Ahab's Mark - Lindsay Miller
Ahab has the same mark as Cain in a way. When Cain ed his brother Abel out of jealousy, he lied to God at first and then laid off the blame. As punishment, God banished Cain from the land, but he marked him with a mark that kept him safe from the savages and ers of the land. So, even though Cain lied and ed to God, he still protected him. This is known as the paradoxical mystery in the Catholic Church. Is Ahab similarly marked by the whale or God? Perhaps he is by his missing leg. This mark drives him for revenge on the whale,w ho he sinned against, by attempting to kill the whale, and the whale let him live but marked him with a mark that told others what he had done but also made them stay away from Ahab, because he was, in a sense, "owned" and protected by the whale. Ahab's major qualities consist of:
obsessiveness
vengeance
determination
madness
pride
He portrays these features in teh novel frequently. He is obsessive about his vengeance on the whale. It is all he thinks about. He eats and drinks constantly thinking about the whale. He pushes his crew to do what they are not suppose to do all for him and his pride. He has incessant pride that is pushinghim to this obsessive madness. His pride has been marred by Moby Dick, the one whale he couldn't take down that did not kill him but left him crippled and marked. His determination is something ot be aspired for. He wants to kill the whale, and he will do whatever it takes to kill that whale, no matter what. Though a bit deranged, it is almost admirable. In this sense, Ahad has the Mark of Cain and has several major qualities that are portrayed throughout the novel.
A site states: What then does he do? He sentences Cain! He assigns a punishment to him, and the nature of it is very significant. Notice, there are no thunderbolts of wrath here. God does not seize hold of Cain and take his life in vengeance. What happens is what writers sometimes call "poetic justice," i.e., a strangely fitting result. Cain was a man of the soil, a tiller of the ground; in this work he took pride and found joy. A man's work is always his pride. Cain was a farmer, who delighted in producing beautiful crops of fruit and grain. But now he has poured the of his brother upon the ground. So God says, the ground, the arena of your pride, will now be cursed toward you. It will no longer yield you its strength. You will find, in your attempts to work the ground, nothing but frustration, sweat, tears, and toil.
Found at: http://www.pbc.org/library/files/html/0322.html
In this sense, we also see a similarity between Cain and Captain Ahab. The work that Ahab found pride in is now cursed, he can no longer perform it. Ahab was a harpooner, a great one at that, and Moby Dick took that gift of his away. What he is talented at, gifted at, is now cursed forever. That was where all his pride was, and Moby Dick took it away. Just as Cain had a certain look about him, probably a pathetic look that showed he was marked by God in a sense because he feels so guilty for the terrible deed that he did, so is Ahab marked, with a deranged crazed look because he feels so shameful about the deed that he did incorrectly. This is how Ahab and Cain differ however. Cain felt sorrow and terrible about what he did, he felt guilty about it. He did not seek vengeance on God but instead carried on with guilt-ridden life. Yet, Ahab, wants revenge on the whale that marked him. He is not guilt-ridden about it, but ashamed. He wants to gain his pride back, and he does not feel bad at all about trying ot kill this creature that simply defended itself, no personal feelings towards the man at all. In this sense, they also differ, although their similarities are very large as well.
posted by Anonymous @ 8:54 AM
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