How Does Ahab Change Throughout The Novel

Ahab, a prominent character of Moby-Dick written by Herman Melville, is the whaling captain of the Pequod, who is obsessed with the killing of a great white whale called Moby-Dick, hence the title of the novel. The captain is known for his vindictive nature associated with the whale, respectively, since the whale amputated one of his legs in a previous voyage. This arresting feature of his prosthetic leg stands to represent the cause of all Ahab’s obsessive, insane thoughts, actions, and words. Moreover, his delirium drives him to believe it is the forces of evil in the whale that caused him his suffering. As a whole, Melville uses Ahab’s revengeful quest to unfold and explore the qualities and the fate that awaits a monomaniacal person. Ahab’s appearance and aura in it itself reveals many aspects of his character. Melville first introduces …show more content…
“I’d strike the sun if it insulted me,” pledges Ahab overconfidently after he expresses the lengths he would go to kill Moby-Dick (Melville 317). Even when Starbuck accuses him of blasphemy, he shows no fear of the possible consequences of suffering the wrath of hell. Ahab ultimately believes his actions are moral, since he is convinced that his battle is against evil. Therefore, he justifies his killing quest when he convinces himself that the whale represents evil. “All the most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all malice in it...all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, [are] visibly personified, and [is] made practically assailable in Moby-Dick,” depicts Melville through Ishmael (Melville 325-326). Ahab is so intensely mentally hurt from the trauma a natural animal caused him, that he instead searches for a deeper explanation. He is unable to fathom why he was faced with such pain, thus creates an obsession with finding an answer, starting where all his suffering began: