Thursday, February 16, 2012
Fate
Throughout the novel, Ishmael seems too look at Moby Dick as having agency. We see this specifically on page 33. Ishmael says that the whale "enabled to keep himself" warm by having a thick layer of blubber. He makes it sound like whales chose to have lungs and warm blood, and even goes so far as to suggest that man "admire and model thyself after the whale". Then, at the end of the book, the way Ishmael describes Moby Dick is very human-like. To me, it sounded like a fight scene between two humans, rather than an animal and a human. The way that Ishamel elevates Moby Dick makes him seem a worth opponent to Ahab. This, I think, does play into the whole free will vs. fate argument. Moby Dick becomes a symbol of free will, as Ishamel gives him a sense of agency, and Ahab becomes a symbol of fate. Ahab's representation of fate is repeatedly bolstered by the bad omens that keep popping up. Is Melville trying to say that free will is more powerful than fate?
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Oh I forgot: Ahab speaking in the third person also helps to solidify him as a symbol of fate. By speaking in the third person, it is almost as if he is removing himself from what he is talking about....implying that he is not in control of his own life.
ReplyDeleteI think it is so interesting that you suggest that Melville may believe that free will is more powerful than fate. It seems that fate plays such a large role throughout the novel, even Ishmael says in the beginning basically that it is his fate to go whaling; basically that he has no control of the matter. But I do agree with you despite all that because the sense of agency that Ishmael gives the whale really does make it seem like it is a force of free will. Ahab is following fate, following to the end what he believed was inevitable to fight against, but Moby Dick fought whoever it came in contact with having a will of its own and not allowing the harpoons in its side to dictate its fate, and instead of running the whale fought back every time. And in the end free will defeated fate, which actually seems really confusing.
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