In Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, the main protagonist of the book, Captain Ahab, although seemingly brave and powerful, has some fatal flaws that he is oblivious of. Ahab, the captain of a whaling vessel, wants to dispose of a great and dangerous whale lurking in the seas and begins a long pursuit for it, losing a few of his ships as the whale attacks. As the story progresses, Ahab’s flaws start to show, especially when he battles the whale. Eventually, the captain’s hatred for Moby Dick, the whale, robs him of all caution and spells his death as he is dragged underwater by the whale he wants to destroy. The captain’s flaws combine modern and ancient elements and could’ve been easily avoided. The captain’s flaws are his overconfidence, Napoleon’s complexity, and the conflict between men and nature, in this case, Ahab versus Moby Dick.
Perhaps one of the most prominent traits of the captain is his overconfidence in his actions, stubborn perseverance, and carelessness as his instinct and hatred take over. From the beginning, Captain Ahab believes that it is his fate to kill the whale, resulting in his relentless effort to do so, and he presents strong leadership over his crew. When asked about his obsession with killing the whale, Ahab explains: “The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run.” In this quote, Captain Ahab says that although the road to destiny will be hard, it is his path that he was destined to run, and therefore there is no turning away from it. The word “fixed” in the sentence further supports the statement that the captain has no choice but to go through many challenges and justifies his perseverance in killing the whale. His extreme hatred could also explain his carelessness and overconfidence for the whale, which occurs naturally when his human instincts override his logical thinking.
Another noticeable trait of Captain Ahab is his extreme aggressiveness in dealing with the whale. At every opportunity when the whale appears, Captain Ahab will sacrifice everything to capture and kill it. Even after receiving his prosthetic leg from the whale attack, the captain did not give up but insisted on killing the whale as his crew stayed on board. The explanation for Captain Ahab’s insanity and over-aggressiveness is within one quote: “Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.” The quote above illustrates the level of pride the captain possesses, and the metaphor of “striking the sun” shows the aggressiveness of the captain, even if it's just an insult. A possible explanation for the captain’s hostility is his human instincts when he fights the whales. As an average human, it is normal for instincts to drive a person at times. However, they should remain calm and possess minimum situational awareness, which Captain Ahab lacked when he was fighting the whale, allowing his aggressive nature to take over and marks his death.
Perhaps one of the most important messages the author wanted to convey to readers through Captain Ahab is the conflict between men and nature and how nature wins almost all the time, without much loss. In the instance of Moby Dick, Captain Ahab stands for the whole population of men, while Moby represents the nature that is feared yet indestructible. Ahab’s ambitions to destroy the whale are the efforts that the humans have tried to ruin their natural habitat, while the whale’s rebellion is the disasters caused by humans that turned on them. Like Moby, a relatively peaceful whale turned against the ships because they pursued him. If the whale were left alone, the vessel wouldn’t suffer. Ahab explains that his intention to destroy the whale is because of his fate, just like how some justify their expansion and colonialization as “manifest destiny” or their born job to take over a particular area or population. Moby Dick’s reference to the battle between humans and nature is oddly precise, even in modern days, 200 years after its initial publishing.
Captain Ahab from Moby Dick is a combination of traits of modern and ancient heroes and villains, but unfortunately was one of the many unsuccessful achievers who failed to reach their goal. The haunting resemblance between the conflict of Captain Ahab versus the whale and men versus nature tells one thing: the never-ending pursuit of us trying to conquer nature and failing at it. It also shows the true power that the character possesses- the amount of damage it could absorb before succumbing to its attackers and how insignificant humans are compared to it. Perhaps the main reason for Captain Ahab to act in such a way in Moby Dick is to show that nature is unconquerable, and the only way is to let it be.
Comments