Romanticism And Individualism In Hawthorne's Moby Dick

It was once said that “He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great.” Being the poster child for the romantic era, this quote from Herman Melville greatly shows individualism, one of the many romantic tenets and ideas that he had developed in his daily life. Although a romantic artist from the start, he was influenced and inspired by the works of fellow romantics Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. His most famous work, Moby Dick, was actually dedicated to his idol Hawthorne and was inspired by a true story he had heard while whaling in his early 20s. This published work was of a whaler risking everything to get revenge on the whale that had taken his leg, and not very popular but by one person—Hawthorne. Melville’s idol thought greatly …show more content…
As stated before, Pollard made the difficult, heroic decision to tell the truth about the Essex, no matter what the business men would say or do to him. Nothing mattered to him in this moment except for his conscious and the approval of his God. Although seemingly different and much more obvious, another form of individualism is based on the humanitarian aspects of human nature. The romantic hero’s purpose, it seems, is to sacrifice himself for the sake of others which is clearly expressed when the cast-away men are “drawing straws”. Captain Pollard had drawn the shortest straw meaning he was to be sacrificed to the other men for food. Pollard had accepted this being it was the fair thing to do and needed to be done for the sake of the surviving men. A young man on the boat was very quick, however, to grab the gun and argue with Pollard, saying the crew needed it’s captain. The young man gave up his life so the captain didn’t have to, knowing for a fact that it was the right thing to do and had reasoning behind his difficult …show more content…
Gothicism is just as it sounds- dark, mysterious, grotesque, horrific- but is seen as beautiful because of it’s truth to romantics. Almost everyone can agree that cannibalism is dark and horrific so it must be gothic. The ocean itself is also a gothic concept in this film because it is vastly unexplored, mysterious. The men do not see what is coming for them, what is under them, and they do not know where they are, where they wash up. This is unnerving and horrific because they are alone with their thoughts- being seen without