Character analysis of moby dick

Ahab is the Captain of the Pequod, a grave older man reaching his sixties who has spent nearly forty years as a sailor, only three of which he has spent on dry land Melville alludes to Ahab as having a wife and son, but their existence seems of little significance to Ahab. The novel is essentially the story of Ahab and his quest to defeat the legendary Sperm Whale Moby Dick, for this whale took Ahab's leg, causing him to use an ivory leg to walk and stand. Ahab is a dour, imposing man who frightens his crew through his unwavering obsession with defeating Moby Dick and his grand hubris. In many respects Melville portrays Ahab as barely human, barely governed by human mores and conventions and nearly entirely subject to his own obsession with Moby Dick.

The novel is named after Moby Dick because he is the center of Ahab's obsession and a key figure in his own right. The White Whale's appearance is unique. He is an exceptionally large sperm whale with a snow-white head, wrinkled brow, crooked jaw, and an especially bushy spout. His hump is also white and shaped like a pyramid; the rest of his body is marbled with white.

Ishmael The narrator of the novel is a keen observer, a young man with an open mind who is wary of Ahab but, like most of the crew, swept away by the captain's charisma. Ahab The "grand, ungodly, god-like man" is a deeply complex figure, one of the most controversial in American literature. His monomaniacal hunt for Moby Dick dominates the novel's plot. Moby Dick The giant sperm whale seems to manipulate his confrontations with mankind in a manner beyond the capacity of a leviathan.

The narrator, and a junior member of the crew of the Pequod. Read an in-depth analysis of Ishmael. The egomaniacal captain of the Pequod. Ahab lost his leg to Moby Dick. He is single-minded in his pursuit of the whale, using a mixture of charisma and terror to persuade his crew to join him.