Prompt: Select a novel or play in which a character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the “madness” to the work as a whole.
In the tragic novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Captain Ahab’s maniacal obsession of revenge, his negligence for his safety and others, and his seemingly cool rationality among the symbols and omens of his fate comprise two central themes of Moby Dick; Sanity can only exist when someone moderates or relinquishes strife and anger, and mankind’s struggle with a painful or arbitrary fate. Ahab’s madness also directly contributes to the voyage’s demise. Throughout the novel, Ahab reveals his obsessive and vengeful character every time he interacts with the crew, which is not often. He acts such as a hermit, occasionally peeking through his chambers to ask if his crew or passing ships have sighted Moby Dick. He blatantly discounts the infinite omens of death and destruction, determined to undermine the crew, world, and God. Ahab’s seering free will and irrational plans to kill Moby Dick conform into a dangerous mix of a vengeful quest that is doomed from the start. Recovering on board his previous ship and hindered by recollections of his past encounter with Moby Dick, Ahab is left legless and increasingly insane. Eventually, he blames all shortcomings on Moby Dick. He manages to keep his passionate hatred for Moby Dick under control for a while, yet it still intensifies beneath the surface. Ahab can even be perceived as (somewhat) sane in certain instances, but his motives and plans to slay Moby Dick are completely insane. He concludes to sacrifice everything in order to take vengeance on the White Whale. Once the Pequod is far from the port in Nantucket, Ahab eerily reveals his wicked and fiendish quest for the legendary White Whale, forcing the crew to swear their unconditional aid and support in the endeavor. Melville resorts to calling Ahab a “monomaniac”, a term that suggests Ahab’s insanity encompasses only one thing, and that he only appears insane when breached in that single instance. As the story plays out, the reader grasps the full scale of Ahab’s monomania and how it affects the crew and plot as a whole. His character brings about themes of vengeance and mankind’s strong distaste for unexplainable happenings of a bad fate. In that sense, Ahab’s madness can be seen in a new light. Moby Dick illustrates the phenomenon of human anger combined with free will, and it’s catastrophic effects.
Throughout the novel, Ahab’s insanity manifests in the accounts of Ishmael and the crew. Sensing their impending doom, the crew is completely disturbed by his declarations of revenge upon the White Whale. While spitting out a hysterical tirade to his crew, Ahab exclaims, “Aye, aye! and I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up. And this is what ye have shipped for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out. What say ye, men, will ye splice hands on it, now? I think ye do look brave.” (36.32). Ahab’s own declaration of his inclement obsession with Moby Dick and unwavering determination to hunt him down casts an eerie feeling upon the voyage. The crew is concerned that he is willing to sail the ends of the earth and Hell itself just to seek vengeance on an animal. This monologue also foreshadows Ahab’s fate by proclaiming his pursument all the way to hellfire and damnation, “perdition’s flames”. The reader can sense Ahab’s intense inner turmoil as a means to satisfy his fabricated hatred that he harvests in his mind. As the story shifts to Ahab’s personal point of view, his thoughts read, “What I’ve dared, I’ve willed; and what I’ve willed, I’ll do! They think me mad – Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and – Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer.” (37.4). In this intense denunciation, Ahab describes his own psychoanalysis, and his entire knowledge of his insanity. His awareness strikes a puzzling question: Can Ahab be deemed insane if he knows he’s insane? Perhaps his perception only adds a more striking feature to his madness. Considering he knows the faults and consequences of his habits, his inability to suppress them makes him a much more volatile character. He emphasizes Moby Dick’s significance as his “dismemberer”, further proclaiming his complete distaste and resentment towards him. The reader begins to see just how prominently Moby Dick occupies Ahab’s thoughts, and possibly tries to find understanding. It seems pretty reasonable to hold grievance after an arbitrary trauma, but it should not be deemed a healthy coping mechanism. The reader witnesses Ahab’s obsession as it tortures his soul, as every obsession does. When the narrator scopes into Ahab’s character and motives, they assert, “The White Whale swam before him as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them, till they are left living on with half a heart and half a lung … All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.” (41.19). Ahab’s monomania and spectrum of grief is emphasized here as the narrator explains just how deep his hatred runs. The reader can concur that Ahab’s hasty conclusions and delirium concerning Moby Dick and his motives drove him insane. Symbolism cannot be aimlessly interpreted without context, and people can not justifiably cast their emotional baggage upon other people or situations. Yet, the reader observes the countless instances in which Ahab projects all his anger on the White Whale, calling him the mastermind of all man’s shortcomings. Ahab should have realized that no superficial being can hold that amount of symbolic weight, especially a wild animal. However, seems to be a prevalent behavior among human beings. People relinquish anger and madness onto a certain someone or something, further surmounting Ahab as an example of what people should definitely not be. As Ahab becomes increasingly submersed in reckless psychopathy, the crew becomes worried, as he is the one person directing the voyage into doom. By the readings of Ishmael and the crew, the reader can perceive the full scale of Ahab’s madness, from his hysterical sermons to his whirlwind of an obsessive conscience. However, in the full breadth of his lunacy, relation and understanding can be contemplated. Obsession is a habit that all humans exploit, but where is the line drawn? Perhaps the slightest fixation can send a person into enveloped madness.
