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A Critical Analysis Of Herman Melville's Moby Dick

A Critical Analysis of Herman Melville's Moby Dick


        "Moby Dick is biographic of Melville in the sense that it discloses
every nook and cranny of his imagination." (Humford 41) This paper is a
psychological study of Moby Dick.   Moby Dick was written out of Melville's
person experiences.
Moby Dick is a story of the adventures a person named Ishmael.   Ishmael
is a lonely, alienated individual who wants to see the "watery part of the
world."   Moby Dick begins with the main character, Ishmael, introducing himself
with the line "Call Me Ishmael." (Melville 1)   Ishmael tells the reader about
his background and creates a depressed mood for the reader. Call me Ishmael.
"Some years ago-nevermind how long precisely- having little or no money in my
purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail
about a little and see the watery part of the world." (Melville 1)   Ishmael
tells the reader about his journeys through various towns such as New Bedford,
Nankantuket.   Eventually while in Nankantuket, Ishmael signed up for a whaling
voyage on the Pequod.   The Pequod was the whaling boat Ishmael sailed on where
such characters as Queequeq, Starbuck, and the captain of the ship, Ahab, all
journeyed together.
Not long once at sea, the captain of the ship, Ahab reveals his plan to
hunt down a white whale named Moby Dick. Ahab was veteran sailor, a man that had
a heart of stone.   Ahab had a personal grudge against Moby Dick.   Moby Dick was
responsible for taking off Ahab's leg in a previous voyage. Ahab's plan was
essentially an unauthorized takeover, what the whaling company had not in mind.
Ahab was very irrational and ludicrous; his plan seals the fate for himself and
the crew of the Pequod.   In the tragic ending of Moby Dick, all of the
characters die except for Ishmael. Ishmael survived Moby Dick's attack of the
ship with the help of a coffin that his close friend Queequeq built.   Ishmael of
Moby Dick   was a special character because he closely...