NCHS AP English Language

TOTAL DOMINATION PART 7-SUNSET

5. "Sunset" This is soliloquy. What is the essential statement Ahab makes? Research Ahab's pyschology with regard to monomania.

In Ahab's solilioquy, Sunset, Ahab speaks in a very crazed manner about his ultimate goal, which is to "dismember his dismemberer". He can think of nothing else, which illustrates him as a "monomaniac" by definition. He is so fixated on one thing (killing the whale)and one emotion (revenge) that it consumes his very being. He acknowledges that others, such a Starbuck, might think he's crazy, and at some point he even describes himself as "demoniac" and "madness maddened". This is clear evidence that Ahab is truly maniacal about his goal to get revenge on Moby Dick. He doesn't care how anyone, or even how he himself, percieves him, only one thing matters.

posted by Lisa @ 8:25 AM