Final+Product-Archetypes


 * Moby Dick Video [|Moby Dick and the Magical Storybook]**


 * Moby Dick: Mythological/Biblical Archetypes Analysis**

Herman Melville’s purpose for writing this novel was in order to represent the ongoing events in the United States in the 1850s. The US was just beginning to prosper and become a strong and prominent nation. Melville used his various symbols and archetypes, specifically mythological and biblical, in Moby Dick to convey his message/warning to the American people. The archetypes that he used include Ishmael, Queequeg, Jonah, Cetology, Fedallah, Ahab, Water, the Coffin, and the Pequod. During the 1850’s, America was undergoing the Industrial Revolution, and countless changes were being made all over the country. Many Americans were afraid that the new Industrial way of life, would cause all of America to become corrupt. Herman Melville was one of these men. He believed that America had great potential, but that if they were sucked into the world of Industry, all of their morals and ideals would be compromised. This would destroy the potential good that Industrial America had, because they would all be consumed with greed. In the story, Ishmael represents the potential good that America had, because he is the only member of the crew who isn’t sucked into the mania of hunting Moby Dick. He is also the only one that survives in the end. This was supposed to show that if America managed to participate in the world of Industry, without becoming completely consumed by it, they would be very successful.

The Industrial Revolution brought about huge numbers of immigrants from Europe, especially from Ireland and Germany. The immigrants brought new cultures with them, and the Americans that were already accustomed to their old ways of life did not take kindly to these newcomers. There was a great fear of these new cultures, which Melville presented with Queequeg. In the scene where Ishmael first meets Queequeg in his room at the inn, Ishmael is very scared of Queequeg because he is foreign. This shows how native Americans were afraid of the foreign cultures of the immigrants at the time.

In our third scene, we illustrated the part in the story where Ishmael attends a Sailor’s Church. At the church, Father Maple speaks about the biblical story of Jonah, the profit, and tells the churchgoers the morals in it. Jonah was a profit that committed sins without thinking about the consequences. Another profit in the story that has this same symbolism is Fedallah. He uses his gifts to help Ahab with his greedy and selfish hunt. Both profits are punished in the end; Jonah with the whale, and Fedallah is killed. These profits represent the fact that if Americans of 1850 use their privileges, such as their crops, or relationships to get ahead with the Industrial “rat race” and fulfill their corrupt causes, they will crash and burn.

Herman Melville attempted to create a new “American Mythology” with the use of Cetology. Cetology makes Moby Dick an equivalent to the God of the Sea. He is portrayed as the greatest and most powerful thing in nature. In the end, not even the men with weapons can stop him. This mythology was created to represent a connection of man with nature. During this time period in America, the people were losing touch with the nature that surrounded them. They began to take it all for granted, and only paid attention to it when it meant that they would be making a profit. Melville was trying to point out that nature played a vital role in the daily lives of Americans, and if they continued to treat it with disrespect, it would defeat them in the end.

In the story, Melville uses a coffin, and water to represent rebirth, and redemption. Queequeg has a coffin built for him on the ship when he starts to feel ill. After he is in it for a while, he suddenly comes out of it and declares that he is now better, and is not ready to die. Coming out of the coffin changed him for the better. It refreshed him and gave him a new perspective on life. Water is used to show baptism or rebirth, when Pip falls into the sea. When he is rescued, he is changed completely. It is as if he has now physically transformed into an little Ahab, who is only focused on finding and killing Moby Dick. These archetypes of rebirth, redemption, and baptism are used to represent America in the 1850s. The mad obsession of the crew on the ship, is parallel to the crazy world of Industry. When Pip falls into the ocean, it represents people “falling into” the Industrial craze. Obviously, Melville thought that this was a terrible thing.

Finally, Melville’s used Ahab and the Pequod to show the ultimate destruction that comes to those who are obsessed and don’t think about consequences. Ahab becomes so obsessed with his own selfish cause, that he loses all regard for other things including other people’s safety. He puts all of his crew at risk every day and he refused to help Captain Gardiner find his own son, because he was afraid it would put him too far behind Moby Dick. The Pequod is the carrier of all of the people involved with this horrible mission. The ship represents death and destruction, in this case, for corrupt and greedy causes. Both of these symbols are destroyed in the end because of their evil ways. Melville used this to show that greed and unjust actions will come back to haunt you in the end, and are what become your ultimate undoing.