Moby Dick Captain Ahab Character Analysis
The killing of another on behalf of a previous wrong—revenge—saturates the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville. In this novel, Ahab, the obsessed captain of the Pequod, seeks to annihilate the white whale Moby Dick. In his unnatural fixation on the whale, Captain Ahab manipulates the other sailors on the ship into following after his own goal. His unceasing desire to kill however stems from his earlier encounter with the whale. The captain’s obsession constitutes the plot for the entire novel. Captain Ahab’s indefatigable enmity toward Moby Dick generates hysteria inside of him as well as others, instigating the plot of the novel. Although Ahab’s madness originated as an expected reaction to a tragedy, it morphed into a dangerous vice that
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Beginning with an avoidance of Ahab’s true intentions for the journey, the author seeks to characterize Ahab as arcane and strange. He states that the ship’s “supreme lord and dictator was there, though hitherto unseen by any eyes” Melville in this description seeks to offer the audience a questionable persona of Captain Ahab, inciting in their minds that this character might not be entirely safe” (Melville 105). He then continues throughout the book developing Ahab’s madness, utilizing various circumstances to depict the madness resting within him. Ahab’s madness can be seen in the words of his crew when the narrator states “Is he mad? Anyway there’s something on his mind, as sure as there must be something on a deck when it cracks” (Melville 110). Ahab’s madness busted at the seams, allowing his crew to catch a glimpse of the true terror that resided inside him. In the end Melville concludes by demonstrating that Ahab’s madness died with him, and was never put to rest, despite his inability to achieve the only thing kept his obsession alive. For his last desire was to kill the “all-destroying but unconquering whale,” yet he never accomplished his goal for he “spit his last breath” at the whale then flew overboard doomed to drown (Melville 451) Thus Ahab’s madness not only composed the beginning and middle of the novel but also lead to its fatal
Beginning with an avoidance of Ahab’s true intentions for the journey, the author seeks to characterize Ahab as arcane and strange. He states that the ship’s “supreme lord and dictator was there, though hitherto unseen by any eyes” Melville in this description seeks to offer the audience a questionable persona of Captain Ahab, inciting in their minds that this character might not be entirely safe” (Melville 105). He then continues throughout the book developing Ahab’s madness, utilizing various circumstances to depict the madness resting within him. Ahab’s madness can be seen in the words of his crew when the narrator states “Is he mad? Anyway there’s something on his mind, as sure as there must be something on a deck when it cracks” (Melville 110). Ahab’s madness busted at the seams, allowing his crew to catch a glimpse of the true terror that resided inside him. In the end Melville concludes by demonstrating that Ahab’s madness died with him, and was never put to rest, despite his inability to achieve the only thing kept his obsession alive. For his last desire was to kill the “all-destroying but unconquering whale,” yet he never accomplished his goal for he “spit his last breath” at the whale then flew overboard doomed to drown (Melville 451) Thus Ahab’s madness not only composed the beginning and middle of the novel but also lead to its fatal