In the novel Moby-Dick, Melville uses Ahab to highlight how having an unhealthy obsession can take over a person’s whole self and eventually lead to madness. Ahab’s intentions from the beginning of the novel with the great White Whale were pretty visible and as it went on, his insanity became more deranged and more evident. This can be seen with the reversed ritualistic blessing of Ahab’s harpoon, his overall neglect and manipulation of his crew, and his rejection of Christian values. Melville points out what an unhealthy obsession looks like and how it leads to one’s downfall by also using religious and satanic imagery.  

In Chapter 113, The Forge, when Ahab drenches his harpoon with blood that Perth upgraded to help him defeat the White Whale. Melville writes, “‘Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!’ deliriously howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal blood” (Melville 532). Ahab performs a reverse baptism by drenching the weapon in pagan blood rather than holy water. His upgraded harpoon goes beyond the function as just a weapon, it symbolizes Ahab’s madness– his dedication to vengeance. By transforming the harpoon into a ritualistic object, Ahab’s obsession can be seen reshaping his reality. What was once just seen as a simple hunting tool turns into a weapon of mass destruction– an embodiment of his growing madness. His fixation is being put into the weapon itself, showing how obsession does not stay contained, that it in fact grows and intensifies until it consumes everything around it. 

Melville uses Ahab to show when a person allows vengeance to dominate their life and how it leads to self-destruction. Ahab believes the Sperm whale is out to get him and allows this thought to take control of his life. When in reality Moby Dick was just living his own life. So, since his attack, he’s been allowing Moby Dick to haunt his mind everyday and this is why he upgrades his harpoon, to make sure this “evil” thing is dead so it can not get him. It had at first consumed his mind and now it is consuming the physical objects around him. Ahab forges a harpoon that is as destructive and extreme as his obsession– and one that would eventually lead to his own demise. He created a superweapon to not only kill an animal but to kill a divine force, revealing how his anger and vengeance steered him away from reality, representing how a person can deteriorate from within. The upgraded harpoon reminds me of video games where you customize your character’s weapon to the max so they can deal more damage for the ultimate boss battle. The more upgraded, the better and Ahab had given personalized upgrades for his harpoon. He says “Here are my razors– the best of steel; here, and make the barbs sharp as the needle-sleet of the Icy Sea” (Melville 532). His weapon at first did not have all the upgrades but as his obsession deepens, his weapon also gets upgraded. If this was a normal whale hunting journey, he wouldn’t need all the crazy upgrades but Ahab’s thirst is so strong for the chaos to the point that he has their blacksmith forge an upgraded weapon of death to use for the great White Whale. Because his weapon is so lethal, it puts him in more dangerous situations, giving him the confidence to defeat the White Whale, but the overconfidence is blinding him to the dangers around him. By pouring all of his energy into the enhancement of his weapon, Ahab neglected the well-being of himself and his crew, showing how obsession can fully control his thoughts and actions which can lead directly to one’s own self-destruction.  

With Ahab neglecting his crew goes to show that his obsession is leading him to being selfish even though he is the captain of the ship. He is in charge of all the men there and he should have more compassion for them. But, with him disregarding them and their lives reflects that he does not care about anything or anyone other than Moby Dick. Ahab’s lack of care for his crew can be seen ultimately in the end with all of their deaths (except Ishamael’s) and if he wasn’t so focused on the whale and was focused on his crew instead then the outcome could possibly be different for everyone. The disregard for his crew comes from his own belief that authority is absolute, elevating himself above moral responsibility and divine power. Ahab declares to Starbuck “There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod” (Melville 517). Ahab believes his status as a captain puts him in the same category as God ruling over earth and that his command should be followed with unquestioning obedience. Author Ryan LaMothe writes in his article, “Ahab’s carelessness is connected to a kind of idolatry, a kind of faith in his self-interested pursuit of vengeance. The crew of the Pequod are trusted as long as they serve the commands and aims of Ahab—instrumental faith… Ahab, like God, is sovereign, and as sovereign Ahab demands the loyalty of the crew in relation to the aims of the captain. They are to trust him blindly, like they trust God.” Ahab’s connection to idolatry and referring to himself as a God tells that he wishes to be worshipped. Plus, he demands loyalty and yet does nothing for his crew in return. He uses their help for his own gain, which is killing Moby Dick. His crew, specifically Starbuck, is seen calling him out. In chapter 134, The Chase—Second Day, Starbuck fights back against Ahab and says to him, “never, never wilt thou capture him, old man—In Jesus’ name no more of this, that’s worse than devil’s madness” (Melville 611). Starbuck is not referring to Ahab as a God or anything God-like but rather quite the opposite—the devil. Ahab’s madness is apparent to his crew and Ahab is seen as deranged even though he is their captain—their leader. This highlights that Ahab’s leadership is nowhere near God and that it is morally corrupt and misguided. 

