Thursday, September 27, 2012
Captain Ahab
My feelings toward Captain Ahab have actually changed after finishing the novel. I think the main reason is that he finally acknowledges that he has been driven mad by Moby Dick, and that he's aware of how insane his mission is. He went from being crazy and vindictive to tortured and paranoid. He was clearly traumatized when Moby Dick took his leg, and his resulting madness is a product of that. I think that, like with many things, Ahab's main motivation is fear. Yes, he wants revenge on the creature that has maimed him and consumed his thoughts for years, but I think that he is also extremely frightened by the thought of this monster waiting for him out in the ocean. As a whaler, he can't be afraid to go out on the water, and so he has to conquer the whale in order to conquer his fear. Unfortunately, I think it's safe to say that he underestimated Moby Dick's tenacity. The mission seemed pretty hopeless from the get-go but Ahab stuck with it, forcing his crew along, willing or not, to aid him in his quest. The final three chapters of the novel were definitely the most cinematic and intense, and I can see how that could be translated into a thrilling film sequence. There is definitely an element of frustration when Moby Dick ends up living up to his reputation and killing everyone, despite all of Ahab's furious efforts. His mission ended up being the fate of the entire crew (except for Ishmael), and people who weren't even that invested in the quest lost their lives. Without Captain Ahab's new-found self-awareness towards the end of the novel, it would be easy to be angry with him for the outcome of the mission, but instead it comes across more as the downfall of an extremely haunted man, and how destructive his fear and obsession proved to be.
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Ahab has been a character I really liked. Though he is depicted as this man who just wants one thing. It is he who makes the story so enthralling. If it wasn't for him I don't think Moby Dick would be Moby Dick. This would most likely turn out to be a research about whales done by Ishmael. I really like how Melville worked with this character. He didn't make him the main character because it makes the story more intriguing. If the story had been written from Ahab's point of view we would not be able to see what and who he was. He is just this person who is very troubled but again he depicts the human characteristic of revenge and obsession. Through him we see that revenge can only lead to insanity and possibly death. That is my intake on Ahab.
ReplyDeleteI like what you're saying about Ahab's self-awareness, Talon. He seems to realize that he's driven but cannot help himself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I think that if Captain Ahab wouldn't have come to the realization about his own personal problems with Moby Dick then the entire book would have changed. I think that readers would end the book thinking that the book was some sort of sick comedy rather then a tragic journey. It makes me wonder what Melville meant to express by Ahab gaining his sense of personal insight. Did he mean for the story to be that much more tragic because of the realization that Ahab goes through or is it just an added character detail to make readers despise Ahab less?
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