Symbolism
All of the members of the Pequod's crew have biblical-sounding, improbable, or descriptive names, and the narrator deliberately avoids specifying the exact time of the events and some other similar details. These together suggest that the narrator—and not just Melville—is deliberately casting his tale in an epic and allegorical mode.
The white whale itself, for example, has been read as symbolically representative of good and evil, as has Ahab. The white whale has also been seen as a metaphor for the elements of life that are out of our control, or God.[citation needed]
The Pequod's quest to hunt down Moby-Dick itself is also widely viewed as allegorical. To Ahab, killing the whale becomes the ultimate goal in his life, and this observation can also be expanded allegorically so that the whale represents everyone's goals. Furthermore, his vengeance against the whale is analogous to man's struggle against fate. The only escape from Ahab's vision is seen through the Pequod's occasional encounters with other ships, called gams. Readers could consider what exactly Ahab will do if he, in fact, succeeds in his quest: having accomplished his ultimate goal, what else is there left for him to do? Similarly, Melville may be implying that people in general need something to reach for in life, or that such a goal can destroy one if allowed to overtake all other concerns. Some such things are hinted at early on in the book, when the main character, Ishmael, is sharing a cold bed with his newfound friend, Queequeg:
... truely to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more.
— Moby-Dick, Ch. 11
Ahab's pipe is widely looked upon as the riddance of happiness in Ahab's life. By throwing the pipe overboard, Ahab signifies that he no longer can enjoy simple pleasures in life; instead, he dedicates his entire life to the pursuit of his obsession, the killing of the white whale, Moby-Dick.
A number of biblical themes occur. The book contains multiple implicit and explicit allusions to the story of Jonah, in addition to the use of certain biblical names (see below).
Ishmael's musings also allude to themes common among the American Transcendentalists and parallel certain themes in European Romanticism and the philosophy of Hegel. In the poetry of Whitman and the prose writings of Emerson and Thoreau, a ship at sea is sometimes a metaphor for the soul.
《白鯨記》是壹個極具象征意義的工作,而且很有趣,因為它還去自然歷史等問題。其他主題包括妄想、宗教、理想主義和務實、報復、種族歧視、層次關系,和政治。
象征
所有成員的“百戈號”的船員都biblical-sounding、令人不可思議的,或由描述性的名字,和旁白故意回避指明確切的時間以及其他壹些類似的事件的細節。這些壹起顯示narrator-and Melville-is不僅僅是他的故事中故意鑄件和寓言模式的史詩。
白鯨本身,例如,被讀,象征性地代表善與惡的、有哈。白鯨也被看作是壹個比喻為生命元素,是我們能控制的,還是要得神的心。[引文需要]
“百戈號”的任務去追捕莫比本身也被廣泛視為寓言。亞哈,殺死了鯨魚成為終極目標,這在他的生活中也可以擴展觀察鯨魚的同時使每個人的目標。代表此外,他的復仇的鯨魚是類似於人的鬥爭的命運。只有逃避他娶了亞哈的願景是偶然碰到“百戈號”的通過與其他船只,稱為gams。讀者可以考慮到底要做的,如果他哈,事實上,成功地完成他的任務:在他的終極目標,還有什麽別的醫生所做的嗎?同樣,梅爾維爾可能暗示人們通常需要達到的生活,或者是這壹目標可以摧毀壹個超越所有其他如果允許關切。壹些這樣的東西暗示早期在這本書中,當主角,以實瑪利,是***享寒冷和他的新朋友,床奎怪。
真正享受身體暖和……,壹些很小的壹部分,妳必須是寒冷的,因為沒有質量。在這個世界上,而不是僅僅是相反的。不存在的。如果妳在恭維妳自己,妳都在舒適,已經很長壹段時間之後,妳不能說成是舒適的。
《白鯨記》,第11 -
他娶了亞哈的管廣泛看作鏟除幸福的生活。哈通過把管子入海中,哈意味著,他不再能享受生命中簡單的樂趣;相反的,他將他的壹生去追求他的妄想,白鯨、《白鯨記》。
《聖經》的主題的發生。這本書包含了多個內隱記憶和外顯的引述的故事,喬納,除了使用某些聖經的名字(見下文)。
以實瑪利的情緒也提到主題中普遍存在,美國第壹個在歐洲的浪漫主義的某些特定的主題平行的宗旨,黑格爾。在詩歌和散文作品的懷特曼埃莫森和梭羅,壹艘船在海上有時是壹個比喻為靈魂。