Реферат: Moby Dick 2 Essay Research Paper Moby

to consider the perspectives of the others. In his role as narrator,

Ishmael?s ability to detachedly analyze the viewpoints of those around him

may be what saves him. Note also, that in his narration, Ishmael is the

one character to cast any reverence upon the grand scale of the whale.

Unlike the values the others place on the whale, Ishmael is capable of

viewing the whale solely for its being, as one of the many viewpoints that

he considers through the course of the novel. In contrast, Ahab?s views of the whale are singular and focused. Melville

describes it as a “monomaniacal” obsession, but it is clear in Ahab?s

complexity that there are other factors at work. Ahab remains virtually

unidimensional until the chapter “The Symphony,” where he freely shares

his feelings with Starbuck. In allowing us to see the subtle complexities

of Ahab?s obsession, Melville makes it clear that Ahab is not an inhuman

machine of revenge. Ahab?s questioning of “what nameless, inscrutable,

unearthly thing is it; what cozzening, hidden lord and master, and cruel,

remorseless emperor commands me?” (685) replaces his previous portrait as

the depraved lunatic. The reader is now left to question whether Ahab is

indeed maddened by his obsessive hatred, or simply overwhelmingly

determined, but blinded by his anger. Note though, that despite whatever

end comes of him, Ahab succeeds in avenging himself upon the whale.

Although he is swallowed up by the sea before he can be fully aware of his

success, he does expend his last moments fulfilling his mission. At the

last, he proclaims, “from hell?s heart I stab at thee; for hate?s sake I

spit my last breath at thee.” Whatever Ahab?s motivations, it cannot be

discounted that this objective of is his being realized even with his

dying breath. With the characters of Ishmael and Ahab structured into their respective

places, the stage is set for the novel?s finale. The ambiguous

circumstances of the last chapter “The Chase ?Third Day,” are further

complicated by the portrait of the whale that Melville himself composes.

Melville portrays whales methodically throughout the novel, approaching