Free-Will In Herman Melville's Moby Dick

The idea behind this can often times be referred to as fate and free will. Like no other, the concept behind the two can often times get mixed up and confused, while many may choose to believe in fate, millions of others chose not to. Herman Melville can be considered amongst those who chose to believe in fate, and he demonstrates this to extent in his novel “Moby Dick.” Although many times Melville’s writing can tend to jump around and really confuse the writer, it’s his talent to be able to mix in these key themes that he portrays throughout the novel hidden in his text that make him so great. Throughout the novel we see fate and free will play a key role in Ahab’s character. Despite everything telling Ahab to turn around and stop pursuing the whale, it’s his free-will that continuously pushes him forward, therefore upon further analysis it becomes clear to us that Ahab allows his free-will overpower his fate. With this Melville makes it clear to us throughout the text, that the consequences of one’s free will is already destined by fate, however much like Ahab, sometimes we may allow one to overpower the

Perhaps more importantly, Ishmael attributes his voyage to a decision in the first place. However, Ishmael does not hold this opinion for long. By the end of the chapter – notably just a few pages later – Ishmael has a much more weighty opinion of his future journey, “Doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago” (Melville 22). Although he initially thinks that going whaling was his own decision motivated by boredom, impoverishment, and depression, Ishmael now views his voyage as something that is fated by God. This is solidified by the fact that water is tied to creation and God to begin with, and much of the chapter is focused on water rather than God specifically. From the very beginning, Melville is tying his work to God and fate, which – to say the least – is very ambitious.

In Herman Melville’s novel, Moby-Dick, Ishmael, the narrator, goes on a whaling voyage where he learns the values of life and makes amazing friends through the process. Although he also experiences dangerous expeditions on the ship, and first one that was introduced was in chapter 48, “The First Lowering”. In this chapter, the whole crew goes out on their first whaling expedition where they encountered a heavy storm which resulted in the readers finding out more about Stubb, Flask, and Starbuck’s personality and leadership skills. The chapter also brought some racist views where the crew gossiped about the shadow men that snuck on the ship and how they are above those men in rank and status. Overall, Ishmael reveals more information to the readers in this chapter than the others and has given them an introduction to the dangers of a whaling voyage. “The First Lowering” is one of the most important and dangerous chapters in the book because Ishmael enhances the reader’s knowledge about the lives of the sailors and gives them a glimpse of his racial views as well.

His most famous book, Moby Dick, features the observant narrator, Ishmael, aboard the Pequot, a ship captained by the menacing one-legged Captain Ahab. Having lost his limb in a previous voyage to an enormous sperm whale named Moby Dick, Ahab scans the seven seas in manic search of revenge against the giant. Queequeg, Ishmael’s menacing best friend, and the rest of the crew are subjected to extreme jeopardy and later death due to Ahab’s monomaniacal disregard for bad omens and danger. The whale slices the boat clean in half and none survive to tells of its greatness except Ishmael.

I felt like this chapter was primarily used to keep the plot going, stating how there is beauty in nature that is so pure that it could actually be fatal. While Captain Ahab is on a specific voyage to kill the beast, Ishmael is prepared to see the worst but hoping for the best for what’s ahead. In this chapter I feel as if Melville is trying to connect with his readers by relating it to real

Ahab says, “Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever of ye raises me that white-headed whale, with three holes punctured in his starboard fluke—look ye, whosoever of ye raises me that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys” (Melville 176). The purpose of this voyage for Ahab is to hunt down and kill the white whale, Moby Dick. To Ahab this means everything so much so he is willing to bribe the men on the ship. However, some of the other men disagree with Ahab and feel this hunt is

Melville believes that mankind are the only truly divine beings in the universe and that they must all look to each other, and not God, for comfort and support. Queequeg and Ishmael’s relationship is a significant point in the story because it is such an ironic and strange friendship between and cannibalistic savage that has a good heart, and a philosophical white man like Ishmael looking to find his own truth at sea. Their relationship is so strong that they are inseparable until death and they represent Melville’s first argument of the true nature of man. In the cook’s sermon to the sharks, if the sharks are taken as an analogy of mankind, he is saying humans’ hearts all have a shark nature within them but if one governs that nature, then that person will become an angel like and pure. The cook after being ordered by Stubb to tell the sharks to stop their racket says that he doesn’t “blame [them] so much for;

However, the coin incident is not the only symbol that Melville uses to display Captain Ahab’s monomania. As they are sailing, the Pequod passes various ships along their journey. Upon meeting with these ships, Ahab asks them if they’ve seen a white whale, and refuses to help them because he is afraid that it will interfere and delay the process of capturing Moby Dick.

