Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Summary: Moby Dick, an epic novel, begins with details of the narrator and main characters past lifestyle and jobs. Ishmael, the main character boards a whaling ship called the Pequod whose captain is Ahab. Ishmael believes that this is just a normal whaling mission for oil but soon learns that his captain is really out to get revenge on Moby Dick the whale that took his leg. The Pequod meets with many other other whaling ships along the way to see if they have came across this old sperm whale, they discover that the whale has caused many other tragedies and gives Ahab even more of a reason to find Moby Dick and kill him.
The Pequod comes into contact with Moby Dick and come to realize that he is not very interested in trying to harm the ship or the people on the ship. Ahabs first mate tries once again to convince him that he does not need to kill him but Ahab does not listen. He is determined to kill this whale and does not care about the consequences. Ahab decides to try and harpoon the whale even after seeing two other ships fail at the task. The harpoon rope snaps and causes Moby Dick to crash into the ship causing the ship to sink. The crew of the ship all end up meeting their death, except for Ishmael who survives the sinking ship. He survives by holding on to a large box until another whaling ship can come and save him.
Analysis of Major Characters:
Ishmael- Ishmael is someone who is very confused about who he is as a person. He feels like he does not fit in to any specific crowd.
He is very intelligent, and very aware of his surroundings. He goes on this whaling mission to try and find himself again, or to learn more about who he is as a person. The reader doesn't really learn to much about him in full detail, just about who he was on the ship. He was very helpful to his fellow sailors, and smarter than most of them. He came aboard the ship to find himself, but put himself in a situation where he was still an outcast. He was the narrator but more like the eyes of the story. He is used to show the story through a different set of eyes that see things differently than most. Ishmael is the intelligent main character and narrator of Moby Dick.
Ahab- Ahab is the center of the story, although we do not learn much about him in the start of the book. He seems that he is just a normal captain, that keeps to himself. In reality he is very controlling and a little bit crazy. Ahab is really on a mission to kill Moby Dick, because he feels he needs to get revenge. He has tricked every person aboard the ship and made them believe something that is not truthful. He is confident in his decisions and really believes that he is right and that nobody else is. He is given advice not to try and kill the huge whale that had already injured him in the past, but decides not to take it and ends up dying. Ahab is the character that the other characters fear and believe they should trust, he is almost like a dictator on the ship, giving nobody any choice in what they are getting themselves into.
Setting: The time the novel is set in is the 1830's or 1840's. The story is placed on the Pequod, the whaling ship that is used to travel to find Moby Dick and kill him. The story is written in the past rather than the future. Mellville wrote the novel when he himself lived in the city, so he could relate to it. He spent a very long time trying to figure out how the novel was supposed to go. It was
very similar to a previous novel he wrote until it made a huge transformation into something new, similar to the main character in the book. Mellville was battling against the public, and against people above him to create a successful book. The timing in the book is about 20 years prior to when the actual novel came out, so it was similar to the world that Mellville was living in. The rest
of the novel was taken place on the ship and over he oceans. The start of the novel was in a big city, where Ishmael felt he did not fit in. The reader isn't going to see very much except for water constantly. They are in the ocean for the majority of the story, so the setting is endless amounts of water, forever. The water is used to portray the never ending amount of knowledge that Ishmael
can earn from this trip.
Types of Conflicts: One of the major conflicts in Moby Dick is man vs. self. Ishmael goes on this whaling journey to find himself once again. He is very lost with who he is as a person, he only knows that he is an outcast in the world that he is in. He is battling with his own mind to become a confident person again and not feel so depressed. He is lost within his own mind it seems. He learns a lot about himself on the journey and learns that his intellegence ends up saving his life. The other major conflict is Man VS. Nature. Ahab is conflicting with Moby Dick, the sperm whale and really feels he needs to get revenge on the whale, although
he ends up losing. Ahab obbsesses over killing this whale throughout the whole novel. He doesn't care that he is risking his life, or others lives.
Major Themes:
The deceptiveness of fate - The Pequod is for sure going to end in doom, and Ishmael realizes this. Everything about the boat is bad, the captain makes them all believe that they are going to die anyway so they should just attemt to kill the whale. The sailors on the ship are mislead into this tragic situation believing it is fate. The main character Ishmael is once again the only one with enough inteligence to see that this is what is going to happen.
