Moby Dicks By Herman Melville Essay, Research Paper

Throughout the whole story the white whale is not only depicted as a an

unexplainable force of nature but is also given an almost divine quality , he is

constantly compared to God, and as the people fear and revere God they also fear

Moby Dick and whales in general.The Whalers of the town see the whales not as

thier prey but they see them as thier advisaries.An advisary that equals and

often times surpasses them in prowess.From the begining of the film we are

confronted with the image of the whale as the personificaion of power and

strength ,as Stubb says in the inn "If God where to be any fish he would be

a whale." From this qoute alone it is evident that the whale holds a great

deal of power.It is also obvious that to confront a whale is much like

confronting mother nature or even God , in both situations the odds are stacked

heavily against you. It is apparent that Moby Dick is the personification of the

wrathful persistancy of the Omnipotent , If not anywhere else this is most

obviously displayed through the crews reactions to the whale , and the mythical

legends that arise about the whale.One of the first remarks made about the whale

is "Aye, it was Moby Dick that tore my Body and soul until they bled into

each other." This qoute , by Captain Ahab , describes the whale as not only

having power to destroy in the physical realm but to also to mame in the

spirtual world as well.The many biblical allusions in the story reinforced the

notion that Moby Dick is an instrument of God if not God himself. Ahab having

accepted the fact that the beast was much more than an animal still persists in

his quest for vengence , this constant struggle between Ahab and the whale is

similar to mans ongoing conflict with god.Like Ahab no matter how often or in

what manner God makes his will known to us we always seem to stray a way from

that.Here Ahab, or man, does not only ignore the will God but he also challenges

it.Moby Dick stays true to the role of God , that is he only alows you to defy

him for so long , before exercising his power to destroy without compassion.

Although there is clearly many things comparing Moby Dick to a god there is also

a strict contrast , Starbuck who is obviously a devoute christian is the only

person on the Peqod that seems to think that Moby Dick is nothing more than a

whale, he says , "This whale is a dumb brute who acts out of instict."

Starbuck fails to see the power that most of the other sailors believe the whale

has.Consequently Starbuck also seems to be the only one on the ship that hasn’t

been tainted with the influence of paganism.Although the crew is mostly made up

of christians thier actions on the boat closely resemble that of polytheistic

cultures.The blood oaths that they take is a good example , showing that they

are more accepting of a whale being a god than just simply an animal.Starbuck

throughout the story never doubts the fact that Moby Dick is only a whale, which

is evident when he says, "I do not fear Moby Dick I fear the wrath of

God”. Here Starbuck is saying that even though he doesn’t believe that the

whale is anything more than a whale he does believe that the Almighty may be

using Moby Dick as his vessel and thus by defying him they may be incuring the

wrath of God.Another moment where Starbuck express his beliefs about the voyage

is when he says , "Do ye not see that by serving Ahab we share in his

blasphemy.", saying that by obeying Ahab in his defiance of god that the

entire crew as insulted or aggravated God and by doing so have signed away thier

souls. Although Moby Dick was viewed as god , an unstopable force of nature and

as simply a whale it is apparent that he represents more.He represents the

unatainable aspriations of man , the founatin of youth that will cause a man to

purge his soul and cast away his humanity to achieve it.But all actions that man

does to achieve it ,they are all an exercise in futility.The simple fact is that

in this life there are things that are meant for you and there are those things

that aren’t , and to attempt the immposible is tempting fate.