Melville’s Shakespearean influence filters through in select chapters throughout the novel, and this helps dramatize Ahab’s performativity and heighten the theatrical elements of his interactions with sailors on the Pequod. The first instance of this is at the beginning of Chapter 36, in which Ahab rounds up every member of his crew and addresses him in a rousing emotional exchange about the voyage. The chapter begins with the use of stage directions “(Enter Ahab, Then all)” (Melville, 136), which immediately establishes the hierarchal structure of the scene, in that Ahab as captain has the right to give orders to his crew. The syntactical structure in placing ‘Ahab’ before ‘all’ suggests that Ahab is in a dominant position over his crew, and the inserted comma creates a dramatic pause and consequently widens the authority of Ahab over the rest. On a holistic level, the emergence of stage directions here differentiates the dramatic elements of this chapter from previous chapters. After the stage direction, Ishmael’s narrative continues with “It was not a great while after the affair of the pipe…” which evokes the sense of continuity, however, the break in tone caused by the stage direction strengthens the reader’s awareness that the drama has shifted. In Charles Olson’s Call Me Ishmael, he explores Melville’s fascination with Shakespeare’s

The men aboard the Essex “felt an overwhelming need to reclaim at least some control of their own destiny,” after the disaster occurred. Likewise, the need for control also drove and motivated Ahab’s obsessive quest. As captain, control never extended itself outside of Ahab’s grasp, but a foreign feeling appeared once Ahab lost control. All control escaped Ahab once he lost his leg, and the only way he thought he could regain control of such a tragic situation revealed itself in the form of slaughtering and killing the cause of his problems. Although the death of Moby Dick would not do anything other than kill a beautiful creature of the deep, Ahab thought he would receive solace by seeking revenge upon the animal that caused his suffering.

The literary device of allusion is the first and most prominent technique that Melville uses to build Ahab’s character. When Ishmael is searching for a ship to carry him and Queequeg, his cannibal friend, on a whaling voyage, he first goes aboard the Pequod, where he meets Captains Peleg and Bildad. However, Peleg and Bildad tell Ishmael that they are not in

For Herman Melville’s character, Ishmael, to be aboard a whaling ship is a new experience, a vivid taste of human nature, and most importantly a test of character. It shares these many extreme attributes with another familiar setting: Hell. Melville uses his writing throughout Moby Dick to create an absolutely infernal atmosphere. He does this by using animalistic personification, creating a beastly environment and alludes to the devil on more than one account. Finally, Melville leaves out no detail when describing the vivid imagery of the flames in the try-works, an area aboard the ship. Throughout this passage, a hellish theme is created through the combined use of beastly personification, bedeviled allusions, and flame-engulfed imagery.

Consequently due to his personal growth as a character, Ishmael's divine spirit becomes saved and he himself is rescued from certain death. Captain Ahab remains unable to accept the concepts of transcendentalism, his pursuit of Moby-Dick is relentless and without mercy. His character has no opportunity for growth or discovery as he shuns the advice of everyone, whilst in pursuit of the white whale. Due to this his fate becomes irrevocably sealed and he is doomed to fail his mission and perish at the mercy of his quarry.

While it takes twenty-eight chapters for the narrator, Ishmael, to finally see Ahab, his lack of presence was not unheeded. One of the most accurate descriptions is depicted by Peleg who claims, “‘He’s a grand, ungodly, godly like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but when he does speak, then you may well listen’” (Melville 96). This is pertinent due to the fact that Peleg’s statement helps create a portrait of who the real Captain Ahab is: an atheist who not only believes that he is above God, but in a sense, carries a facade that portrays him as God. This can be seen as the men work tirelessly to ensure that he is pleased, even though he is rarely found above

Herman Melville, in his renowned novel Moby-Dick, presents the tale of the determined and insanely stubborn Captain Ahab as he leads his crew, the men of the Pequod, in revenge against the white whale. A crew mixed in age and origin, and a young, logical narrator named Ishmael sail with Ahab. Cut off from the rest of society, Ahab attempts to make justice for his personal loss of a leg to Moby Dick on a previous voyage, and fights against the injustice he perceived in the overwhelming forces that surround him. Melville uses a series of gams, social interactions or simple exchanges of information between whaling ships at sea, in order to more clearly present man’s situation as he faces an existence whose meaning he cannot fully grasp.