Preview

Moby Dick: Compare And Contrast Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
502 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Moby Dick: Compare And Contrast Essay
In the book The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses love and emotion as Roger Chillingworth tries to get revenge on the man who ruined his life. Also in the closely related book Moby Dick, the author uses mixed feelings and anger, as Captain Ahab wants revenge on the whale that took his leg. Roger Chillingworth and Captain Ahab are both evil characters with many differences, seeking revenge on someone who caused them harm and humility. In most of this story, Chillingworth is trying to figure out who committed adultery with his wife. It did not take him too long after studying the emotions of Hester and how she acted towards some of the people to figure out who the father of Pearl was. Throughout the story, Chillingworth …show more content…
Throughout this book Ahab cares for no one. Every single day on the ship is about finding the whale and staying alive. In one point of the story they see Moby Dick swimming in the ocean, but also they see a pod of sperm whales swimming to the right of them. Starbuck is telling Ahab that the sperm whales could bring in a fortune for them, but Ahab says otherwise. They keep their route on Moby Dick. They eventually get out and start going after the immense whale but it was to late. Moby Dick already went to the bottom of the ocean. Threw the whole story the crew is being endangered by Ahab as he went through storms and the Antarctic Ocean. In the end Captain Ahab met up with the whale again. His crew went out on the water to go kill him in the middle of the ocean leaving his ship behind with Starbuck and Pip. As they caught up to the whale, it began to attack the men and eventually everyone that was out on the boats. After Moby Dick killed them he found the ship and attacked it leaving everyone onboard to die. The only survivor in the end was Ishmael. Captain Ahab never got revenge for the whale, all he did was kill innocent men and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The book “Moby Dick” is a very interesting book with many interesting characters. The main character of this story is Captain Ahab. Captain Ahab is a man who is obsessed with finding the Great White Whale. I believe that the most interesting thing about Captain Ahab is how he is so obsessed with trying to find the great white whale that in my head I think that his obsession will make him insane. The reason for his obsession for finding the Great White Whale came from When Moby Dick Bit off one of his legs which left him with a prosthetic leg made out of whalebones. This is the reason for Captain Ahab's obsession…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. In this video, we immediately learn of an obsessed captain who wants revenge. Why does he want revenge and against whom or what? The captain wants revenge again Moby Dick who is a great white whale that took the captain’s leg.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Published in 1850, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a book based on sin, guilt, and redemption. A woman, Hester Prynne, must bear the guilt of sin by wearing a scarlet “A” on her bosom. The reason she wears this letter is because she had a child by a man, Arthur Dimmesdale, who is not her husband, Roger Chillingworth. Although she has committed the sin of adultery with Dimmesdale, her husband is also guilty of being a sinner himself. According to the narrator in Chapter 14, “This unhappy person (Roger Chillingworth) had effected such a transformation by devoting himself for seven years to the constant analysis of a heart full of torture, and deriving his enjoyment thence, and adding fuel to those fiery tortures which he analysed and gloated over.” would convince anyone that Chillingworth is the most sinful character in The Scarlet Letter. Three reasons for why he is the most sinful character would be that he deceives the colony with his untrue identity, stays in Boston to get revenge on Reverend Dimmesdale, and posses worldly and sometimes prohibited forms of knowledge.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chillingworth. He is Hester’s former husband, a wonderful physician. He chooses to keep his identity a secret upon arriving back to town after being in Indian captivity for two years. After finding out about Hester’s child, he vows to get revenge from whomever it belongs to. Chillingworth goes from being a kind, smart, and gentle old man to an evil, plotting, vengeful ball of fury. He sets his eyes upon the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, and immediately recognizes him as Pearls father. He arranges to be Dimmesdale’s roommate, and from that moment on makes his life a living hell. The reverend slowly diminishes under Chillingworth’s evil power, as Chillingworth grows stronger by the day. When Dimmesdale finally confessed his sin and died, Chillingworth lost all his power. He crumbled, and died soon…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, as disappointed as he was that Hester committed adultery, he felt more anger against the person who lay down with Hester. This is possibly due to jealousy because the person who did this with Hester was able to get her to love him, while Chillingworth in all his attempts was not able to get her to love him. Chillingworth stated that he plans to find the man, and when he does, he does not want to report him to the authorities. The reason he gives for this is that if he tells on the man who committed adultery with Hester he says it would be, “to mine own loss, betray him to the gripe of human law.” In other words, the betrayer’s consequences would be at the hand of proper authorities, and not in the control of Chillingworth. This shows a very depressing, vengeful future for Chillingworth instead of the positive one that he had been hoping for. It is very plain to see that Chillingworth changes greatly after the finds Hester on the…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Thou hast escaped me!”-Chillingworth says. Throughout the course of the Scarlet Letter many of the characters suffer personal struggle and make choices that affect the lives of others. All characters experience this but one such character is Roger Chillingworth or Mr. Prynne, as he is also known. The choices and character changes of Roger Chillingworth will be explained throughout this essay.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, he describes the story as a "tale of human frailty and sorrow.  This is most likely due to the fact that all the main characters go through some sort of sorrow and hardship throughout the novel. Each is unique in it's own way and has a different effect on the character. Furthermore, each character has his/her own major flaw or sin. Roger Chillingworth, for example, had the flaw of seeking revenge. This completely consumed his life, and as you will soon see, he was unable to live without it. As his name suggests he is devoid of human sentiment. He is referred to as a leech because he feeds on the lives of others in order to accomplish his goals. Ultimately Roger Chillingworth comes to represent true evil. Roger Chillingworth's outlook throughout the story and his actions were very dependant upon his need for revenge. His vow to seek revenge had a negative affect on his life and the lives of others around him. Lastly, his fatal flaw led him to suffer dire consequences at the end of the novel.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He is a man plagued by vengeance. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne describes how a woman named Hester Prynne fits into a Puritan society after committing an act of adultery and giving birth to another man’s child. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, develops a bitter coldness and a vindictive obsession that impacts both Hester Prynne and her secret lover.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eng 3 Moby Dick

