Religious Imagery In Moby Dick

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of darkness, seemed the material counterpart of her monomaniac commander’s soul.” (Melville 463)
This quote shows that the Devil is in Captain Ahab,. The entire quote shows his manipulation of his crew. Words like “flames,” “blackness,” “howled,” and “huge pronged forks” turn the Pequod into a habitation of evil spirits. The influence of the commander can be seen upon these innocent men, whose only mistakes were failing to see the truth behind Ahab’s insane mission. The same idea is stated in Kyle Kombrink’s essay “A Passionate Soul in Hell.” Kombrink writes, “The mind set of the captain is then carried over to his crew, so to be unified under a hierarchical structure. His madness becomes their dread and becomes the drive in all on board. The savage comes out in them all.” The word savageness shows a hatred of religious morality. Therefore, the men are unholy as they stand on ...

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suspense; the fixed, unfearing, blind, reckless way in which their wild craft went plunging towards its flying mark; by all these things, their hearts were bowled along. The wind that made great bellied sails, and rushed the vessel on by arms invisible as irresistible; this seemed the symbol of that unseen agency which so enslaved them to the race," (Melville 606)
This quote shows that God is represented by nature. The wind is the force of God that guides the souls of the men. But it is not only a word found inside of Moby Dick it is also found in the Bible. "When God began to create heaven and earth - the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind ...

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