{"id":381,"date":"2010-02-01T02:56:42","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T06:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/engl177\/?p=381"},"modified":"2010-02-01T02:56:42","modified_gmt":"2010-02-01T06:56:42","slug":"herman-melville%e2%80%99s-religious-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/?p=381","title":{"rendered":"Herman Melville\u2019s Religious Implications"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout Herman Melville\u2019s Moby Dick,<\/em> there is a plethora of religious and<\/p>\n

Biblical allusions and references that manifest.\u00a0 Almost all of the names of the characters<\/p>\n

in this novel are religious by nature.\u00a0 The main character of the story, Ishmael, was an<\/p>\n

outcast\/drifter, who was dismissed in the Bible.\u00a0 Elijah is the character who warns both<\/p>\n

Queequeg and Ishmael that Ahab is a dangerous man and he is not to be perturbed.<\/p>\n

Elijah, in the Bible, was the \u201cProphet of Doom\u201d (Chapter 19).\u00a0 Ahab, himself, is<\/p>\n

described as a \u201cgrand, ungodly, God-like man.\u201d\u00a0 Ahab, in 1 Kings 18: 18-39 in the Bible,<\/p>\n

was the one who provoked the Lord of Israel.\u00a0 In addition, I find it interesting how<\/p>\n

Queequeg is regarded as a savage cannibal because he is a pagan and does not fit into<\/p>\n

New Bedford, Massachusetts. This very fact symbolizes the fact that<\/p>\n

Captain\u00a0 Ahab wants to provoke the crew to attack and kill the sperm whale.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Moby Dick, the extremely large whale, is referred to as the Leviathan in the Bible.\u00a0 The Leviathan has had many<\/p>\n

attributes according to Job Chapter 41, Psalm 104: 25, 26 and Isaiah 27:1.\u00a0 For example, in the Bible, the Leviathan is regarded is<\/p>\n

such a manner: \u201cNo one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.\u201d\u00a0 This quote further supports the fact that Moby Dick is greatly<\/p>\n

feared by the whole whaling community in New Bedford, Massachussets.\u00a0 Another great quote that best characterizes Moby Dick is<\/p>\n

\u201cThough the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; nor does spear, dart, or javelin.\u00a0 He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten<\/p>\n

wood.\u00a0 The arrow cannot make him flee; sling stones become like stubble to him.\u00a0 Darts are regarded as straw; he laughs at the reat<\/p>\n

of javelins\u201d (Psalms 104: 26).\u00a0 This epic quote shows how Moby Dick is nigh invulnerable to all forms of attacks by harpooners,<\/p>\n

sailors and the like.\u00a0 Furthermore, Moby Dick is regarded as a powerful force to be reckoned with. As you can see, Herman Melville\u2019s<\/p>\n

Moby Dick is teeming with religious and biblical implications and allusions that all influence the plot and the deep meaning of the<\/p>\n

story.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. http:\/\/www.clarifyingchristianity.com\/dinos.shtml<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leviathan<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. http:\/\/www.aboutbibleprophecy.com\/p122.htm<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Job, Chapter 41.<\/li>\n
  5. Psalm 104: 25, 26<\/li>\n
  6. Isaiah 27:1<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Throughout Herman Melville\u2019s Moby Dick, there is a plethora of religious and Biblical allusions and references that manifest.\u00a0 Almost all of the names of the characters in this novel are religious by nature.\u00a0 The main character of the story, Ishmael, was an outcast\/drifter, who was dismissed in the Bible.\u00a0 Elijah is the character who warns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions\/382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}