To him, Moby Dick is not just some dumb brute. Ahab is certain that the force is evil. Others find the evil in Ahab's ego, in his own soul. To understand Ahab, we must understand that it is this force behind the mask that Ahab really wants to kill.
Ahab believes that the force wants to injure him, to limit his role in the world. Perhaps he is right. Perhaps the force is evil. Or perhaps Ahab is madness itself, striking out against the essential powers of the universe, which he cannot possibly defeat. In either case, his quest is bold and literally magnificent. If Ahab is mad, as even he concedes that he is, it is a huge madness, containing multitudes. Part of the universal appeal of the book is that this is a madness to which many briefly aspire, from time to time, resisting our limited, petty roles in the universe.
For most, it is just a fleeting yearning and clearly beyond our grasps. For Ahab, it is everything. We see a different side of Ahab the day before the Pequod 's first encounter with the White Whale. Starbuck and the captain are at the rail in the sunshine and soft breezes.
For the most part, Ahab is a static character, one who does not grow or change throughout the novel due to his single-minded obsession. But here he briefly wavers. Ahab recalls his forty years at sea, harpooning his first whale at age eighteen; finally marrying when he was past fifty; sailing for Cape Horn the next day. Of those forty years, he has not spent three ashore. He calls himself a "fool.
Like the figure behind the mask of the White Whale, the force behind Ahab's motivation is also an inscrutable, dominating master. In his madness, perhaps Ahab is fighting evil or nature or God; or perhaps he is simply fighting Ahab. The captain is no stereotype and certainly is no ordinary man. It is, in fact, marked for death. Adorned like a primitive coffin, the Pequod becomes one.
Moby Dick possesses various symbolic meanings for various individuals. Because they have no delusions about Moby Dick acting malevolently toward men or literally embodying evil, tales about the whale allow them to confront their fear, manage it, and continue to function.
Ahab, on the other hand, believes that Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the world, and he feels that it is his destiny to eradicate this symbolic evil.
Moby Dick also bears out interpretations not tied down to specific characters. In its inscrutable silence and mysterious habits, for example, the White Whale can be read as an allegorical representation of an unknowable God.
But one significant question is, What is the White Whale to Ahab? Ishmael grants that Ahab views the whale as an embodiment of evil. Ishmael himself is not so sure. The narrator often sees both sides of a question, never more so than in Chapter 42, "The Whiteness of the Whale. For Ahab's interpretation, it is helpful to consider the captain's comments in the pivotal Chapter There, the captain says he sees Moby Dick as a "mask," behind which lies a great power whose dominance Ahab refuses to accept.
Ahab sees that inscrutable power as evil. Some scholars argue that it is not the whale, or the force behind the whale, that is evil; the evil is in Ahab. Others see the captain as simply insane. He wants to kill the whale in order to reach that force. Ahab seems to want to be a god.
As great and charismatic a man as he can be in his finest moments, the captain is destructively egocentric and mad for power. To Ahab, we might conclude, the White Whale represents that power which limits and controls man.
Ahab sees it as evil incarnate. But perhaps it is just a big, smart fish. Previous Major Themes of Moby-Dick. Next Quiz. Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title. Are you sure you want to remove bookConfirmation and any corresponding bookmarks?
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