Ishmael's Use Of Biblical Delusions In Moby Dick

Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick illustrates a journey across seas in pursuit of discovery, freedom, and vengeance. From the beginning, an aura of mystery surrounds Captain Ahab, as Melville waits to introduce him until well into the novel. The obscurity surrounding Ahab causes an uneasiness amongst the crew that continues throughout the novel. After the attack that left him missing a leg, Ahab views Moby-Dick as evil personified; to Ahab, killing the whale means killing all evil. Ahab’s thirst for blood turns him into a cold-hearted man whose sole purpose is to crucify the white whale.

Before Stubb calls on Fleece, Ishmael compares the actions of the shark to the actions of man. He first compares Stubb to the sharks: "Nor was Stubb the only banqueter on whale's flesh that night. Mingling their mumblings with his own mastications,

Ishmael in Hebrew means "God has heard" and has a pretty lengthy prophecy along with it given to Hagar by one of the Lord's angels. It reads, "You are now pregnant and shall bear a son; you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heeded your affliction. He shall be a wild man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; alongside (in opposition to) all his kindred shall he encamp." (Genesis 16:12) Overall, Ishmael holds the meaning of one who is an outsider, someone who is unlike any others and may even be treated aggressively because of this. In the other verses found in Genesis, Ishmael is the bastard son of Abraham, born of his wife' servant Hagar, and therefore treated as an outcast, especially once Sarah sends Ishmael

Herman Melville, in his epic novel Moby-Dick, utilizes the symbolism of the color of the Great White Whale to demonstrate his theme of duality. However, Captain Ahab tragically had a single mind set towards Moby Dick, as he believed that the whale was the symbol of the world's evil and had to be destroyed. On the other hand, Ishmael sees that the color white can mean many various and opposing things. It would be dangerous to settle upon any one single meaning. In the chapter, The Whiteness of the Whale, Melville explains the importance of duality of meaning in the world, as opposed to man's (and Ahab's) desire to see only one meaning in any one thing. Melville utilizes the symbol of the

Tattered Remains of a Pasteboard Mask: Ishmael’s Attention to Codes and Humanity in Moby-Dick The ending of Moby-Dick leaves readers with an overwhelming sense of ambiguity. Yes, Ishmael is rescued, but at what cost? Ishmael flounders, both emotionally and physically, desperately grasping onto a coffin-turned-life-buoy while all he has come to know – friendship and community – dragged down to the depths by the culmination of incarnate evil.

By just reading the novel this theme is not easy to point out if you are not familiar with the people and the stories of the bible. Melville puts major stories and events from the bible into this novel that appear to be nothing more than just a very long story about a group of men going to sea to find a whale named Moby Dick. Melville’s references to the Bible are prevalence in the book “Moby Dick”, he attempt to create an illusion of Bible stories throughout the works as well as creating the character Ishmael & The Captain. At the beginning of the novel, Melville starts off with the character Ishmael, and he does not say if this is actually his name he just says “call me Ishmael”, from that statement is where the very first biblical illusion is found.

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.

Throughout Ahab’s speech, he discusses the “whiteness of the whale” and goes on by repeating himself of how “white” Moby Dick is. However throughout Ishmael’s piece, he goes on about what Moby Dick means to him in contrast to Ahab. You can sense some tenseness and frustration in Ishmael’s voice as he talks about the whale’s whiteness. “It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me”, (pg.159), which brings us back to the biblical context that Hemmingway uses. The color white signifies pure, good or superior and Ishmael talks about how royals were draped in white as well.

The first chapter of Moby Dick written by Herman Melville, is full of information of the narrator Ishmael and why he is choosing to go to see. Ishmael says that he is going to sea as a “simple sailor” which is not the case, he is actually a very intellectual man (Melville). Throughout the entire first chapter there is evidence of Ishmael’s intelligence, his awareness of geography and vocabulary is too advanced for a simple man, his knowledge of ancient cultures, and his interests in fate and the Bible. Two of the most obvious reasons that prove that Ishmael is more than the simple man he says he is, is that he has knowledge of geography and uses great vocabulary.

The voice of Christian orthodoxy speaks loudly in Moby-Dick. Before one can consider this voice properly, however, one must understand that Ishrnael is not a Christian in any orthodox sense of the term. Ishmale twice states that, during the time of his sailing on the Pequod, he was a Christian. Early in the novel he says quite plainly, I was a good Christian; born and bred in the bosom of the infallible Presbyterian Church" (57). Later in the novel, he refers to "we good Presbyterian Christians" (84). Carfeul mediation on these passages and others will lead one to the conclusion that Ishmael is being disingenuous when he refers to himself as a "good Christian. ' It is obvious, first of all, that Ishmael is being ironic and sarcastic in the passages quoted above, as the tone and the context of the passages intimate. Note the

Moby-Dick is considered to be one of, if not the, best novels in American history. Harper & Brothers first published it in 1851 in New York. In England, it was published in the same year under the title, The Whale (“Moby Dick”). Melville explores topics and themes that were scarcely spoken of and never even seen in a novel. In the novel, the Pequod, which is the ship, is named after a Native American tribe that was exterminated when the white settlers arrived. It is a symbol of death and doom and foreshadows event that occur later in the novel. Melville brings some very controversial themes to light in the novel. Revenge is one of the main themes of Dark Romanticism and Melville uses it to drive every action taken by Ahab. This is seen early on in the novel as Ahab explains to the crew why he has a peg leg and that he wants to enact his revenge on Moby Dick (Melville 160-161). “Moby Dick is, fundamentally, a revenge tragedy. It’s about one man’s maniacal obsession with vengeance. It’s about finding an object on which to pin all you anger and fear and rage, not only about your own suffering, but also about the suffering of all mankind” (“Moby

Jonah is one of the more well-known books in the Old Testament, as it contains a familiar story to Christians and non-Christians alike. As a child growing up, most of us would be familiar with the story of Jonah and his being swallowed up by the fish. Even many non-Christians I know who did not grow up in church have made mention of this Biblical story. While the story of Jonah and the fish is often romanticized or even changed (i.e. changing the fish to a whale), the story and moral lesson contained within it is incredibly applicable both to the Israelites of Jonah’s time, as well as to us today. Jonah is believed to have ministered around the time of 746-786 BC due to a reference in 2 Kings 14:23-25 of, “Jonah, son of Amittai” (Hays 299). Despite the events contained with the book happening before the Assyrian conquest, it is easy to sense the tension between the Israelites and the Assyrians when reading the book of Jonah.

But that story does not depict what will happen if you do not do so. Melville makes it clear that if Ahab had went by way of Jonah, the end would have been a lot different for him. This fact is even explicitly said earlier in the novel, during one of the sermons the preacher states “Shipmates, I do not place Jonah before you to be copied for his sin but I do place him before you as a model for repentance. Sin not; but if you do, take heed to repent of it like Jonah” (Melville). The use of Jonah is so important that “the name Jonah appears more than eighty times in Moby-Dick” (Hutchins).

In this essay I will argue that a purpose for the book of Jonah being written is to teach us that knowledge does not equal understanding. This means that although one can be quite knowledgable about God and His Word, in acquiring this they can also loose their humility and forget their tendency to error. This can mean that those who have no concept of right and wrong are much more willing to admit an error when it is pointed out. My first point is the lack of repentance from Jonah contrasted to the repentance of the mariners. Point number two is Jonah’s reaction to being in the belly of the fish compared to the Ninevites reaction to the cry of impending doom. Finally, my third point is that Jonah followed a trend of anger against positive injustices

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.