Moby Dick by Herman Melville starts with the famous quote “Call me Ishmael.” It is about Captain Ahab leading his crew on his whaling ship, the Pequod, on a perilous journey around the world to catch Moby Dick, a giant white sperm whale that had destroyed one of his legs that he had replaced with a prosthetic made from a sperm whale’s jaw. Captain Ahab is no stereotype, and is instead complicated and tortured, and has a side to him we cannot help but feel sorry for. But for the most part, the captain didn’t change, always bent on seeking revenge at Moby Dick due to his single-minded obsession. His obsession is caused by his hubris, or his pride, which wouldn’t allow him to be outperformed by a whale.
Captain Ahab is portrayed as the mysterious captain of the Pequod, even long before his first appearance. When Ishmael asked about him, he was told that the captain was a man of few words but deep meaning, and someone who refuses to acknowledge forces greater than him. Even from the start, we can see that the captain is a complicated and mysterious person. The mystery continues as Ahab remains in his cabin throughout the early days of the voyage. When he finally comes out of his cabin, Ishmael is intimidated by his imposing and frightening appearance. He has gray hair, a scorched face, and a white scar from a thunderbolt running down his face and presumably his body as well. One of his legs was replaced by a prosthesis made from a sperm whale’s jaw. When he speaks, everyone listens because of his persuasion. When he asks the group a series of questions, such as how do you do when you spot a whale, the men are excited, as if they are imaging themselves chasing down the whale. Finally, he offers a Spanish gold ounce for the first person who sees the White Whale, uniting all of the crew except for Starbuck in pursuing the whale.
Besides his manipulation, Ahab is smart and has strong leadership skills. Being a captain at the time of Moby Dick was difficult and tiresome, as the whaling ships at that time had to be operated continuously all day and all night by crew members, the numbers ranging from ten to around forty. The roles included navigating, raising and adjusting sails, feeding everyone, and looking for whales. When whales were sighted, the crew would jump into boats and go after the whales with their harpoons. Captain Ahab is smart. He knew that he would be exhausted quickly if he managed the crew personally before he would find the whale, and if Moby Dick arrived after he was exhausted, it would be sure to get away. As a result, he hand-picked his First, Second, and Third Mate who would each watch one third of the crew. He only has to tell the Mates what to do and check on the crew occasionally so he can set his broad vision on the goal of the ship, which is to capture and kill Moby Dick.
Despite his menacing, vengeful, calculating demeanor, we get to see a different side of him on the day before the Pequod’s first encounter with Moby Dick. Ahab and Starbuck are at the rail in the sunshine and soft breezes when Ahab reminisces about his stark, lonely life. He spent forty years at sea, harpooned his first whale when he was only eighteen, and married when he was over fifty years old and sailed for Cape Horn the next day. Moby Dick managing to chomp off his leg only added oil to the fire, fueling him to go take revenge on the whale. He called himself a fool, and when Starbuck tries to persuade him to turn back and go home, Ahab states that he no longer controls his fate: “What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me?” It reveals that the captain knows he is mad, but cannot stop himself. The final defeat of the captain seems inevitable, as Moby Dick escapes from the crew again and again, and Ahab’s final attempt in killing the whale resulted in the hemp line from his harpoon casting around his neck and casting him to his death beneath the sea.
In a nutshell, Captain Ahab is a complicated man that is simple-minded because of his obsession with the whale that got rid of his leg caused by his hubris, yet smart, cunning, and manipulative since he managed to hold his crew together throughout his voyage. He is lonely, as he needed to spend lots of time on the sea without seeing his wife.
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