Moby Dick Response

What exactly is Moby-Dick about? Is it merely a story about a whaler, desperate to take his revenge upon the whale who had mutilated him? Or, could it have a lesson behind it? There is no easy answer behind these questions. There are so many things that could be taken into account when pondering Moby-Dick that to write an article on all of them would take far too much time. But what is the greatest lesson to be taken away from the book? I think it is about revenge and hatred.

Captain Ahab was mutilated by the white whale long before the events of the book took place. He devoted his life to the quest for revenge, and in the end it destroyed him. Is revenge as a whole then an evil? Is revenge necessary, or does it always lead to the ultimate emptiness of the person seeking it? Some would argue that it is a righteous revenge that Ahab seeks. After all, the whale did hurt him.

I think that Melville was trying to say that revenge is bad. It corrupts the joy in life and everything gets depressing. Through Captain Ahab, he showed that when revenge consumes you, it sucks away all other purpose, happiness, and sanity from your life. And when revenge is complete, it leaves you empty of all the satisfaction you expected from it. Sometimes revenge is not achieved and a whole lifetime was spent without success.

Melville successfully communicated this message through the frightening, and insane, Captain Ahab, and this is part of the reason why Moby-Dick is such a respected novel to this day. Ahab is a character that readers can relate to as their dark and scary side. But do we ever really see Ahab's heart? Maybe we do but no one really knows what Melville was aiming for with Ahab.

This book is a classic, and a book that everyone should read at least once. It is on many msut-read books at various schools and colleges because it is a profound book. Even if it is not a book you would typically read, it is a very powerful book that carries heavy symbolism. There is purpose to Moby-Dick, so take a deep look into it and see if anything Melville has to say will apply to your outlook on life. You might even find a lot of symbolism not mentioned in this review or others, that is because there is an overwhelming amount of symbolism. It takes a few times reading it to pull out everything but I definitely recommend that everyone should read it at least once.

Sources Cited:

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Research on Moby-Dick by Steven Mills