The central theme of the work, which is clearly referred to in the quotation for this essay, is search for meaning and reality. This is implied by Captain Ahab when he says, "How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there's naught beyond." (Mansfield and Vincent 162) The white whale is a reality and a symbol for Ahab of the most important dimensions of philosophy and life.

The Novel begins with the narrator Ishmael's realization that all is not well with the Christian and contemporary world in which he finds himself. Throughout the book there is an undercurrent of criticism of the conventional world and of rigid Christianity, which becomes evident throughout the re

Moby Dick is a controversial book with many different interpretations and viewpoints, about which a great number of critics have written. The central issue of Ahab and why he hunts the white whale is not easy to finalize and the philosophic and symbolic issues will always remain a source of debate and questioning. The power of Ahab's character in literature lies in his ambiguity. On the one hand he seems to be an almost evil, obsessed and driven as well as a captain who has little concern for those around him. On the other hand he is a hero and adventurer into the human psyche, who dares to demand on answer to mankind's most enduring philosophical questions. Whatever our opinion of his character, Moby Dick remains a literary force that continues to illicit discussion and debate about important existential issues even one hundred and fifty years after it was written.

The dominant theme that the character of Ahab stresses and which is developed throughout the book is therefore the search for personal and spiritual meaning in the face of the enormity and seemingly empty vacuity of nature in the symbols of the ocean and the whale. Both Ahab and Ishmael are involved in a quest for understanding and inner knowledge. The complexity of this search is epitomized by Captain Ahab in his relentless, almost demonic need to slay the white whale, Moby Dick. This theme is best understood through the symbol of the sea that is a pervasive and philosophically important guide to the meaning of the book. For Ahab the sea, and Moby Dick, represents eternity and the forces of fate that control and determine men's lives. He rebels and defies these forces and, in a heroic stance, demands and answer to why human life is so brutal and meaningless. Essentially, Ahab's search for the whale is symbolic of a passion "that starts from the deepest loneliness that man can know. It is the great cry of man who feels himself exiled form his 'birthright, the merry May-day gods of old'". (Chase 22) Behind the search of the Pequod lies the search for meaning and the need to face the possibility that life may in fact be void of significance.

The book also emphasizes the central motivational forces that shape Ahab's character through the use of biblical allusions. The use of the Biblical name Ahab has powerful connotations and resonates with underlying meaning. Many of the characteristics of the Biblical King Ahab are seen in the Captain of the Pequod. We identify the character with the evil King and idolater and this influences our perception of the character. In Rabbinic tradition Ahab is known as the man who denies the God of Israel, enthusiastically embracing idolatry and spreading it throughout the kingdom.

All visible objects, man, are but pasteboard masks. But in each event- in the living act, the undoubted deed- there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask". (Mansfield and Vincent 1)

The symbol of sea is important in unders

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Approximate Word count = 2055
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)