Podcast on Moby Dick

In the novel Moby Dick, Captain Ahab is obsessed with hunting the white whale, which symbolizes his own damnation. Ahab's obsession leads to his downfall and parallels the biblical King Ahab's unfaithfulness to God. A non-Christian crew member named Tadala acts as a guide and fuels Ahab's madness. The author, Herman Melville, uses the sparing reveal of the whale to create an obsessive experience for the reader. The color white holds symbolic meaning in various religions and cultures. The white whale represents fear of the unknown and personifies topics such as nature's dominion over man and the universe. The novel also explores the harsh conditions and uncertainties of whaling in the 1800s. Melville combines scientific and historical knowledge with symbolism to create a rich and captivating story. Hath thou seen the white whale? Why, yes. He filled a quarter of our crew ten miles out. That's what the last ship said. In our analysis of the novel Moby Dick, we will be talking about the obsession that Captain Ahab has with the white whale, along with how the reader has a similar feeling towards Moby Dick. Melville has symbolism written deep within the pages, but one of the most important items of symbolism is the color white. Melville also mentions the reality of whaling and how it changes a person. Hello, my name is Captain Hayden, and I'm Anwar, the First Mate. Where are you, Moby Dick? Constantly throughout the book, Ahab is referred to as a monomaniac for his obsession over Moby Dick, who is the cause of him only having one leg. Ahab is a harsh man, and he constantly puts his crew in danger just to get closer to catching a rampaging whale. At the end of chapter 127, Ahab soliloquizes by acknowledging his monomaniasm and obsession over Moby Dick. He states, So far gone am I in the dark side of the earth, that its other side, the theoretic bright one, seems but uncertain twilight to me. Ahab is realizing his own damnation from his heinous deeds, such as putting his crew at risk for his own selfish desire. Ahab talks about heaven by calling it a theoretic bright earth. Of course, he is not sure that it exists, but he still grew up with Christian values of which he is looking back on now. He knows his vengeance is wrong, but he is still following through with it since he believes himself to already be so far gone. The ungodly behavior by Ahab in Moby Dick parallels the actions of his namesake, the wicked King Ahab of Israel. This king, from biblical times, ruled after the reign of King Solomon and was notorious for his idolatry and unfaithfulness to God. His unholy actions led him to be described in the Book of Kings as more evil than all the kings before him. King Ahab's notoriety began with him instituting pagan worship and marrying a pagan princess tarnishing the Jewish land he ruled. Captain Ahab continuously falls from faith by giving in to his thirst for vengeance. His obedience to following the whale is similar to King Ahab's obedience to a new pagan religion rather than to follow the Jews. The level of Captain Ahab's devotion to following the whale causes him to delve deep into madness throughout the book. Feeding into Ahab's insanity is Tadala, a character mentioned periodically representing the devil while also being a guide to Ahab. Tadala is a non-Christian crew member who acts as the captain's guide, but his place amongst the crew is shrouded in mystery as he exists more so as fuel to Ahab's impulses while underway at sea. His actions hurt Ahab into becoming more crazed. Some people suggest that Tadala was sent by God to kill Ahab due to Ahab's misdeeds and endangerment of his own crew. Tadala's role in the death of Captain Ahab mirrors King Ahab's pagan wife as both bring about the downfall of the two Ahabs. Captain Ahab could also be compared to Job from the Bible. In the book of Job, Job obsesses over trying to find the destruction in his ways. Throughout this book, Job is being punished severely by God so God can prove to Satan that Job will remain faithful even under circumstances that will cause one to lose faith. Job's friends create more tension and uneasiness within Job by saying that he deserves his punishment because he probably committed wrongdoings. These friends are similar to Tadala since Tadala also creates more tension and obsessiveness within Ahab. While both cause Ahab and Job to be worse off, Ahab and Job differ in one crucial way. Ahab gave in to Tadala's vileness while Job still remained strong in his faith throughout the book even though he had some doubts. Going back to the earlier dissection about Ahab's obsession, the author Herman Melville wrote this 800 page novel to allow the reader to experience obsessiveness by never seeing Moby Dick until the very end. While I was reading this book, I started to obsess over when the whale would be revealed. All I wanted to see was Moby Dick and with eight encounters with other ships while underway, the later ships having been attacked by Moby Dick, the tension grew immensely for me. Melville's decision to sparingly reveal Moby Dick to the reader allows for the same obsessiveness Ahab experiences to develop within the reader. This is why both Ahab and I scream, the white whale, every time it's mentioned. But why, the white whale? What does Melville wish to accomplish with this description? What the white whale wished to Ahab has been hinted, what at times he wished to me as yet remains unsaid. Within chapter 42 of Moby Dick, the narrator, Ishmael, describes the appearance of the color white throughout human history and cultures, as well as its place in nature. Kings and royalty across many ages and geographic regions have used the color white to symbolize their authority and dominance over their dominion. Brought up by Ishmael are the kings of Pegu, Siam, Britain, and Austria, all who used the color white in their clothing or in their titles. For the kings of Pegu, the title given to rulers was Lord of the White Elephants. This position of power over grand white beasts represents the totality of human control over both humanity as well as the natural world. The meaning of whiteness in multiple religions is usually always used as a way to symbolize a time of rejoice or equality. In Catholicism, the priests wear white on Christmas to represent the rejoicing of the birth of Jesus. White is also worn on Easter to represent the gladness of Jesus' resurrection, while the opposite color, black, is worn to symbolize his death. In Islam, people wear white robes during Hajj on their way to the Kaaba. This symbolizes equality along with purity and brotherhood. In Judaism, people wear white on the Sabbath to remind themselves to be open in their spirituality and also share their joy over the happy day of the Sabbath. During Yom Kippur, Jews wear white clothing to symbolize purity or being one like an angel. Outside of our cultures and traditions, the whiteness present in the natural world also affects the human psyche. Similar to the purity of whiteness in religious events, pure white animals often hold a place of reverence amongst people. A holy white stallion or fowl is an unadulterated creature of angelic quality. Thus, humans imagine these divine animals as viewing us with a benevolent gaze. However, this holistic ideal is juxtaposed by nature in the form of violent and aggressive animals wreaked by heavenly whites. A polar bear, as described by the narrator Ishmael, is so hideous due to his uninhibited ferociousness disguised behind the purity of a white hide. And as a side note, the polar bears, as with other bear species, do not usually wait for their prey to perish before they begin eating them. Quite beastly behavior in a cuddly package. Yes, and just like with the polar bear, geographic regions with connotations of white color also hold a certain uncanny emotion for people. For instance, the White Mountains in New Hampshire hold a very eerie weight over the locals of the region, and even the name sounds ominous. A solid wall of white fog acts like a shroud covering up any dangers that may be present, and in the context of Moby Dick, even Ishmael makes comments about the terrifying feeling thick fog had possessed a crowd with. Moby Dick, similar to these examples, is a force of the unknown. The whale is more so an otherworldly being for the vast majority of the novel, and its peculiar physique only adds to its ghostly existence. The white whale, in all these other cases, seems to represent an aspect of the color white beyond its religious and royal connotations. It brings up humanity's fear of the unknown, and Moby Dick, seldom seen by the crew or even the reader, constantly lies in the fringe of our consciousness. In fact, within Melville's writing, Moby Dick encompasses many possible representations of things such as nature's dominion over man, God himself, or even the universe itself. These ideas have always burdened humanity with a sense of fear, and Melville uses Moby Dick as a way to personify these topics. And the whale's albinism plays quite a major role in allowing for these topics to be fully realized by Melville through supernatural tones in the surroundings of the crew. Tis my Mary, my Mary herself! She promised that my boy, every morning, should be carried to the hill, to catch the first glimpse of his father's sail. Yes, yes, no more! It is done. In truth, the entire essence of the novel is tied into it being the journey of a whaling crew on the open ocean. Really, one of the most intriguing aspects of the novel is the depth of scientific and historical knowledge Melville combines with the superb symbolism. Many times in the book, it talked about crew members dying from a whale or falling overboard. Melville mentions conditions of whaling during the 1800s in order to express sympathy for the crewmates of the Pequod. This is the whole reason why the carpenter aboard made a coffin because it was needed to fulfill a job aboard, but it was very dangerous, which is why the coffin was made, to kill two birds with one stone. If Pequod dies, then he already has a coffin. Whaling journeys can take years to be finished, while whalemen are paid according to their catches and not a set amount for the time they spend at sea. There are a wide array of uncertainties to whaling, making it a thoroughly unfavorable job in many ways. These conditions, which Melville had rigorously researched, are put on full display within the experiences and events that take place within the novel. When the Pequod meets the Rachel, their crew talks about experiencing Moby Dick's wrath firsthand. One of the crew members exclaims, my boy, my own boy is among them. The Rachel got separated from a lot of their crew members after their encounter with Moby Dick. Melville uses these whaling vessels to foreshadow what is to come. Every time there is a ship, the Pequod gets closer and closer to Moby Dick. Therefore, when the Rachel shows up, it shows the reader that Moby Dick is close by. Captain Gardner, of the Rachel, says, do to me as you would have me do to you in the like case. Captain Gardner alludes to the golden rule as stated in the gospel. With Ahab's continuous diversion into darkness, this phrase sits uneasily with him, and eventually Captain Ahab gets mad and continues on with his thirst for vengeance. A little later on in the book, we get to see Ahab soliloquize by expressing his deep sadness over almost losing Pip, a young black crew member that fell overboard. Melville uses this literary device to show Ahab as a more dynamic character that isn't always just daunting and vengeful. These soliloquies of Ahab allow the reader to understand his motives on a deeper level than just wanting to get revenge for his bitten off leg. Pip is the only character that allows the reader to see an awakening of humanity within Ahab. This also contradicts race relations at the time of writing this book, in the 1850s. Melville, as a known opponent of slavery, uses Pip along with other ethnic crew members in order to juxtapose the reality of their suffering and experiences with the then common notions in America of racial inferiority towards people of color. The commentary Melville provides on the issues of slavery and racism are often an overlooked aspect of his work, perhaps in a way allowing for the novel to become so widespread even in a country steeped with racism. Still these themes remain a strong component of Moby Dick that can be appreciated in contemporary times. While Melville does include commentary over political issues of the time, he also at times delves into the history of whalers of the past. In the chapter The Glory and Honor of Whaling, Melville gives multiple examples of stories that show whaling in high respect. He shares the story of Perseus and Andromeda. In this story, Perseus slays a great Leviathan to win Andromeda's hand in marriage. Melville writes, For in the ancient Joppa, now Jaffa, on the Syrian coast, in one of the pagan temples, there stood for many ages the vast skeleton of a whale, which the city's legends and all the inhabitants asserted to be the identical bones of the monster that Perseus slew. This story can be related to the Bible. In the book of Jonah, Jonah set off from the city of Joppa. Within this same book, Jonah gets consumed by a great fish, which is often held as being synonymous to a whale. And Jonah's defeat of the whale by way of being regurgitated out onto land was due to his faithfulness to God. The blending of historical mythos as well as more contemporary experiences help to build an ethos about the world of Moby Dick in which the lives, journeys, and deaths of whalers are immortalized. The drama's done. Why then here does anyone step forth? Because one did survive the wreck. As the novel comes to a close, Ishmael, the narrator, was left as the only survivor of the Pequod. His account alone allows for the lost crew members to not be lost to time. The experiences and efforts of the whaling crew on the Pequod while in search of the primordial force that would Moby Dick is almost all made for nigh. As although Captain Ahab kills the white whale, the crew and ship are destroyed, destined to remain at the bottom of the ocean. Melville allows for countless lessons to be had from the novel, but perhaps one of the most thought-provoking is the necessity for man to not lose himself to the obsessions and temptations, else he loses both those closest to him as well as himself.