The underlying themes to Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, are far-reaching and studied in many academic areas. Captain Ahab dedicates his crew and ship to destroying the whale Moby-Dick leading too much intense and horror, but the interpretation of the motifs and themes lend to interesting outlooks on the subjects of religion and knowledge.
The limits of knowledge, existence and nature of a god, fate, whiteness, life and death are all ideas that can be interpreted in some way from the thoughts the book puts forth.
Ishmael begins the book by stating many ideas involving whales and realizes that throughout history the whale has taken on many different meanings. He continues to wonder, trying to understand the nature of the whale. He uses many different areas of knowledge to try and make a adequate account of the whales true purpose-meaning. He ultimately fails in explaining this idea. He begins to question observation by thinking of not being able to even see the whale for most of its life. After realizing the time and mental effort he spent thinking of whales, Ishmael poses the idea of knowledge being limited and insufficient. .
When this idea is brought to Moby Dick, many interpretations can be made. A prevalent thought in my mind is the comparison of Moby Dick's nature to what many people believe to be god's nature. With no particular god in mind it is still easy to make general judgments about the existence and knowledge surrounding such an unexplainable subject. I see the ways of Moby Dick, like those of a god, as being unknowable to man. Ahab believes the Whale is the ultimate evil, by doing so he commits a great fallacy: Ahab and this mentality eventually lead to his own demise.
Foreshadowing is an interesting part in the interpretation of fate. In reality it can be true, and in Moby Dick it is certainly true. Ishmael's narrative contains many references to fate, creating the impression that the Pequod's doom is inevitable.
