When it comes to speaking convincing, you must have persuasive words and iron-clad arguments in order to get your point adequately across. An orator’s best assets are rhetorical terms, used to spice up their monologues and excite any emotion they please within their captivated audience. In Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, the character Captain Ahab uses rhetorical terms to manipulate his crew into following him on a mad journey to find the white whale, Moby Dick. When the Pequod first sets sail, the crew believes this voyage to be a routine, 3 year whaling venture. However, Captain Ahab tactfully divulges his true intentions for the whaling trip when the crew find out how he lost his leg. Ahab “shouted with a terrific, loud, animal sob, like that of a heart-stricken moose; “Aye, aye! it was that accursed white whale that razed me; made a poor pegging lubber of me for ever and a day!” (Melville 138). Ahab's word choice is …show more content…
He specifically picks words that declare Moby Dick completely destroyed him and turned him into a clumsy shell of a man. Swayed by his outburst, his crew pledge to hunt the white whale with him to the ends of the earth and back. Ahab immediately orders a steward to bring grog, rum mixed with water, to everyone so they can celebrate and so he can put the idea into the crew’s head that agreeing with the Captain brings them good things. The only member of the crew who expresses his concern with going after a homicidal whale is the first mate, Starbuck. Starbuck points out that Ahab’s “vengeance on a dumb brute…that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness!” (Melville 138). Starbuck sympathizes with Ahab’s unfortunate accident, but he doesn’t see it as a valid reason for wasting time chasing Moby Dick when they could be hunting other, safer whales and making a profit. Ahab quickly responds “All visible objects,
On the first day the man on watch was sniffing the air and he declared that the whale must be near and Captain Ahab was frantic with excitement, constantly changing their course slightly during the day. Finally they spotted the white whale, and they left the ship into a small boat to hunt him. Moby Dick then wrecked their boat, but luckily nobody died.
Analysis: Melville's Great American Novel draws on both Biblical and Shakespearean myths. Captain Ahab is "a grand, ungodly, god-like man … above the common" whose pursuit of the great white whale is a fable about obsession and over-reaching. Just as Macbeth and Lear subvert the natural order of things, Ahab takes on Nature in his
Effectively communicating an idea or opinion requires several language techniques. In his study of rhetoric, Aristotle found that persuasion was established through three fundamental tools. One is logos, which is used to support an argument through hard data and statistics. Another is ethos, which is the credibility of an author or speaker that allows an audience to conclude from background information and language selection a sense of knowledge and expertise of the person presenting the argument. The impact of pathos, however, is the most effective tool in persuasion due to the link between emotions and decisions. Although each of these tools can be effective individually, a combination of rhetorical devices when used appropriately has the ability to sway an audience toward the writer’s point of view.
In this case, the whale Moby Dick would be the oppressor that harmed Ahab by amputating his leg. Similar to his modern-day counterparts, the captain expresses this condemning rage through his speech. For example, he lashes out, "That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will
A tattooed man he meets in an inn, named Queequeg keeps Ishmael company throughout his journey. At first, Ishmael is alarmed by Queequeg’s tattoos and brute like habits, but eventually he becomes fond of him. Together the two get on a whaling ship, known as the Pequod. The captain's name is Ahab. He is a rather strange character. The primary conflict of the story is that Ahab holds a grudge against Moby Dick, the great
Talking about Language and Rhetorics, which in turn means using lanuage to communicate persuasively. Rhetorics date all the way back to the fifth Century in athens, Greece. There is 3 types of Rhetorics that are known. The First being Logos, which is the logic behind an argument. Logos tries to persuade an audience using logical arguments and supportive evidence. The next is Pathos, using Emotional Apeal in terms of persuading someone or an audience. Then there is Ethos, using moral competence to persuade the audience to trust in what they are saying is true.
As the American people’s standards and principles has evolved over time, it’s easy to forget the pain we’ve caused. However, this growth doesn’t excuse the racism and violence that thrived within our young country not even a century previous. This discrimination, based solely on an ideology that one’s race is superior to another, is what put many people of color in miserable places and situations we couldn’t even imagine today. It allowed many Caucasian individuals to inflict pain, through both physical and verbal attacks, and even take away African Americans ' God given rights. In an effort to expose upcoming generations to these mass amounts of prejudice and wrongdoing, Harper Lee 's classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, tells the story of
Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, and its uses the figures of speech and other compositional techniques. It’s designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience.
