I am The Universe

He is described as "threading a maze of currents and eddies, with a view to the more certain accomplishment of that monomaniac thought of his soul." While "it might seem an absurdly hopeless task to seek out one solitary creature in the unhooped oceans of this planet," the text assures that it does not seem so to Ahab, "who knew the sets of all tides and currents; and thereby calculating the drifts of the Sperm Whale's food." It would appear, then, that the ocean is not so unreadable as the text implies, because Ahab, through intense observation, has some skills at comprehension which the other sailors lack. However, Ahab's abilities, impressive as they are, never go beyond powers of observation. He is, ultimately, totally unable to manipulate the oceans himself, much as he would like to. His insistence on trying, however, juxtaposes his character with Ishmael's. Ishmael is of the ocean, and floats with its currents, even as Ahab seeks to manipulate

There are tragedies everywhere and everytime, with these tragedies you have to blame someone or something for it. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare they’d blame fate instead of themselves because they could have been responsible for the disaster they caused. Romeo was to blame for the misfortune in the city of verona. Romeo’s responsible for his hastiness, responsible for the deaths that happened in under 3 days and Convincing Friar Lawrence to get Romeo and Juliet.

Throughout the story, he seeks to dominate nature, such as when he discusses the wind. He states that “‘tis a noble and heroic thing, the wind! who ever conquered it?... [it] will not stand to receive a single blow.” Simply put, he wants to fight wind, but feels it is unfair since he can’t retaliate with any attack. This is evident in his revenge plan against a sperm whale, Moby-Dick. The beast previously tore off Ahab’s leg, so he wanted to kill it. However, he knowingly put the lives of his crew at risk in an attempt of killing the gargantuan marine mammal. Essentially, that is exactly what happens -- their ship, the Pequod is wrecked, and everyone dies. Ahab becomes tangled in the harpoon water and drowns as the whale dives down. This strongly parallels with Tom Walker’s disappearance, where he is taken by the Devil, showing the harmful results of displaying pride. On the other hand, the consequences that Tom faced were much less violent than what happened to Ahab and his crew. Furthermore, the conflict in “The Devil and Tom Walker” was not about revenge, but greed as the whole reason Tom dealt with Old Scratch was to get the buried treasure. All-in-all, Melville’s and Irving’s stories are nearly identical in regards to the big picture, but differ in how the theme is

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.

Ahab was destroyed by his siren, which was an elusive whale named Moby Dick. Blanchot points out, "Ahab and the whale are engaged in a drama, what we can call a metaphysical drama, using the word loosely, and the Sirens and Ulysses are engaged in the same struggle...The result is a sort of victory for him, a dark disaster for Ahab" (Blanchot 44). Ahab obviously could not resist his siren, and it spelled the end for him. Odysseus realized the danger and took measures to protect his crew from the irresistible urge that would pull them to their doom.

He shows his strong feelings for his mission by repeating the word “death” in the sentence. The repetition of the word “death” is significant to Ahab’s expression of his passionate tone because it is a word charged with many negative emotions. Emotions like hate and vengeance find their way into the word death, and by repeating it with the intent to kill Moby Dick, it shows Ahab’s twisted passion for the mission. In addition, he adds “God hunt us all”, to show how invested he is in his mission. His emotional ties to the white whale is so strong that he thinks they deserve to be punished if the mission is a

In the book Moby Dick, there were numerous themes, symbols, motifs but the main one that was the basis of the book was revenge. The book is about Ishmael, the narrator, who goes whaling in a ship called the Pequod, with people that have a significance in the story especially the captain, Ahab. Ahab has an obsession with catching a white whale named Moby Dick that took his leg and this obsession of getting revenge takes a turn for the worst and the everyone on the Pequod, except Ishmael, died. One question we might what to ask ourselves is, what is Captain Ahab taking revenge for? Is it for his leg, For his anger, For his suffering or is it for something totally different? Maybe it's for all of them. Whatever it may be, sometimes the torment is so incredible, and the requirement for retribution becomes so strong, that it festers inside and starts to devour us. Captain Ahab exemplifies the idea of a determined desire for vengeance and shows how it can decimate a man.

