Moby Dick Literary Analysis Moby Dick, the classic tale of a young man who seeks purpose in life through a whaling expedition, but becomes wrapped up in a web of revenge, obsession, and eventually death. From the start of the book, a sense of predestined doom becomes apparent to the reader. This foreshadowing of the Pequod’s fate is presented through recurring mortality themes, biblical allusions, and omens. Of the many symbols that foretell what will befall the ship and crew, the most telling are the instances surrounding coffins.
Before Ishmael sails to Nantucket, he spends a few nights at the Spouter-Inn. Melville takes the opportunity to add a foreboding feeling to the book early on by giving the inn proprietor the name Peter Coffin. Choosing such a dark name brings death to the front of the mind at the very start of the book. This morbid theme is continued through the unusual story revolving around Queequeg’s coffin. Although it later represents life when saving Ishmael in the epilogue, the intricate coffin Queequeg possess is a way to foreshadow what fate the Indian will eventually face.
Biblical allusions are abundant in Moby Dick, among them are the prominent semblances to the story of Jonah and the Whale, and to the prophet Elijah. A weathered clergyman by the name of Father Mapple preaches a passionate sermon of the well known tale about Jonah and the whale. While many parallels exist between the sermon and the entire book, the most foreboding is the warning that those who ignore God’s plan in order to following their own will face grave consequences.
The Essay on Moby Dick The Winding Road
Moby-Dick: The Winding Road Homosexuality portrayed in the novel, Moby-Dick, was used many times over the 135 chapters. Ishmael s encounters with Queequeg, and their subsequent marriage challenges the controversial lines of male identity in the mid-nineteenth-century. Controversial lines were in fact crossed many times in this book, and Moby-Dick critics express deep concern in the way Melville ...
This chapter, aptly named The Sermon, is a direct way to foreshadow the grave results of Ahab’s disregard for the Pequod’s original mission for his own monomaniacal chase for the White Whale. Another religious connection is through the seemingly insane character Elijah who heckles Ishmael and Queequeg before they set sail in Nantucket. He asks them mysterious questions regarding Ahab, and gives unsettling hints about a dangerous future. Correlation with this character is to the Prophet Elijah, supposedly the prophet of truth.
The odd stranger’s presence and mysterious forewarnings indicate that Ahab himself will be the cause of the crew’s demise. Perhaps Melville’s most prevalent way of foreshadowing takes the form of an omen. Though the book is teeming with various premonitions, those in the chapters immediately before the official hunt for Moby Dick are the best indicators of what will befall the ship. First, the crew passes a band of seals, traditionally considered bad omens for sailors because of their wails that are said to resemble the distress calls of drowning men.
This gives a clear forewarning that the Pequod’s crew will endure the afore said fate. Later, while scanning the ocean for Moby Dick, a man falls from the masthead and is swept to his death. The life buoy is lost in an ineffective attempt to save the fallen crew member, it is then replaced with Queequeg’s coffin. This hints that death is now everywhere, a symbol of morbidity has taken the place of the thing that had symbolized life. Most boding of all the omens is when a black hawk circles Ahab and proceeds to snatch the hat off of his head.
Similar to the Roman legend of Tarquin who was circled thrice by an eagle that stole his hat then blessed by great fortune when the eagle returned to place the hat back onto his head, but the two stories alter in a grave way. The black hawk did not return Ahab’s hat, Melville made a strong point to allude to the fact that the hawk was never going to return it, a portent that not only was the Pequod to be destroyed, but specifically that Ahab awaits a terrible fate himself. Herman Melville does a spectacular job of creating a sense of impending doom for the crew members of the Pequod.
Foreshadowing with death involved motifs, religious connections, and boding hints provide an obvious idea of what terrible fates will transpire later in the book. Yet even though the reader becomes aware of what is to come, the climactic battle with Moby Dick and dreadful deaths of the crew (not including Ishmael) remain as much as or more exciting than any unforeseen trick ending would have been. In short, the extensive use of foreshadowing by Melville has made Moby Dick the classic story it remain to this day.
The Essay on Ahab Vs Oedipus Moby Dick
... still must attack the White Whale. Ahab and the crew ... end of the story, Ahab's ship, The Pequod, chases Moby Dick for three days. After losing several boats, Ahab decides that they ... and love for the people of Thebes. In Melville's "Moby Dick", Captain Ahab, like Oedipus, displays many traits of a leader. ...