The limits of knowledge - Ishmael is very smart, but his knowledge can only get him so far in certain situations. Ishmael spends a lot of time on the ship trying to learn new things in different ways to try and help the situation that he was in, because he was very aware that the situation was going to end badly. What he ended up learning was that when it came down to it, it was all instinct. When the ship was sinking and they were fighting Moby Dick, all the knowledge about whales didn't matter anymore, all that mattered was him finding his own way to survive.
Revenge - A large quantity of the novel is based around Ahab trying to get revenge on Moby Dick, which only ends in tragedy. Ahab is extremely obssessed with killing the whale and spends a lot of his time crazing over it. Nothing can stop him from pursuing this revenge.
Major Symbols:
Whale - One of the major symbols is the whale, he represents curiosity and revenge. Ahab wants to take revenge on the whale when
in reality he does not even know very much about the whale. The whale is the one thing that Ahab cannot control. The whale isn't really that interested in hurting anyone, it usually just happens by accident, like he is antagonized. In some ways the whale is similar to Ishmael because he feels like an outsider, that is almost punished for it. The whale is often attacked when he didn't even
cause harm on purpose.
Ship - The ship symbolizes catastrophe, and fate. When the men boarded the ship they did not know what they were getting
themselves into. The sailors believed that they are just going on a whaling mission but fate decides differently. They are brought to their death on the ship, and they have no choice in the matter. Their captain, the one that is supposed to be leading them to safety takes them into an unsafe situation, without giving them any real say in the matter. The only person that lives through the tragedy of the Pequod sinking is Ishmael, the only person that is really intelligent. This is fate because he was really the only person that deserved to live. The ship was somewhere that they were trapped, they stuck, it was a real catastrophe.
Coffin- The coffin of Ishmaels closest friend on the Pequod symbolizes life. This is ironic becaue the coffin was originally
built assuming that this man was going to die, but then it ends up saving Ishmaels life. Ishmael uses the coffin to float to another ship once the Pequod sinks. The coffin shows how real death is to Ishmaels friend Queequeg and inspires him to live longer and fight for his life harder. The coffin in some sense saves two people's lives instead of just one.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSHQvMZKWtw
The Pequod comes into contact with Moby Dick and come to realize that he is not very interested in trying to harm the ship or the people on the ship. Ahabs first mate tries once again to convince him that he does not need to kill him but Ahab does not listen. He is determined to kill this whale and does not care about the consequences. Ahab decides to try and harpoon the whale even after seeing two other ships fail at the task. The harpoon rope snaps and causes Moby Dick to crash into the ship causing the ship to sink. The crew of the ship all end up meeting their death, except for Ishmael who survives the sinking ship. He survives by holding on to a large box until another whaling ship can come and save him.
Analysis of Major Characters:
Ishmael- Ishmael is someone who is very confused about who he is as a person. He feels like he does not fit in to any specific crowd.
He is very intelligent, and very aware of his surroundings. He goes on this whaling mission to try and find himself again, or to learn more about who he is as a person. The reader doesn't really learn to much about him in full detail, just about who he was on the ship. He was very helpful to his fellow sailors, and smarter than most of them. He came aboard the ship to find himself, but put himself in a situation where he was still an outcast. He was the narrator but more like the eyes of the story. He is used to show the story through a different set of eyes that see things differently than most. Ishmael is the intelligent main character and narrator of Moby Dick.
Ahab- Ahab is the center of the story, although we do not learn much about him in the start of the book. He seems that he is just a normal captain, that keeps to himself. In reality he is very controlling and a little bit crazy. Ahab is really on a mission to kill Moby Dick, because he feels he needs to get revenge. He has tricked every person aboard the ship and made them believe something that is not truthful. He is confident in his decisions and really believes that he is right and that nobody else is. He is given advice not to try and kill the huge whale that had already injured him in the past, but decides not to take it and ends up dying. Ahab is the character that the other characters fear and believe they should trust, he is almost like a dictator on the ship, giving nobody any choice in what they are getting themselves into.