Moby-Dick is considered to be one of, if not the, best novels in American history. Harper & Brothers first published it in 1851 in New York. In England, it was published in the same year under the title, The Whale (“Moby Dick”). Melville explores topics and themes that were scarcely spoken of and never even seen in a novel. In the novel, the Pequod, which is the ship, is named after a Native American tribe that was exterminated when the white settlers arrived. It is a symbol of death and doom and foreshadows event that occur later in the novel. Melville brings some very controversial themes to light in the novel. Revenge is one of the main themes of Dark Romanticism and Melville uses it to drive every action taken by Ahab. This is seen early on in the novel as Ahab explains to the crew why he has a peg leg and that he wants to enact his revenge on Moby Dick (Melville 160-161). “Moby Dick is, fundamentally, a revenge tragedy. It’s about one man’s maniacal obsession with vengeance. It’s about finding an object on which to pin all you anger and fear and rage, not only about your own suffering, but also about the suffering of all mankind” (“Moby

Recently, our class has read the shortened version of the novel Moby Dick. The novel was about how a determined captain named Captain Ahab decided to recruit crew members on a ship called the Pequod to help kill Moby Dick. Moby Dick is a massive sperm whale that supposively causes havoc in the Pacific Ocean. Captain Ahab is so determined to kill Moby Dick due to his leg being cut off by him. Captain Ahab’s vindictiveness has took over which caused him to go out on this dangerous voyage without thinking about any of the consequences.

He blames Moby Dick for all the evil that has happened and affected the human beings

Ahab’s actions and personality convey Melville’s theme of duality in human nature because of both the madness and the innocence portrayed in his character. As a sea captain, Ahab comes off as crazy and psychotic, and he is frequently described as monomaniacal. When he says “Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me” (203), Melville uses Ahab as an example for all humans and their innate evilness, for they are vindictive, vengeful, and easily combative. Though humans are shown as unforgiving, Melville also uses Ahab as a way to show the good side of people. At the peak of his monomania, Ahab has an epiphany where he understands the feelings of those he loves, and his moment of regret shows his true innocence as a person. “Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab has furiously, foamingly chased his prey-more a demon than a man?-aye, aye! what a forty years’ fool-fool-old fool, has old Ahab been”(621)! Melville uses this moment as a way to show not just the innate goodness of man, but also the innate evil of nature and God. Ahab was a pure man before being corrupted by Moby Dick, the whale who he believed was the “pasteboard mask” (203) of God, and this concept of humans being innately good but corrupted by outside forces reveals Melville’s views on duality in human nature. Melville uses Ahab to manifest the duality of all

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 idea behind this can often times be referred to as fate and free will. Like no other, the concept behind the two can often times get mixed up and confused, while many may choose to believe in fate, millions of others chose not to. Herman Melville can be considered amongst those who chose to believe in fate, and he demonstrates this to extent in his novel “Moby Dick.” Although many times Melville’s writing can tend to jump around and really confuse the writer, it’s his talent to be able to mix in these key themes that he portrays throughout the novel hidden in his text that make him so great. Throughout the novel we see fate and free will play a key role in Ahab’s character. Despite everything telling Ahab to turn around and stop pursuing the whale, it’s his free-will that continuously pushes him forward, therefore upon further analysis it becomes clear to us that Ahab allows his free-will overpower his fate. With this Melville makes it clear to us throughout the text, that the consequences of one’s free will is already destined by fate, however much like Ahab, sometimes we may allow one to overpower the

Herman Melville, in his renowned novel Moby-Dick, presents the tale of the determined and insanely stubborn Captain Ahab as he leads his crew, the men of the Pequod, in revenge against the white whale. A crew mixed in age and origin, and a young, logical narrator named Ishmael sail with Ahab. Cut off from the rest of society, Ahab attempts to make justice for his personal loss of a leg to Moby Dick on a previous voyage, and fights against the injustice he perceived in the overwhelming forces that surround him. Melville uses a series of gams, social interactions or simple exchanges of information between whaling ships at sea, in order to more clearly present man’s situation as he faces an existence whose meaning he cannot fully grasp.