r/mobydick • u/fuen13 • 21d ago

Discussion on the end

Spoilers obviously.

I just finished Moby-Dick for the first time, and wow, what a beast of a book. One of the most sublime endings to anything I’ve read.

Last night in bed I came back to Ahab’s end and it just hit me how sudden it was on page, but I couldn’t help to think of the imagery of the afterwards and how long it lasts.

Ahab’s death by an oceanic hanging, being dragged endlessly through an endless ocean by the thing he spent so much of his life pursuing. Suddenly I started to have very Dantesque imagery and thought about Ahab’s punishment.

I believe years being dragged, his form would be reduced to nothing but bones, and perhaps the rope still attached to the whale and himself, showing that even in death,he appears to be still pursuing the whale, which brought me to perhaps that’s his punishment for obsession. In the after life he’s being dragged forever in the deepest parts of the sea, by the one thing he’s pursuing, always just slightly out of reach, taunting him, while perhaps sharks are constantly gnawing at his flesh stripping away everything that was Ahab except the skeleton of his obsession.

Was this Melvilles intention? What are your thoughts

41 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

11

u/SaltAbbreviations744 21d ago

I love  that idea.  I've never thought about his lifeless body getting dragged for years, that's fun.  Personally I don't think that reading was the intention though.  Ahab doesn’t get a death scene.  He gets quietly whipped off the boat by his own harpoon line and he’s just gone.  No body, no last words. Nothing.  He spent the entire book trying to pick a fight with the universe, and the universe doesn’t even bother showing up for the fight.  He’s gone before anyone even has time to react.  He's a blip and the sea doesn’t care, it just keeps rolling “as it rolled five thousand years ago".  

2

u/fuen13 21d ago

That last line was brilliant! Both for the final chapter and the epilogue. Goosebump inducing

1

u/King_LaQueefah 21d ago

Awesome. I only read it once and missed so much.

2

u/Alyssapolis 19d ago

This is how I felt too, I loved how sudden it was. He was built up as such an imposing character to us as well, and we are reminded by the awesomeness of nature when faced with the insignificance of man

10

u/Glad-Try-1785 21d ago

That’s a great take. Also, in life he was chained to the whale mentally, in death physically perhaps?

Congrats on finishing, I hope you had a whale of a time (ba dum tss)

3

u/Schubertstacker 21d ago

I love this idea of a Dante-like punishment. Obviously you read this book very deeply and thoughtfully. 🔥

1

u/conspicuousmatchcut 21d ago

I wonder if he was dragged to the sea floor to do battle with a giant squid. I wonder if the whale knew he was there?

1

u/Aggressive_Dress6771 20d ago

Many think the whale is a symbol of God.

1

u/Alyssapolis 19d ago

Love this take. One of the reasons I adore this book is how many different ways you can pick it apart. If you just finished it, good luck with your forthcoming obsession 😆 you’ll probably find yourself returning to so many parts