Setting: The time the novel is set in is the 1830's or 1840's. The story is placed on the Pequod, the whaling ship that is used to travel to find Moby Dick and kill him. The story is written in the past rather than the future. Mellville wrote the novel when he himself lived in the city, so he could relate to it. He spent a very long time trying to figure out how the novel was supposed to go. It was
very similar to a previous novel he wrote until it made a huge transformation into something new, similar to the main character in the book. Mellville was battling against the public, and against people above him to create a successful book. The timing in the book is about 20 years prior to when the actual novel came out, so it was similar to the world that Mellville was living in. The rest
of the novel was taken place on the ship and over he oceans. The start of the novel was in a big city, where Ishmael felt he did not fit in. The reader isn't going to see very much except for water constantly. They are in the ocean for the majority of the story, so the setting is endless amounts of water, forever. The water is used to portray the never ending amount of knowledge that Ishmael
can earn from this trip.
Types of Conflicts: One of the major conflicts in Moby Dick is man vs. self. Ishmael goes on this whaling journey to find himself once again. He is very lost with who he is as a person, he only knows that he is an outcast in the world that he is in. He is battling with his own mind to become a confident person again and not feel so depressed. He is lost within his own mind it seems. He learns a lot about himself on the journey and learns that his intellegence ends up saving his life. The other major conflict is Man VS. Nature. Ahab is conflicting with Moby Dick, the sperm whale and really feels he needs to get revenge on the whale, although
he ends up losing. Ahab obbsesses over killing this whale throughout the whole novel. He doesn't care that he is risking his life, or others lives.
Major Themes:
The deceptiveness of fate - The Pequod is for sure going to end in doom, and Ishmael realizes this. Everything about the boat is bad, the captain makes them all believe that they are going to die anyway so they should just attemt to kill the whale. The sailors on the ship are mislead into this tragic situation believing it is fate. The main character Ishmael is once again the only one with enough inteligence to see that this is what is going to happen.
The limits of knowledge - Ishmael is very smart, but his knowledge can only get him so far in certain situations. Ishmael spends a lot of time on the ship trying to learn new things in different ways to try and help the situation that he was in, because he was very aware that the situation was going to end badly. What he ended up learning was that when it came down to it, it was all instinct. When the ship was sinking and they were fighting Moby Dick, all the knowledge about whales didn't matter anymore, all that mattered was him finding his own way to survive.
Revenge - A large quantity of the novel is based around Ahab trying to get revenge on Moby Dick, which only ends in tragedy. Ahab is extremely obssessed with killing the whale and spends a lot of his time crazing over it. Nothing can stop him from pursuing this revenge.
Major Symbols:
Whale - One of the major symbols is the whale, he represents curiosity and revenge. Ahab wants to take revenge on the whale when
in reality he does not even know very much about the whale. The whale is the one thing that Ahab cannot control. The whale isn't really that interested in hurting anyone, it usually just happens by accident, like he is antagonized. In some ways the whale is similar to Ishmael because he feels like an outsider, that is almost punished for it. The whale is often attacked when he didn't even
cause harm on purpose.
Ship - The ship symbolizes catastrophe, and fate. When the men boarded the ship they did not know what they were getting
themselves into. The sailors believed that they are just going on a whaling mission but fate decides differently. They are brought to their death on the ship, and they have no choice in the matter. Their captain, the one that is supposed to be leading them to safety takes them into an unsafe situation, without giving them any real say in the matter. The only person that lives through the tragedy of the Pequod sinking is Ishmael, the only person that is really intelligent. This is fate because he was really the only person that deserved to live. The ship was somewhere that they were trapped, they stuck, it was a real catastrophe.
Coffin- The coffin of Ishmaels closest friend on the Pequod symbolizes life. This is ironic becaue the coffin was originally
built assuming that this man was going to die, but then it ends up saving Ishmaels life. Ishmael uses the coffin to float to another ship once the Pequod sinks. The coffin shows how real death is to Ishmaels friend Queequeg and inspires him to live longer and fight for his life harder. The coffin in some sense saves two people's lives instead of just one.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSHQvMZKWtw
"Moby Dick." (Character). N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.comicvine.com/moby-dick/4005-65442/>.
<http://www.comicvine.com/moby-dick/4005-65442/>.
Citations
"Moby Dick Summary."Study
Guides & Essay Editing. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr.
2013.
"Moby-Dick."Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, 31
Mar. 2013. Web. 01 Apr.
2013.
"Moby-Dick."SparkNotes.
SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01
Apr. 2013.
"Moby Dick Summary."Study
Guides & Essay Editing. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr.
2013.
"Moby-Dick."Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, 31
Mar. 2013. Web. 01 Apr.
2013.
"Moby-Dick."SparkNotes.
SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01
Apr. 2013.