As the story unfolds, Ahab regularly exhibits an array of antisocial behavior and general contempt towards the crew members, cementing his daunting and ghastly reputation. He sacrifices everything for just one chance to kill the White Whale, carelessly putting himself and others at risk as a method to subdue his vehement compulsions. One night on board the Pequod, Stubb requests that Ahab stop pacing around the deck, as the noise distracted the crew from sleep. Ahab savagely reprimands him with, “Am I a cannon-ball that thou wouldst wad me that fashion? But go thy ways; I had forgot. Below to thy nightly grave; where such as ye sleep between shrouds, to use ye to the filling one at last–Down, dog, and kennel! … Then be called ten times a donkey and a mule and begone, or I’ll clear the world of thee!” (29.7). Such an irregular and vociferous insult from Ahab instantly puts Stubb and the crew on edge. Ahab was usually cautious to stay quiet during nights hours, but was now purposefully causing a stir and instantly discarding the crew’s objections. Stubb resorts to confusion and fear surrounding Ahab’s hostile behavior, beginning his mounting suspicion and general aversion towards him. Ahab’s obsessive and wavering personality casts an uncanny awareness to the reader, as the full-scale of his insanity manifests in future encounters with him. This situation in which Stubb is chastised by Ahab lays the groundwork for their escalating clash in morality and motivation, as we see Stubb resemble the complete opposite of Ahab. Considering the accumulation of exasperated and vengeful emotions in Ahab’s conscience, it appears reasonable to justify his lashing out. Yet upon further contemplation, his methods of destressing only tarnish his reputation and shatter his relationship with his once devoted crew. Once Ahab finishes prompting his crew for his crazy revenge hunt, Starbuck voices his discomfort, exclaiming that he did not board the ship to pursue a single whale that is notorious for killing any man who attempts to hunt him. He thinks Ahab’s plans are utterly outrageous and impractical, considering the crew would make greater profit by hunting any whale they encounter. Starbuck objects through Ahab’s bribery and declares that he is blasphemous to be angry at a dumb animal. Ahab argues, “All visible objects, man, are are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event–in the living act, the undoubted deed–there, some unknown but still reasoning thing put forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask!” (36.39). As Ahab madly enumerates his theory of the White Whale encompassing something conscious or transcendental behind a supposed “mask”, Starbuck is deeply disturbed. Ahab’s spontaneously sporadic thoughts lead him to delusional conclusions, which in turn drives his deranged motives. Starbuck and the crew are left both dumbfounded and destitute, for their captain is senselessly leading them to their fate. After Ahab realizes he’s disturbed Starbuck with his ramblings, he proceeds to coax him into remaining loyal by arguing that his crew is indeed there to hunt whales, so why not hunt Moby Dick? Starbuck weakly submits, afraid to challenge him any longer. This serves as a prime example of the intensity of Ahab’s presence, as his crew is constrained to their fate in fear of rebelling against him. Ahab, clearly determined to avenge the White Whale, manipulates and terrorizes his crew to further escalate his drive. He remains unremorseful, power-crazed, angry and irritable. In this manner, the reader may look within themselves to analyze how they managed to achieve any goals and ambitions. It’s not a rare instance in which people fuel their own desires at the expense of others. However, Ahab’s manipulative and impulsive behavior exceeded the measurable amount that sane people carry out. His very nature manifested in his “mask” analogy, illustrating his crazed psyche which ultimately lead to his and the crew’s death. Towards the fateful end of the story, Ahab and the crew set out to kill Moby Dick. Starbuck resists once more, as the narrator observes, “Ahab seized a loaded musket from the rack (forming part of most South-Sea-men’s cabin furniture), and pointing it towards Starbuck, exclaimed: “There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod. – On deck!” (109.15). This is quite possibly the most striking portrayal of Ahab’s madness, as he finally proclaims his opposition to God himself, having been attempting to undermine him the entire time. Starbuck, being the only person to hear Ahab’s rebellion, knows for certain the fate of the voyage. Ahab sees himself as a literal god over the Pequod, having led his crew to assist him in an ill-fated and predestined quest for revenge. His complete disregard and derision for his crew foretell the chaotic state of his mind, and how his single obsession wrecked his entire being and delivered the crew’s fate. The depth and feverish hatred for Moby Dick that he harbored is deemed immeasurable after the end of the novel plays out, as the ship is sunk into the whirling ocean by the wrath of the White Whale, symbolizing the consequences of deep-seated hatred and suppressed madness for the selfish desire of revenge. Ahab’s self-centeredness only ensured his demise.
