Death In Moby Dick

In Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, a recurring theme of death is seen throughout the book. A coffin appears at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book, Ishmael sees a large oil painting that foreshadows and represents many things and events that follow in the book, and Fedallah makes a prophecy talking about hearses and predicts Ahab's death. Ishmael stays at The Sprouter-Inn, whose proprietor was a man named Peter Coffin. In the end, Ishmael clings to a coffin for over a day until rescued by another boat. The picture Ishmael sees contains many things seen later in the book, such as a whale and a horrible storm. Fedallah's prophecy of hearses and hemp prove to be true. Moby Dick begins and ends with a coffin. At the beginning of the book, Ishmael talks to Peter Coffin, the proprietor of The Sprouter-Inn, for a place to stay. He does not have any open rooms so Ishmael is forced to room with Queequeg whom he does not meet until after he goes to sleep. When Queequeg walks in, Ishmael says,
"Landlord, for God's
Fedallah says, "…two hearses must verily be seen by thee on the sea; the first not made by mortal hands; and the visible wood of the last one must be grown in America…Hemp only can kill thee." (Melville, 478-479) Fedallah's prophecy proves to be true. On the third day of the chase, Moby Dick is spotted with Fedallah on his back. Ahab then says, "Aye Parsee! I see thee again. –Aye, and thou goest before; and this, this then is the hearse that thou didst promise. But I hold thee to the last letter of thy word. Where is the second hearse?" (Melville, 545) After the whale fatally wounds the ship, Ahab realizes that the ship was the second hearse. Ahab throws one last harpoon at the whale, but the rope became caught around his legs and he was hurled into the water and hurled to his death, which makes Fedallah's entire prophecy