Ishmael As A Hero Essay

1015 Words3 Pages

Moby Dick, by Herman Melville was published in 1851; the novel is about the narrator, Ishmael and his experience on the whaling ship named The Pequod. Ishmael 's development as a hero can be aligned with Joseph Campbell 's Hero 's Journey. There are twelve stages, each will be discussed in terms of how it relates to Ishmael in the American novel Moby Dick. The twelve stages are as follows: ordinary World, call to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting the mentor, crossing the threshold, tests, allies and enemies, approach to the inmost cave, ordeal, reward, the road back, resurrection, and return with the elixir. The first stage is called "The Ordinary World", it is a time when the hero is sympathetically introduced to the readers. At this part of the novel the hero 's life is stressful and the adventures are yet to come. In this case, the hero is Ishmael; when Ishmael is introduced he describes feeling a "damp, drizzly November in [his] soul" (Melville, #). In the first chapter of the novel, the narrator explained that when he felt depressed he would go to …show more content…

Ishmael is excited about the journey ahead, but soon learns there is bound to be chaos on the ship. In chapter seven, Ishmael goes into the chapel where he sees family and friends of sailors who died at sea mourn their death. Then at the sermon in chapter nine, Father Mapple tells the whalers a story of "Jonah and the whale". In the story Jonah doesn 't obey God and therefore has to accept his punishment of a whale swallowing him. The meaning of the story Father Mapple preaches in relation to the whalers is that the crewmates must listen to and obey their captain. Another event that makes the Pequod seem less safe is the conversation Elijah has with Ishmael and Queequeg. Before he boards the ship, a prophet names Elijah warns Ishmael and Queequeg of Ahab 's madness and the crew he has snuck aboard the ship to help him get revenge on Moby

Open Document