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Student’s Name: Blendea Emilia

Professor’s Name: Matiu Ovidiu
Course: USLit19c
Due Date: 12.29.2023
The Theme of Revenge in “Moby Dick”
Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a deep exploration of the human psyche. It shows how
big and scary the ocean can be, just like one person's angry heart. The main character in the
book, Captain Ahab, clearly represents this idea. He is driven by an awful need for revenge on
Moby Dick, who is a white whale that hurt him and caused him to lose his leg. Ahab goes crazy,
and the Pequod gets destroyed, showing how revenge can eat away at a person's mind. It changes
one's view of things and eventually makes them destroy themselves. Melville shows all this in
his scary writing.
From the start, Ahab's fixation on Moby Dick can be felt. His lost leg, now replaced by a
chilly white ivory prosthesis, keeps reminding him of his shame. It makes him want revenge
even more (Melville 33). Moby Dick turns into the only thing that matters to him. It changes
how he sees the world, making everything a fight related to his grudge. Even the ocean's size
becomes small for his meeting with the whale. The whale is like a little world showing how
people fight against nature (Melville 132).
Melville shows great skills in drama to show how much Ahab's anger takes over him. The
Pequod stops being a whaling boat and becomes Ahab's wish, controlled by his desire for
vengeance. He controls and separates his team, using the power of his charm and the hope for
Moby Dick's treasure to tie them to his dangerous mission (Yadav 66). Starbuck, the first mate,
shows up as a wise person. He urges Ahab to forget about getting back at someone and instead
focus on keeping everyone safe. However, Ahab's ears are not listening to any requests except
those that worsen his anger.
As they keep looking for Moby Dick, the story turns into a scary horror place. The white
whale is more than a normal animal. It turns into a bad spirit, like the worst evil thing on earth,
that Ahab fights against in what feels like a heavenly battle (Yadav 64). The whale hunts worsen,
showing how angry Ahab's soul is becoming. The attack on Rachel in Moby Dick shows how
Ahab's anger causes more harm. It hurts innocent families even though he only wants to get back
at a whale (Althubaiti 18).
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The climax of the book is a three-day chase for Moby Dick that ends in a huge fight.
Ahab, with his single-minded obsession, dives at the whale without care. He disregards his
crew's warnings and the danger of getting destroyed. In a big and scary scene, the Pequod is hit
and sunk. Almost everyone on it goes down with it, including Ahab. They all lose their lives.
Only Ishmael, the storyteller, is left to share the tale. The end of Moby Dick is not a win for
Ahab but shows how useless and self-destroying revenge can be. Ahab's big idea about Moby
Dick rips apart not just himself but also the lives of people near him (Althubaiti 41). Ultimately,
he does not get closure or happiness, just oblivion. By using this sad story, Melville shows us a
strong lesson about the harm that can come from holding onto hatred and how letting go of old
things is important. Moby Dick shows what humans are like when they are good or bad and
hopeful or sad. It is a timeless look at our decisions when we suffer and the results of letting bad
feelings take over us from wanting revenge.
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Works Cited
Althubaiti, Turki. "Studying Revenge in The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick."
Khakimova, Dilshoda. "THEME OF REVENGE IN THE NOVELS OF HERMAN
MELVILLE." Молодые ученые 2.11 (2023): 119-120.
https://in-academy.uz/index.php/yo/article/view/19947
Melville, H. (1997). Moby Dick. Acclaim Books. (Original work published 1851)
Melville, Herman. "Moby-dick." Medicine and Literature, Volume Two. CRC Press, 2018. 73–
88.
Yadav, Meenakshi Sharma, and Manoj Kumar Yadav. "A Determined Observation and the
Investigation of Moby Dick as a Symbol of Evil." International Journal of Linguistics,
Literature and Translation 2.2 (2019): 62–70.
https://www.al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/ijllt/article/view/4341