Antitranscendentalism In Melville's Moby Dick

Melville’s primary focus in his classic novel Moby Dick is the evil of mankind, a point of focus consistent with his anti-Transcendental philosophical alignment. In Moby Dick, Melville shows man’s evil toward fellow man and nature through his thoroughly-developed plot and characters, and in the components of the thematic layer underlying almost every character’s personal motives. Analysis of Melville’s own motives help to clarify the author’s reasoning behind each of …

…Ishmael, who is the only member of the doomed crew who lives to give his account. Moby Dick is clearly more than just the story of a formidable sea creature and a crazy peg-legged ship’s captain; it is an expression of its authors thoughts of the evil which resides in all men’s hearts. Melville’s faith in the theories of anti-Transcendentalism is the guiding principle upon which his most famous work is based.