2. Herman Melville and his masterpiece Moby Dick Born - August 1, 1819- Died - September 28, 1891 Melville is considered an Anti-Transcendentalist

3. Moby Dick or The Whale

4. Melville’s Major Work – Moby Dick Moby-Dick an encyclopedia of everything = history, philosophy, religion, the whaling industry a Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against fates

5. Images of the famous Moby Dick

6. Moby-Dick, or The Whale  Published in 1851  Moby-Dick has become Melville's most famous work and is often considered one of the greatest literary works of all time.  Part epic, part adventure story, part allegory  It was dedicated to Melville's friend Nathaniel Hawthorne.

7. The Pequod Moby Dick

8. Moby Dick - The Plot  Narrated by a young sailor, named, Ishmael  Ishmael goes go to Nantucket to seek work on a whaling vessel.  Ishmael befriends a ‘native’ by the name of Queequeg, a harpooner.  They join a rough crew on a savage looking ship, The Pequod. Queequeg Ishmael The Pequod

9. Moby Dick - The Plot, continued  They meet Captain Ahab, the mysterious, peg-legged captain--his leg taken by a legendary great white whale named Moby Dick.  Thus, Ahab turns the ship’s quest into tracking the whale and killing it as a sort of revenge. His behavior becomes monomaniacal, leading everyone into danger. Captain Ahab

10. The Pequod The ship is a symbol of the world and all of its peoples- it is microcosm of the entire world Microcosm Small (micro) World (cosm) More on the famous ship! Setting Most of the action takes place on the ship in the 1800s

11. The Pequod – A Symbol a symbol of DOOM Named after a Native American tribe in Massachusetts Tribe did not long survive the arrival of white men (extinct) The ship is painted gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones the mementos of violent death like a primitive coffin

13. Captain Ahab  Ahab lost his leg to Moby Dick on the previous voyage.  He is single-minded in his pursuit of Moby Dick, obsessed with killing the white whale.  He has a compassionate side as seen when speaking of his family and his care for Pip.  He is an example of the destruction that revenge brings.

14. Moby Dick, from THE QUARTER DECK (From your reading)  Ahab announces his intentions – to catch Moby Dick, the White Whale!  Gives a ‘Pep Rally’  Performs a ‘Communion’ with officers and crew Captain Ahab

15. Call me Ishmael  Ishmael – narrator of the novel; a junior member because of his inexperience  Biblical reference – Allusion –  Ishmael…Son of Abraham and Hagar, a wanderer The Narrator of the book, Moby Dick

16. Starbuck – First Mate  Starbuck questions Ahab’s judgment  He is a religious man who believes that Christianity is a way to interpret the world around him

17. Other Crew  Stubb – 2 nd mate  Loves to sail the seas  Hardened seafarer  Older than others  Answers to 1 st mate  Flask – 3 rd mate  Loves to drink  Loves the sea  Answers to 2 nd mate

18. Queequeg - Harpooner  Queequeg – Ishmael’s best friend;  Excellent harpooner – throws the spear.  A prince from a South Sea island who stowed away on a whaling ship.  He is a composite of elements of African, Polynesian, Islamic, Christian, and Native American cultures.  He is brave and generous and enables Ishmael to see that race has no bearing on a man’s character. bearing on a man’s character.

19. Other Harpooners  Tashtego –  A Native Indian from Martha’s Vineyard, one of Martha’s Vineyard, one of the last of a tribe about to the last of a tribe about to disappear. disappear.  He embodies certain characteristics of the “noble savage” and is meant to defy racial stereotypes.  Daggoo –  An African  He stowed away on a whaling ship that stopped near his home. ship that stopped near his home.

20. Minor Characters  Pip – a young black boy who fills the role of cabin boy.  Lost at sea for a night a becomes….half mad, half prophet.  Fedallah – a strange “Oriental” (a Persian fire-worshipper)  smuggled on board for his skill at killing whales and prophecy.  Peleg and Bildad – owners of the boat, The Pequod  Father Mapple –former whale man now a preacher  Captain Boomer – jovial captain who lost his arm to Moby Dick

21. Moby Dick TTTThe great white sperm whale TTTTook off Ahab’s leg. HHHHe is well known by all seamen, and feared. HHHHe is symbolic of nature’s indifference to man. MMMMoby Dick…Symbol of nature; a Wall; a pasteboard mask.

22. Voyage route of the Pequod

23. Not exactly a big hit…at first…  It did not, however, make Melville rich.  The book never sold its initial printing of 3,000 copies in his lifetime, and total earnings from the American edition American edition amounted to just amounted to just $556.37 from his $556.37 from his publisher, Harper & publisher, Harper & Brothers. Brothers.

24. Popular today because….  Several layers to Moby-Dick  Part Adventure/Quest story  Man vs. Monster (Pre-Jaws)  Psychological Thriller--Why can’t Ahab stop?  Deals with universal themes: religion, fate, human nature/quest for power, revenge and race.  We all have a White Whale in our lives? What is yours?

25. Out soon…..