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毕业论文关键词：亚哈船长、莫比迪克、复仇、追逐
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments i
Abstract ii
摘要 iii
1. Introduction 1
1.1 The Significance of Moby-Dick 1
1.2 The Significance of Herman Melville 1
1.3 General Thesis: Human Beings’ Futile and Fatal Fight against Fate 2
2 The Mystery of Moby Dick and the Determination of Ahab 3
2.1 Ahab’s Loss 4
2.2 Ahab’s Death of Prophecy 4
2.3 The Formidable Moby Dick 5
3 The Futile Efforts 6
3.1 Limited Knowledge of Whales 6
3.2 Suspicious Faith of Parsee’s Prediction 8
4 The Fatal Pursuit 10
4.1 Fanatic Revenge 10
4.2 Irrational Persistence of the Pursuit 11
5 Conclusion 13
Bibliography 15
1. Introduction
Moby Dick (1851) is one of the greatest novels of all times by Herman Melville (1819–1891), in which there are two main characters, Ishmael and Ahab. Ishmael is the only survivor from the revenge of Ahab, who was captain of the whaler Pequod, upon an albino sperm whale—Moby Dick, which on a previous voyage tore away one of Ahab’s legs at the knee and destroyed his ship as well.
Ahab is a monomaniacal captain, with a strong and even possessed desire to fight against Moby Dick for vengeance. He starts the voyage with a purpose of whaling and seemingly a pursuing of wealth but an intension to take revenge on and kill Moby Dick. So Ahab refuses to land or return under the threat of life danger, orders to discover his foe and inspires sailors to support him, caring little about what the situation is, storming, thundering and lightning, loss of compass or sailors’ drowning.
1.1 The Significance of Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick is "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world". (Lawrence, 1923:137). William Cuthbert Faulkner, after reading the novel, said he hoped this novel is written by him. Moby-Dick is regarded as a Great American Novel. "Call me Ishmael" is one of the most famous opening sentences in world literature. It is also an outstanding work of the Romantic period in America and the American Renaissance.
1.2 The Significance of Herman Melville
Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was one of the most famous American novelist, essayist and poet in 19th century. Melville failed to arouse enough attention during his life but has been widely considered as one of the top people in American literature since 1920s. Melville's way of adapting what he read for his own new purposes, scholar Stanley T. Williams wrote, "Was a transforming power comparable to Shakespeare's". (Stovall, 1956:211)
From 1841 to 1844, Melville spent his life on seafaring, and much time on the whaling vessel, which has influenced Melville’s life to a great extent. This period of time caused his ideological change and largely shaped his way of thinking. The hardship on board, the twists and turns of life, abundant experience and intense thoughts laid solid foundation for Melville’s writing career. So his works are the reflections of his life as well as his thoughts.