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    3. There are two significant Biblical allusions mentioned in the film. To whom do these allusions reference? How are the names significant? These allusions reference towards Ismael and Captain Ahab. In the bible, Ahab is a wicked king who goes against God’s will. In Melville’s book, Captain Ahab (their names being the same), goes against the white whale, which may be a symbol of God. Ishmael, also a biblical name, means outcast or wanderer.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the first scene he asks Hester to tell him who Pearl’s father was, and when she refuses he becomes angry and vows to find and destroy that man. When he finds out that it is Dimmesdale, who is unaware of Chillingworth’s true identity, he moves in with him and begins psychologically torturing the minister about his sin. Once Hester finally told Dimmesdale of his true identity, he spoke of him “We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! The old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of the human heart.” (Hawthorne, 131) to describe how over the years, Chillingworth had become a mindless machine bent only on revenge. When Dimmesdale finally dies, Chillingworth begs him not to, and soon loses his mind, vanishes, and dies, as his only purpose in life, to hurt Dimmesdale, could not be done anymore. Although the sin had not been his, Roger Chillingworth had let it consume his entire…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth declares that he will get revenge on the man who had an affair with Hester. His evil intentions of revenge slowly fades away when he discoveres that the man was Arthur Dimmesdale. Chillingworth loses his objective of hatred and although he dies at the end of the novel, he dies without the thoughts of hatred and revenge. Another reason was that, Hester was accused of commiting adultery and was forced to wear a scarlet letter which symbolizes the sins she has done.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne emphasizes the sin present in early Puritan society by following the lives a three people who commit major sins. Of those three, each one experiences different amounts of remorse, penance, and guilt; but the person that felt none of these was Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth is the greatest sinner in the Scarlet Letter because of his drive for revenge, lack of guilt, and infliction of pain onto others.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sin, vengeance, evil, and redemption are all words one can associate when thinking about The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The character who takes the truest form of these negative words is Roger Chillingworth. Hester Prynne had married Chillingworth in England, however left her for many years. During those years, Chillingworth spent time with Indians learning their ways while Hester had an ill legitimate child with a beloved priest named Arthur Dimmesdale. When Hester Prynne begins her lifetime of public shame and guilt, Chillingworth makes his timely return and devotes his life to emotionally torturing Arthur Dimmsedale. Through his many years of vindictive vengeance, the reader sees his abundant physical traits, in depth visual symbols, and his theoretical view on transcendentalism that reveal his true personality.…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Chapter 73, “Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale” of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”, Captain Ahab decides that he wants to catch and kill a Right Whale. He believes that if you have a Right Whale head and a Sperm Whale head dragging of the back of the ship, then good luck will come. In this chapter, Ahab reveals more of his desperation to kill Moby Dick. Ahab feels like he has to kill Moby Dick in order to put his soul at peace. This is where philosopher Immanuel Kant plays in. Kant believes that knowledge is innate, but also is gained through experience. He also believes a person is good or bad based on their motivation and reasoning for action. Kant does not believe that actions make someone a good person, but their devotion to morality…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Letter

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne was a truly outstanding author. His detailed descriptions and imagery will surely keep people interested in reading The Scarlet Letter for years to come. In writing this book he used themes evident throughout the entirety of the novel. These themes are illustrated in what happens to the characters and how they react. By examining how these themes affect the main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, one can obtain a better understanding of what Hawthorne was trying to impress upon his readers.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays