Moby Dick

Essay by mck04 November 2004

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"Moby Dick is biographic of Melville in the sense that it discloses every

nook and cranny of his imagination." (Humford 41) This paper is a

psychological study of Moby Dick. Moby Dick was written out of Melville's

person experiences. Moby Dick is a story of the adventures a person

named Ishmael. Ishmael is a lonely, alienated individual who wants to see

the "watery part of the world." Moby Dick begins with the main character,

Ishmael, introducing himself with the line "Call Me Ishmael." (Melville 1)

Ishmael tells the reader about his background and creates a depressed mood

for the reader. Call me Ishmael. "Some years ago-nevermind how long

precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular

to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the

watery part of the world." (Melville 1) Ishmael tells the reader about his

journeys through various towns such as New Bedford, Nankantuket.

Eventually while in Nankantuket, Ishmael signed up for a whaling voyage on

the Pequod. The Pequod was the whaling boat Ishmael sailed on where such

characters as Queequeq, Starbuck, and the captain of the ship, Ahab, all

journeyed together. Not long once at sea, the captain of the ship, Ahab

reveals his plan to hunt down a white whale named Moby Dick. Ahab was

veteran sailor, a man that had a heart of stone. Ahab had a personal

grudge against Moby Dick. Moby Dick was responsible for taking off Ahab's

leg in a previous voyage. Ahab's plan was essentially an unauthorized

takeover, what the whaling company had not in mind. Ahab was very

irrational and ludicrous; his plan seals the fate for himself and the crew

of the Pequod. In the tragic ending of Moby Dick, all of the characters...