Ahab is dedicated towards regaining control of his life by conquering the whale. His obsession with Moby Dick is what fuels his desire to spend months and months at sea. Ahab is so involved that he tries to get into the mind of the whale. He becomes obsessed with the whale’s every move. Similarly, the narrator is highly analytical of Bartleby’s behavior. He feels the need to know exactly what it is that makes Bartleby ‘tick’. Eventually the narrator is mentally defeated by Bartleby and is forced to change the location of his offices in order to avoid him. Ahab on the other hand is constantly chasing his antagonist and does whatever he can to get closer to Moby Dick.
Ahab’s quest for the whale is not an honorable pursuit of God, but man’s vain endeavor in his hatred of God to destroy the all-powerful deity. The symbol of the whale as God makes sense as it is white a color that is associated not only with purity and honor but the deity of God himself. Because this whale caused him personal damage in an earlier encounter, Ahab views the whale as an “inscrutable thing”, making it his life’s quest to get revenge (335). Not only does he associate the whale with this damaging experience, he connects the deity of God with “the white whale that razeed me; made a poor pegging lubber for me forever and a day!” (334). His quest for vengeance distorts his ability to have a relationship of God as who can endure the pursuit of such a being if the pursuit is driven by enmity? Ahab’s pursuit of Moby Dick, “Be [he] agent, or be [he] principal” is driven strictly by hostility and a lack of righteousness (335). Only those who have experienced the sweetness of reconciling grace can look at the tremendous
Performing a pagan ritual before the groggy crew, Captain Ahab swears the men to join him in hunting down the white whale Moby Dick and killing him to satisfy Ahab's desire for revenge. Starbuck is horrified, while the crazy ranting of their captain wildly inspires members of the ship. "This is an evil voyage. I fear the wrath of God. Service to mankind that pleases God is not revenge."1 Greatly fearing what Ahab has in store in the world gone mad, Starbuck foresees tragedy. Nailing a doubloon to the main mast follows the crazy ranting and Ahab says, "Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys!"2 Starbuck tells Ahab that he came to hunt whales, not his commander's vengeance. As the savage harpooners drink, "Death to Moby Dick!" Starbuck mutters, "God help me!—keep us all!"3 Starbuck is well aware that Ahab will soon place all the men in immediate danger.
If often leads shipmates to be vulnerable at times and even experience signs of trauma, such as Stubb when Ahab abused his authority against him during the confrontation. Although members are given assignments each day and follow them to avoid brutal punishments, Ishmael’s description implied that whoever has a high or low rank, such as the Specksynder, or however the agenda is assigned, shipmates are to work overtime most of the period. Speaking of working from day to night, it’s expected from workers to work throughout the day and at times, even sacrifice their sleep along with breaks especially if there’s a whale possibly close by. When Moby Dick was spotted close to the Pequod during The Chase, they spent three consecutive days on the hunt and there was no sign of rest, lunch, or sleep from anyone as they were to ordered to be in positions and chase after the whale. With the story demonstrating the procedure and process of capturing the whale, it not only shows another example of structured tasks, but also illustrates the hours and days of hard
Another biblical allusion is of the prophet Elijah and Captain Ahab. Elijah WARNS Queequeg and Ishmael of Ahab. Ishmael says he and Queequeg ARE boarding the Pequod because they have just “signed the articles” (Melville 68) and Elijah responds “Anything down there about your souls” (Melville 68). This conflict between Elijah and Ahab goes all the way back to the bible. I Kings describes the conflict between King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Elijah tells Ahab that “in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick they blood, even thine,” (I Kings 21:19), and that “the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezrell” (I Kings 21:23). This allusion is significant for foreshadowing the destruction of the Pequod. In Moby Dick the characters names are not so different than names in the Bible and neither is the outcome of those characters so different.
Meet the captain whose name is synonymous with revenge. Captain Ahab of the Pequod has a fiery vengeance burning deep in his soul because Moby dick, a terrifyingly large white whale that took off his right leg in a fierce battle between man and nature. Captain Ahab has a thirst for vengeance and he is determined to quench it no matter what it cost him and his crew. I guess with that you could say he's gone completely mad trying to kill this whale.
Rhetorical Analysis and Persuasion Every day we are victims to persuasion whether anyone can notice it or not. Logos, pathos and ethos are the types of persuasion. Logos persuades by reason, pathos by appealing to emotion and ethos by the credibility of the author. The characters in The Iliad employ the use of these techniques to sway another character into doing or feeling something else.