, he is best left alone; don’t you think so captain?” Nonetheless, Ahab never listened. While it may seem that the many ships that warned Ahab not to pursue the whale seems too obvious of a foreshadowing to happen in real life, the same hints were being given to Americans at the same time. Other countries, such as England, had abandoned slavery years before Americans did. Similarly, once the civil war began and the southerners looked for some support from the British, they were rejected on the account that Britain would not support slavery. Whether it was the pride or determination that drove Ahab to find Moby Dick, both were too strong and blinded him from seeing that change needed to occur for the Pequod to survive.

    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

  • AHAB in moby dick

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first few times that Ahab is introduced to the reader and to his crew, he appears to be inhuman. Even his description when he first appears on deck states that he “seemed made of solid bronze” (Melville 117). To compare him to a statue is to distance him from humanity – he is not a breathing, emotional being. However, as the book continues, it becomes blatantly obvious that Ahab hates his obsession and is greatly disturbed by the fact that he is obsessed. This self-hatred makes Ahab human because he knows that he is leading himself to his death and yet he is so possessed by his obsession that he can do nothing to stop it. Every human being can relate to this feeling, for at one point or another, everyone feels like they have lost control. Though Ahab may be an extreme example, he is simply a strong representation of a characteristic human sentiment.

    Read More

  • Moby Dick: Subjective Space

    2847 Words  | 6 Pages

    Oh! my God! what is this that shoots through me, and leaves me so deadly calm, yet expectant, ---fixed at the top of a shudder! Future things swim before me, as in empty outlines and skeletons; all the past is somehow grown dim. (Chap. 135: 463)

    Read More

  • The Dark Romantics

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    In addition Ahab in "Moby Dick" is considered not only as an evil and sinful person but is selfish and greedy. The reason why he is sinful, evil, selfish, greedy, mainly is because he didn’t care what the other people on the ship wanted or that what he was going to do would or could bring dangers, and what he was doing was a waste of time, because instead of getting vengeance on "Moby Dick". He could be hunting whales for food and selling what’s left of them and make money.

    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

  • 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

  • Mark Esslin's Theatre of the Absurd: Camus and his Debasement of Language

    1680 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1962, writer Mark Esslin took pleasure in composing the novel Theatre of the Absurd and quickly became a major influence on the works of many inspired writers. Esslin subsequently made ensuing plays and stories which focused on nonspecific existentialist concepts and which did not remain consistent with his ideas, rejecting the “narrative continuity and the rigidity of logic.” As a result, the protagonist of these stories is often not capable of containing himself within his or her disorderly society (“Theatre”). Writer Albert Camus made such an interpretation of the “Absurd” by altering the idea into his view of believing it is the rudimentary absence of “reasonableness” and consistency in the human personality. Not only does Camus attempt to display the absurd through studied deformities and established arrangements; he also “undermines the ordinary expectations of continuity and rationality” (“The Theatre”). Camus envisions life in his works, The Stranger and “The Myth of Sisyphus,” as having no time frame or significance, and the toiling endeavor to find such significance where it does not exist is what Camus believes to be the absurd (“Albert”).

    Read More

  • The Existential View Of Absurdity in Camus' The Plague

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    An absurd hero is developed by the six tenets of existentialism: anxiety, death, the void, existence precedes essence, absurdity, and alienation. These six tenets explain the overwhelming question, “Why do we exist?”. To understand why we exist, one must first question why the absurd happens. Camus did such. Camus develops the plot of his existential novel through a plethora of absurd events that boosts the overall theme of the novel. One example of this is how the town of Oran turns it back on the sea at random moments of time. This is very strange, why would a town that is isolated between the sea and a mountain range want to turn away from the one source of its salvation and one of the few ways it could connec...

    Read More

  • Absurdism And The Theme Of Absurdism In 'The Stranger'

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    Within the Stranger, Albert Camus brought up many questions and, on most cases, did not answer them. He designed a different character to society and showed us how he lived. His name, Meursault. His ideas on absurdism are shown many times in part one of The Stranger. In class, we had explored the idea of absurdism and had gone over examples in the story of it. Absurdism is definitely a theme in this novel.

    Read More

  • Absurdism, The Stranger, and Life

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Absurdism” (coined by Albert Camus) is a philosophy based upon the concept that the life and the world are meaningless, irrational, without sense or reason. And any effort we make to try to find meaning in them will ultimately fail.

    Read More

More about Moby-Dick as an Absurdist Text

Open Document