Antitranscendentalism In Melville's Moby Dick

A detailed Summary of 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 the examples of man's evil in his novel. In order to fully understand his anti-Transcendental belief, it is necessary to first comprehend the origin of anti-Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is the term linked to the Emersonian-Thoreauvian set of beliefs which incorporated the existence of an Oversoul and the benevolent disposition of man as the default one. Suc

The plot and characters of Moby Dick contribute to its anti-Transcendental philosophy; the entire story revolves around the evil of man, which is demonstrated in practically each person portrayed in the book. The story itself is about man being pitted against nature, as though the two were never meant to coincide peacefully. The men on the ship must fend for themselves against the harsh maritime weather and the believably evil whales which they hunt. Natural forces ravage the population of the whaling vessel; in the end, only the narrator survives. In turn, man is reciprocally evil toward nature; the men destroy the giant sea creatures for their blubber and drop the stripped carcasses back into the water. In addition to this collective evil of the people on the ship, many of the individuals are shining examples of humanity's evi

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Moby Dick, Captain Ahab, Analysis Melville's, Starbuck Quaker, Dick Melville, , moby dick, man's evil, plot characters,

Approximate Word count = 564
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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