A Critical Analysis Of Herman Melville's Moby Dick

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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 die except for Ishmael.
Ishmael survived Moby Dick's attack of the ship with the help of a coffin
that his close friend Queequeq built. Ishmael of Moby Dick was a special
character because he closely relates to the author's own life. There are
many symbolism's between Ishmael of Moby Dick and Herman Melville's own
life. The name Ishmael can be traced back to the Bible. The Biblical
story of Ishamel is one of a rejected outcast. This “rejected ...

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(Humford 23) Allan Melville was also attached financially to the
Gansevoorts for support. There is a lot of evidence concerning Melville's
relation to his mother Maria Melville. “Apparently the older son
Gansevoort who carried the mother's maiden name was distinctly her
favorite.” (Edinger 7) This was a sense of alienation the Herman Melville
felt from his mother. This was one of the first symbolists to the Biblical
Ishamel. The following are a few excerpts from some of Melville's works
that show evidence of his childhood. A passage from Melville's Redburn
shows that Melville was attached to his mother, “The name of the mother was
the centre of all my hearts finest ...

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