Character Analysis Of Moby Dick

Melville’s life had a great impact on the story Moby Dick. In the same way, he had a bad leg on one of his journeys, he creates Captain Ahab with a broken leg. Primarily, by reading Shakespeare’s plays he creates the setting and language of the novel. In the same manner, he uses his dramatic technique in creating Ahab as a tragic hero villain. The character’s madness and disrespectful behavior are part of this Shakespearean technique. Including tragedy in the novel made possible Ahab’s character. Moreover because

Captain Ahab directly experienced traumatic near-death experience and was left with his peg leg as a constant reminder of what he got through. Since the start of the book Ahab's motivations are pretty clear, his only goal is vengeance. He is completely obsessed with the idea of killing the whale and is ready to sacrifice everything in order to achieve his goal. Negative alteration in emotions when being exposed to something triggering the traumatic event is often a common reaction for people suffering from PTSD. Symptoms as well include uncontrollable thoughts about the event. In chapter 132 Ahab wanders "How then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I". He seems rather confused over his actions and his thoughts. Ahab seems to realize that he doesn't have full control over his actions and even after realization hits him he still isn't able to change the way his thoughts and urges work. People with PTSD also experience a persistent negative mood, losing interest in previously enjoyable activities and detachment from other people. First with negative mood; Ahab is described by Ishmael as mad and carrying the anger of entire human race. Ahab spent more than 40 years hunting whales, but in this particular voyage he

Ahab says, “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, with three holes punctured in his starboard fluke—look ye, whosoever of ye raises me that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys” (Melville 176). The purpose of this voyage for Ahab is to hunt down and kill the white whale, Moby Dick. To Ahab this means everything so much so he is willing to bribe the men on the ship. However, some of the other men disagree with Ahab and feel this hunt is

Ahab has a personal conflict that affects not only him but also his entire crew. Long before the Pequod, the legendary whale named Moby Dick bit off Ahab’s leg. At that moment in time Ahab made it his life’s mission to eliminate Moby Dick. As the captain of his ship he was willing to put this quest above all else. When a crewmember thought it a poor decision to go after Moby Dick in dreadful weather he disagreed due to this incredible desire he has for revenge.

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.

Starbuck states, “My soul is more than matched; she’s overmanned; and by a madman! Horrible old man!” (p. 159, lines 16-18) It was like Ahab had one way and that was his way and he was fixated on this. A person who is mad continuously thinks about the thing he is fixated on. Sometimes the person cannot even socialize with others. This was supported in Moby Dick when Starbuck states of Ahab, “foremost though the sparking sea shoots on the gay, embattled, buntering bow, but only to drag dark Ahab after it, where he broods within his sternward cabin, building over the dark water of the wake, and further on, hunted by its wolfish gurglings.” (p. 160, lines 6-10) It was days before Ahab even showed himself on deck to the new crewmembers. Someone who was not mad would have at least greeted his new crew members who were going to risk their lives searching and killing whales. This example and Starbuck’s first hand encounters with Ahab support the thought of Ahab being

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.

A prominent theme throughout the epic, Moby Dick, is the notion that any path sparked with obsession and revenge can only end in sadness. The novel focuses on Captain Ahab’s complex quest to find and kill the huge white whale, Moby Dick, that has physically robbed him of his leg and metaphorically deprived

Therefore I asked myself, why do you focus on the past when you have so much ahead of you? Let the past be the past. Moreover, I always hold onto situations in the past that when something positive tries to occur, I bring up the negative past and forget the positive side of the current situation. When Captain Ahab came across the captain of the Rachel, the captain says, “My boy, my own boy is among them. For God's sake -- I beg you,' -- Gardiner exclaimed to Ahab -- 'I will gladly pay for it -- for eight and forty hours only -- you must, oh, you must, and you shall do this thing” (128), however, Ahab still remained obsessed with trying to find Moby Dick (for something that has happened so long ago) that he is blinded by the fact that he could have potentially save someone’s life. "Vengeance on a dumb brute!" cried Starbuck, "that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab seems

Next, a major theme from Moby Dick is defiance. Whether he is fighting against God or the rules of nature or some sort of perverse evil authority, Ahab is a defiant man. After Starbuck suggests that it is "blasphemous" to seek revenge on some poor dumb brute, such as a whale, when it merely followed

Captain Ahab had gotten his leg lost by a whale. This causes him to search far and wide for the large ocean creature. Ahab tends to come off as a bit egotistic. He is only looking for the whale for revenge. His leg is long lost, but the fact is not stopping him.

n Moby Dick Starbuck realizes that the hatred which Ahab harbors for the white whale is preternatural, not merely vengeance for the loss of his leg. for, Ahab perceives the great whale as possessing characteristics beyond its apparent nature. Starbuck cries, "vengeance on a dumb brute!... that simply smote thee from blindes instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, captain Ahab, seems blasphemous." (Moby Dick) having heard this, Ahab replies, addressing the entire crew, "Hark ye yet again--the little lower layer. All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event--in the living act, the undoubted deed--there, some unknown but still reasoning things put forth the moldings of it features from behind the unreasoning

On the third day of the chase, Ahab finally realizes that his emotions propel him to pursue the whale in an irrational quest. His unquenchable thirst for revenge, he realizes, can never be fulfilled as only gods can decide justice; man only plays a reactionary role to the god’s decisions. While Ahab now understands the extent of his foolishness, he continues his deadly pursuit and fulfills Fedallah’s prophecies, making him more legendary of a man since only significant people have their deaths foretold. The death of Ahab reflects the existence of man; using limited knowledge to battle invisible forces that he cannot see or conquer. His endurance in his battle against the whale testifies to the endurance and determination of all of mankind.

•Captain Ahab- the pequod obssessed captain whom loses his leg in an encounter with a spermwhale on his last voyage. Therefore, he uses a false leg that was made by sperm whale's jaw. He considered Moby Dick as an enemy. This can be observed in Chapter 36 wherein Ahab sees Moby Dick as a "mask" behind which lies a great power. For him that power is an inscrutable evil and he pursues that it is his fate to destroy this evil. His actions could be concluded that he wants to be superior over the whale and it can also be seen Ahab that

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