Feb 03 2010
Perpetuated Religious Favoritism
The religious themes in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, appear quite often. Captain Ahab appears to be the religious analogue of the bringer of chaos and doom. Ishmael slowly manages to see the true nature of Captain Ahab. Ahab begins to spend less time in the cabin, feeling that he is not getting any work done. Captain Ahab is rarely seen and Elijah appears often to help Ishmael and Queequeg manage their goals for the day. Strangely enough though, Ishmael talks about how he values the whaling profession as a profitable career and how it satisfies kings and queens, due to the value of whale oil.
Interestingly enough, Ishmael delves into cetology, as he converses about the various types of leviathans that exist. The leviathan exists in the Bible as a monstrous sea creature that is nigh invulnerable to all forms of physical attacks. The leviathan is also described as bringing chaos and doom to whoever sails on the sea. The White Whale in Moby Dick is delineated as being legendary, omnipresent, eternal and immortal. On another note, Ahab can be seen as the devil here, as he offers to give the crew a Spanish ounce of gold if they successfully locate the White Whale. I can see Ahab as the devil here because he represents the snake that entices Adam and Eve with the apple, that should bring them happiness and glee, but instead gives them only lots of trouble. Just like the devil dooms both Adam and Eve, Captain Ahab dooms his own crewmen and harpooners. In a similar manner, the crew of the ship will eventually have to deal with the monolithic White Whale. Furthermore, Gabriel thinks that Moby Dick is the incarnation of the Shaker God and one of the seamen hears a peculiar sound, which might in fact be God.
One Response to “Perpetuated Religious Favoritism”
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Chris, not sure how your title about “religious favoritism” relates to the post, which seems mostly about how Ahab is figured as the devil. Perhaps you need to explain your thought process more. Also, your first paragraph is too broad and general — you should never begin an essay, a blog post, or any sort of academic writing with a general statement like, “The religious themes in Herman Melville’s MOBY DICK appear quite often.” You don’t want to state the obvious — you want to focus the post as quickly as possible on your own idiosyncratic and original thoughts, which in my opinion, appear in the second paragraph where you state that you think Ahab is the devil. If you think this is the case, build your case — prove how and why Ahab is the devil by pointing out moments in the text where he sounds or acts like a tempter.