Custom «Moby Dick» Essay Paper Sample

Introduction

Moby dick has many symbolic meanings for various people. To the crew of pequod, the famous white whale is the idea that they can relocate their nervousness about their risky and frightening jobs. This is because they do not have illusions about Moby Dick malicious act toward men. The whale tales permits Pequod's crew to confront their fear, control it, and continue to function. Moby Dick bears out interpretations that are not tied down to particular characters (Sterling 2008).      

Moby Dick symbolisms

The introductory materials of Moby Dick novel propose that the novel is based on a well study of humankind's efforts to understand the whale and to also attempt to create a serious contribution to the knowledge's body. In the novel, Ahab symbolizes blasphemous figure. The great assumption that surrounds Moby Dick is that, Ahab's search against the great whale is an activity that is blasphemous. The initial type of blasphemy that exists within Ahab is hubris that is, the idea that Ahab would think similar to God (Fuller 2009).

Fuller (2009) argues that the second type of blasphemy is God's rejection for an association with the devil. Melville elaborate this point very well throughout the novel's various episodes such as the case in which Gabriel cautions Ahab to imagine of the end of blasphemy and the Ahab's appraisal from Paleg, who is designated as ungodly person. The quest for Moby Dick by Ahab is a defiance act toward God. The assumption that Ahab is invincible first happens before Ahab is introduced in father Mapple's sermon. The sermon's lesson that concerns Whale's and Jonah's story, cautions against blasphemous idea such as a ship carrying a person into regions that God does not control. The idea is well explained when Ahab compares himself with God, as the lord who is above Prequod.

Melville further explains the blasphemy idea via the prophetic dream that Fedallah discloses to Ahab. This caused Ahab to believe that he is immortal. A more serious type of blasphemy also came out during the novel's course in which Ahab does not just believe in himself as an omnipotent, but rather relates himself with the devil. Ahab maintains his collaboration with Fedallah, a character that Stubb believed to be a devil, and when Ahab got his harpoon, Stubb asked to be baptized in the devil's name, not in the father's name (Davey 2003).

In the novel, Moby Dick, Whale is a symbol of unparalleled greatness. This is illustrated when Melville, via Ishmael, elaborates the sperm whale in the various non-narratives Mob Dick's chapters. Melville approaches the unparalleled greatness idea from a number of standpoints, whether historical or biological, so that he can prove how whales are superior over other creatures. In a number of scenarios Melville associates whaling with the royal activity. This is seen when he illustrated the powerful loyalty of Louis XVI to the whaling industry and when considering whale as a fragility fit for the most civilized alone. Melville also cites the Indian Vishnoo's legends, the god who became personified in a whale (Lamarque 2004).

According to Lamarque (2004), the whale also symbolizes indefinable figure.  As Melville employs the whale as excellence symbols, he also opposes any factual interpretation of excellence by rejecting to associate the species with any strong idea or object. Melville believes that Whale is an indefinite figure. This is best illustrated by the whale's whiteness. The author defines the whiteness as lack of color thus making the whale to lack meaning. He reinforces the idea that the whale is indefinable through several stories that Ishmael narrates, in which historians, artists and intellectuals misunderstand the whale in their fields of concern. By featuring several whales' aspects in their various forms, the author develops the whale as a more enigmatic figure whose spirit cannot be explained through its physiognomy or history.

The persistent failed attempts to get a concrete whale's definition isolate the sperm whale and in particular Moby Dick, as a theoretical and devoid of any strong definition. By permitting the whale to survive as a strange figure, the author does not pin whale down as a simple metaphorical parallel instead he leaves a multiplicity of several interpretations for Moby Dick (Bloom 2007).

In the novel, Moby Dick, the sea symbolizes a place of transition. It symbolizes a transitional place among two different states. Melville displays this on the Queequeg's case and other Isolatoes, who symbolizes the transformation from uncivilized to civilized society that is, unbound by specific nationality. In an irresistible amount of cases the transformation theme associates with precarious line among life and death, whether metaphorically or factual, throughout the novel. Queequeng also proves to be an example when, in his illness he plans for his death and stays in his coffin waiting for the sickness to kill him. The coffin became a transitional element. When the carpenter later converted the coffin into a life-buoy, it symbolized the saving and ending of life. Several minor characters in the novel, Moby Dick, exist in well transitional states between life and death (Gunn 2005).

Conclusion

From our discussion, it is quite clear that the author of the novel, Moby Dick, used various symbolisms in his work. Melville used Ahab to symbolize a blasphemous figure. The author used whale to symbolize both unparalleled greatness and indefinable figure. Melville viewed the whale in detail, for him to elaborate the ideas well. He also used sea to symbolize for a place of transition. He used Queequeq's case and other Isolates to display the transitional idea.