Captain Of Pequod

Consequently due to his personal growth as a character, Ishmael's divine spirit becomes saved and he himself is rescued from certain death. Captain Ahab remains unable to accept the concepts of transcendentalism, his pursuit of Moby-Dick is relentless and without mercy. His character has no opportunity for growth or discovery as he shuns the advice of everyone, whilst in pursuit of the white whale. Due to this his fate becomes irrevocably sealed and he is doomed to fail his mission and perish at the mercy of his quarry.

Captain Ahab always had the desire to go after Moby Dick. His obsession grew even deeper when the great white whale took his leg. He spent several years trying to go after the whale. By being the captain of the ship, he had crew members come along on his journey to help slay the whale. His passion grew deeper each day as he lived amongst the ship and set sails to complete his mission.

Throughout his novel, Moby Dick, Herman Melville will often devote entire chapters to the thoughts and actions of specific characters. Two specific examples of this type of chapter are Chapter 36, The Quarter-Deck, and Chapter 42, The Whiteness of the Whale. The first of these chapters depicts Ahab addressing his crew for the first time in order to convince them to hunt down Moby Dick. The second offers insight to the fear that is brought upon by the mere mention of Moby Dick The significance and effectiveness of each of these chapters are enhanced by Melville’s use of rhetoric and style respectively.

In paragraph one, Ismel talks about how Ahab, the captain, does not comes out or is seen at all throughout the journey. Even though Ahab has not given orders to any of the men, the crew continues to work on the ship without him.

As exemplified from the very beginning of this book, Starbuck continues to be one of the only voices of reason aboard the Pequod. He continues to urge Ahab to make the most logical decisions, and continues to offer his advice, even though Ahab often does not heed it. When the barrels were leaking, it was Starbuck who suggested pulling them above deck. When Ahab first encountered Moby Dick, it was Starbuck who maneuvered the ship in between Ahab’s wrecked boat and the beast. It was also Starbuck who continually pleaded with Ahab to turn back and set sail for Nantucket. Starbuck persistently asks Ahab to turn back because he wants what is best for Ahab.

For example, unbeknownst to the others, Ahab assembles his own boat crew and stows them away until the ship set sail, also having a spare boat fitted with an extra layer of padding for his peg leg. This act of secrecy leads to a feeling of uneasiness in the crew regarding Ahab. In a conversation between Stubb and Starbuck, Stubb expresses a sentiment, “‘If I had but one leg you would not catch me in a boat, unless maybe to stop the plug-hole with my timber toe’” (Melville 289). Due to Ahab’s disability, they believe it unwise that their captain would risk his life in a whale boat, especially since he is so crucial to the success of the journey. Furthermore, it is clear that the owners of the Pequod would have forbidden Ahab from leading a whaleboat

His most famous book, Moby Dick, features the observant narrator, Ishmael, aboard the Pequot, a ship captained by the menacing one-legged Captain Ahab. Having lost his limb in a previous voyage to an enormous sperm whale named Moby Dick, Ahab scans the seven seas in manic search of revenge against the giant. Queequeg, Ishmael’s menacing best friend, and the rest of the crew are subjected to extreme jeopardy and later death due to Ahab’s monomaniacal disregard for bad omens and danger. The whale slices the boat clean in half and none survive to tells of its greatness except Ishmael.

In the book Moby Dick, one of the main characters is a captain named, Ahab. From the descriptions in the book, Captain Ahab seems to be an old, weathered, angry and powerful man. Below Captain Ahab’s rule on his ship are many crewmembers. Some people may say that Captain Ahab shows positive character traits towards his crewmembers, however, I feel that Captain Ahab shows negative character traits towards his crewmembers including, perfectionist, argumentative and bad-tempered. First, Captain Ahab shows his perfectionist side in chapter 29 by always needing to go to the upper deck to check on his crewmembers.

