Essay on Symbols and Symbolism in Moby Dick :: Moby Dick Essays

He piled upon the whales white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from cristal down and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot hearts shell upon it. Such was Melvilles description of Captain Ahab. The symbolism that this statement suggests, along with umpteen other instances of symbolism, are incorporated into Moby Dick. Although the crew knew that Ahab was obsessed with vengeance and wasnt interested in killing Moby Dick for whale oil, they still felt obligated to come his orders. They knew that the rule book said that if a captain went against his contract due to personal feelings, they were obliged to wrest command from him. This idea symbolizes the emotional attachment we eat up to those around us, and it also demonstrates the mixed feelings we have when somebody we respect does something evil. In the end, this emotional attachment degradeed the crew. Starbuck had a golden opportunity to kill Ahab, precisely for his own sa lvation, he undermined the good of the crew and chose to let the Captain live. So, part of the lesson of Moby Dick is not to let sentiment and personal feelings get in the means of our duty. The lack of this lesson among the crew destroyed Ahab and the entire ships compliment, except for Ishmael. When Captain Ahab stabbed at Moby Dick with the harpoon, he was symbolizing the power that regression has when a person lets it stockpile over ones mind. Ahab had no chance of killing Moby Dick, yet he engaged in his suicide plan to stab at the whale. This lesson not to let obsession take over your mind is similar to Javerts obsession with justice and imprisoning Valjean in Les Miserables. It shows that a passion with a personal vendetta will ultimately destroy a person, whether it destroys the person physically or mentally. Moby Dick also was a mixed symbol. It seemed clear to the crew of the Pequod that whales were evil and whales were the enemy. Yet, white is a symbol of good, so one could conclude that Moby Dick was a symbol of both good and evil. With Moby Dick killing Ahab, he gave Ahab his just reward from acting out of revenge, which could be interpreted as an act of good. When Moby Dick killed all but one of the crew, it showed that he may be evil, even though he was acting entirely out of instinct, thinking his life was threatened.