After Ahab’s weapon gets its upgrade, he blesses it in Latin and the translation of what he says is “I do not baptize you in the name of the Father, but in the name of the Devil.” Ahab does a reverse blessing, a satanic-like ritual and calls upon the Devil rather than calling upon God.  He would rather get help and protection from evil forces rather than God’s strength against the White Whale. His fixation runs so deep that he corrupted the most sacred of ideas and instead of using faith to keep vengeance out of his heart, he uses it to keep it within. He abandons all forms of faith and chooses to turn to darkness itself to help destroy the whale. By deliberately summoning the Devil, Ahab shows that his fixation has reached a point where calling upon the spiritual world would bring him aid in his ultimate plan. Melville uses Ahab’s reverse blessing to show that obsession can harm a person’s mind and their actions so much that they are willing to violate moral boundaries and society values. During the time Melville wrote this and when it was released, society had valued Christianity. In Jonathan Cook’s article, he writes, “In broad terms, Ahab’s obsessive hunt for the White Whale constitutes a blasphemous pursuit of a creature that he believes acts in the capacity of a divine agent or principal, and it is likely only Ahab’s condition of “madness” that potentially assured antebellum readers that such sentiments did not represent a direct threat to the traditional Christian beliefs of the era.” While Ahab himself does not necessarily have Christian values, the society in which he lives does, and they take these Christian values to heart. His growing madness is portrayed as something that steers him from these shared beliefs. And Starbuck, who is a “Quaker by descent” represents this religious structure and stands in contrast to Ahab’s blasphemous behavior. Also, because Ahab is deemed as mentally unfit, his rejection to the Christian faith is a result of madness rather than reason. 

The reverse blessing continues and Ahab uses pagan blood from Queequeg, Tashtego and Daggoo. By using the pagan blood, it seals the deal for the blessing and shows how obsession has corrupted Ahab entirely. He is fully transforming his hunting weapon into a satanic weapon. Ahab made the conscious decision to use blood for his weapon in the ritual as it “scorchingly devoured the baptismal blood.” By using the blood from non-Christians, he believed it would make his upgraded harpoon stronger. He is rejecting the idea of the Christian faith and instead chooses to side with the Devil, believing that spiritual corruption is the only way that will lead him to his goal. Through Ahab’s blasphemy and rejection of Christianity, Melville suggests that the deliberate rejection of the Christian faith is not empowering, but more as a sign or moral collapse. Jonathan Cook’s also writes, “Instead of promising eternal life through the ingestion of the blood of Christ, as in the Christian sacrament of Communion, Ahab is proclaiming an eternal pact of death against the god-like White Whale, creating a blasphemous ritual to solidify his power over the crew and induct them into a satanic pact.”. Ahab is dragging his crew further into his mess as he makes them accomplices to the satanic-like ritual. His crew mates are different and have their own religious beliefs— such as Starbuck and his Christianity and Queequeg. So, by Ahab making his crew mates take part in his ritual shows that when an individual is obsessed it corrupts their moral and religious beliefs and also corrupts those around them. 

Every decision, thought and action is planned out carefully to reach the overall objective of destroying the White Whale. However, as Ahab gives his all into achieving the killing of Moby Dick, he becomes more unrecognizable and increasingly disconnected from reality as he crafts a tool of destruction that mirrors his corrupted mindset. Ahab becomes a representation of what happens when a person lets an obsession control their lives, leading them down all the wrong paths. 

         

Works Cited 

Cook, Jonathan A. “Melville, Moby-Dick, and Blasphemy.” Studies in American Fiction, vol. 49 no. 2, 2022, p. 145-173. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/saf.2022.a920136. LaMothe, R. Literature and Social Pathologies: Ahab’s Masculinity as a Distortion of Care and Faith. Pastoral Psychol 72, 49–63 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-022-01042-y