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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family.”
(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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