Pip’s positive influence on Ahab originates from their differences. After Ahab loses his leg to Moby Dick, he refuses to accept that there is something bigger than him and only becomes more obsessed with killing the white whale. When Ahab explains his obsession over Moby Dick, he says: “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 … Who’s over me?” (Melville 178). In other words, Ahab refuses to accept Moby Dick as God. If there was a god, it would mean that there is something out of his control. The idea of there being something bigger than him scares Ahab and he refutes the idea. Pip, on the other hand, realizes how insignificant he is to the larger world as a result of his experience of being alone in the ocean. When one oarsmen becomes injured, Pip must step up to fill his place. However, Pip is skittish, so he jumps out of the

Captain Ahab is wanting to seek revenge on the white whale because it took off his leg and he did not get a chance to kill it. He puts finding the white whale over the safety of his crew by taking them into elaborate settings. He did not care that the oil barrels were leaking, that resulted in them losing oil, which meant they were losing money.

Pip’s positive influence on Ahab originates from their differences. After Ahab loses his leg to Moby Dick, he refuses to accept that their is something bigger than him and only becomes more obsessed with killing the white whale. When Ahab explains his pursuit of Moby Dick, he says: “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 … Who’s over me?” (Melville 178). In other words, Ahab refuses to accept Moby Dick as God. If there was a god, it would mean that there is something he cannot control. The idea of there being something bigger than him scares Ahab and he refutes the idea. Pip, on the other hand, realizes how insignificant he is to the larger world as a result of his “experience”. When one oarsmen becomes injured, Pip must step up to fill his place. However, Pip is skittish so he jumps out of the boat and causes a whale to be lost. As Stubb had warned, the next time Pip jumped out of the boat, he

Explain Ahab’s last speech found at the top of page 623 through the end of the paragraph ending with “Thus, I give up the spear.” In what way is Moby Dick a “…all-destroying but unconquering

While Ahab was still the obedient captain he once was, he was one of the most successful and higher rewarding captains. Unexpectedly, in the midst of a whaling, Ahab and his crew encountered the whale he now refers to as “Moby Dick” or “the white whale.” The crew initiated in capturing the whale, but this whale was different. Rather than capturing the whale, the whale captured Ahab and though Ahab escaped, he did not escape entirely. Moby Dick had dismembered and consumed half of one of Ahab’s legs. Ever since this incident, Ahab’s one and only desire or, as stated in the text, “...his one unsleeping, ever-pacing thought” has been to kill Moby Dick; which soon turns him obsessive (Melville). Ahab would not let anyone or anything stop him from achieving his goal, “...’I’ll chase him ‘round Good Hope, and ‘round the Horn, and ‘round the Norway Maelstrom, and ‘round

The Pequod’s three mates are used primarily to provide philosophical contrasts with Ahab. Starbuck, the first mate, is a religious man. Sober and conservative, he relies on his faith to determine his actions and interpretations of events. Stubb, the second mate, nice and cool in moments of crisis. He has worked in the risky occupation of whaling for so long that the possibility of death has ceased to concern him. A pessimist, he believes that things happen as they are meant to and that there is little that he can do about it. Flask simply enjoys the thrill of the hunt and takes pride in killing whales. He does not stop to consider consequences at all. All three of these perspectives are used to highlight Ahab’s monomania. Ahab reads his experiences

Along with this we also see the fate behind his decisions, where many things go against him, illustrating that maybe catching this whale really isn’t the greatest of ideas. A really good example of this is when the Pequeod finally reaches the equator and they appear to be close to where Ahab believes the whale may be, however when they get there they encounter two other ships who have been hit really badly by the whale. When all fate and destine is clearly illustrating that Ahab’s best bet is to not fight this battle, his free-will and determination push him forward, and he doesn’t allow this to scare him. Ahab even eventually goes as far as saying, “The gallows, ye mean.- I am immortal then, on land and on sea," cried Ahab, with a laugh of derision;- "Immortal on land and on sea!” (Melville 513). This demonstrates just how free-will driven Ahab really is, and he believes his destiny lies at sea, stating that his destiny is that he is immortal. Even when going beyond the text and further researching this concept of free will in Ahab’s character, we find that most other scholastic articles can agree with Ahab’s drive. When reading “Moby-dick Again” by Richard Lowry, he states in text, “When he catches up to Moby Dick, the climactic three-day chase ensues, with repeated opportunities to turn back as the danger