Moby Dick

The moral ambiguity of the universe is prevalent throughout Melville’s Moby Dick. None of the characters represent pure evil or pure goodness. Even Melville’s description of Ahab, whom he repeatedly refers to "monomaniacal," suggesting an amorality or psychosis, is given a chance to be seen as a frail, sympathetic character. When Ahab’s "monomaniac" fate is juxtaposed with that of Ishmael, that moral ambiguity deepens, leaving the reader with an ultimate unclarity of …

…and the sea as a morally ambivalent cosmos. If so, then the fault of Ahab and the crew of the Pequod is their futile attempt to master a force of nature far beyond their comprehension, and are destroyed for it. The image of Ishmael floating helplessly upon the ocean, without even the wreckage of the Pequod th! en becomes a strikingly lonely image of humanity adrift in a universe neither good nor evil. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**