Реферат: Ahabs Evil Quest Melvilles Symbols In MobyDick

riles against Starbuck, the first mate and Starbuck replies, ?vengeance on a dumb brute! .

. . to be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous? (Melville 155).

It is through Ahab?s speech and his subsequent dialogue with Starbuck that a

second major symbol is introduced into the story, Moby Dick. Blasphemy is irreverence

toward God or something sacred, not irreverence toward a dumb brutish whale. Yet

Starbuck accuses Ahab of blasphemy. Melville places this rather harsh accusatory word

in the mouth of the Christian-minded Starbuck, directed at a devilishly revengeful Ahab.

The only way actions taken against Moby Dick could be blasphemous is if he is sacred.

Through indirect descriptions of Moby Dick and direct rantings of an insane man,

Melville peppers Moby-Dick with hints and clues at the true essence Ahab sees behind

the symbol of Moby Dick.

According to sailors stories and legends, Moby Dick is seen in two places at once

at different places around the globe. In this trait Melville is suggesting omnipresence, a

godlike trait (Melville 172). The sailors think he is immortal, another godlike trait,

because he has been harpooned many times and still lives (Braswell 152). Ahab himself

believes Moby Dick?s power is outrageous, like God?s omnipotence. Ahab states in

Chapter XXXVI, ?that inscrutable thing [Moby Dick?s power] is chiefly what I hate?

(Melville157). In addition to the godlike characteristics of omnipotence and

omnipresence, Moby Dick has garnered a reputation for tearing through sinners. He

shows godlike justice and mercy in saving Steelkilt and killing the unjust Radney, as the

crew learns from the sailors of the Town-Ho (Auden 11).

Melville uses many other symbols to make the white whale a symbol of divine

power (Braswell 151). His awful austere beauty is godlike, as is his titanic power and his

pyramidical white hump. His color, white, has signified a special sanctity; and Melville

devotes an entire chapter, narrated by Ishmael, in which he explores the meaning of

whiteness through the ages and through the eyes of many different cultures (Arvin

221-222). In Chapter LI, the Pequod sights a mysterious silvery jet of water obviously

emanating from a whale. The sails are spread and the ship gives chase, but the

?spirit-spout? is never identified. If this spirit-spout is emanating from Moby Dick, it is