Various instances of symbolic omens are told throughout Moby Dick, with each one constituting Ahab’s impending doom. Amongst all the characters’ warnings and supernatural omens, Ahab remains stubbornly compelled to hunt Moby Dick, signifying his complete lack of control. His thoughts lead him to believe he is some invincible being, further elongating the severity of his fate. One morning aboard the Pequod, Ahab instructs his crew on what to do if they spot the White Whale, and offers a reward by saying, “All ye mast-headers have before now heard me give orders about a white whale. Look ye! D’ye see this Spanish ounce of gold?–holding up a broad bright coin to the sun–“it is a sixteen dollar piece, men. D’ye see it? Mr. Starbuck, hand me yon top-maul.” … “Whoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys!” The crew hailed the act of nailing the gold to the mast.” (36.21). Upon deep and straining obsession, Ahab decides to reveal his ultimate motive for the voyage, to kill Moby Dick. He adds that whoever manages to kill him aside from himself will receive a gold doubloon as a reward, affirming his manipulative tactics. In his action of nailing the coin to the mast, the reader may catch the apparent symbolism. The nailed coin illustrates the insurmountable success of Ahab’s plan, and a deeper lesson concerned with revenge. The scene conveys the message that revenge will never relinquish the soul’s veiled anger and strife. In nailing the coin, Ahab fails to realize the impracticality and frankly preposterous nature of his insane revenge quest. He fails to perceive the madness that clouds his mind, even as it manifests in his reality. The reader may begin to analyze how madness evades the everyday life of certain people, and the effects it can fixate on the mad person. Ahab was seemingly oblivious, yet completely aware of his madness at the same time. One day aboard the Pequod, as Ishmael writes down his thoughts concerning the legendary Moby Dick, he states, “Some whalemen go further in their superstitions; declaring Moby Dick is not only ubiquitous, but immortal; that though groves of spears should be planted in his flanks, he would still swim away unharmed.” (41.14). Ishmael later goes on to describe Moby Dick as “omniscient and omnitemporal”, and deciphers the whale’s whiteness as an eerie, terrifying trait. He further explains by describing the color white as indefinite and void, simultaneously encompassing all the colors but not having any color at all. By these accounts of Moby Dick’s history and striking appearance, the reader begins to see him as a symbol of God. By resembling God, Ahab’s conflict with the White Whale further illustrates him as a truly detestable character. Ahab’s perpetual turmoil and hatred towards Moby Dick heightens the grimness of his fate, as he fights a futile and unattainable battle with God. Progressing to the very end of the story, the crew is enduring the third day of the chase. As Ahab lowers into the sea to hunt Moby Dick, he glimpses up to the sky, seeing hawks tear at the ships flag as Starbuck desperately exclaims, “Drive off that hawk! See! He pecks–he tears the vane! He soars away with it! Where’s the old man now? Sees’t thou that sight, oh Ahab!–shudder, shudder!” (135.25). This instance is the most apparent depiction of doom conveyed to the reader. In the concluding moments of Ahab’s life, he chooses to rebel against his indisputable fate. His feverish desires and madness completely blind him of any sensibility as hawks rip the sails to shreds, cursing the ship with death. The reader can fully grasp the monumental scale of Ahab’s monomania as he turns away into the sea to strike at the White Whale for the last time. The consequences of his selfishness and animosity emerge as the chaotic wrath of Moby Dick condemns the ship into the ruthless ocean, heeding a warning to those who are clouded with suppressed anger and motivated by seering revenge. Since the beginning of Ahab’s vengeful expedition, he swiftly discards the protrusive warnings and omens of a bedeviled fate, failing to be accountable for the mounting consequences of his actions. His inability to feel remorse or shame for the wrecked person he became makes Ahab the ultimate driver behind the predestined damnation of the voyage. Thus a central theme of the story is developed: One’s own actions accounts to their fate.
Anger and hatred cannot be relinquished with vengeance, only the willingness to forgive and deliver acceptance can diminish it.
P5: How Ahab’s madness, actions, and ignorance contributed to the story as a whole. How Ahab manifested two central themes in the story. An inquiry into mankind’s struggle against the harshness of fate and suffering. The power of vengeance.