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Herman Melville's Influence In Moby Dick

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Herman Melville’s background had a great impact in writing Moby Dick, specifically using events that happened in that period of time. Melville was born in New York City in 1819. Initially, his family was wealthy for some time until one year after Melville was born, they had to move to Albany trying to regain their fortune. Consequently, of so much work, his father, Allan Melville dies. When this occurs Melville needed to do a lot of changes in his life. At a young age of thirteen he had to work at a bank to help his family. Then, he left the school at eighteen and became an elementary teacher for a short time. Also, he became a newspaper reporter before trying his luck sailing as a merchant to Liverpool, England. In the summer of 1839 he came …show more content…

Specifically, stories in the bible, especially of the Old Testament. Likewise, Melville was inspired by William Shakespeare’s books in writing his masterpiece Moby Dick. Although, many other references were considered, Shakespeare is the most abundant in this novel. It was his major influence because he wanted to prove the superiority of American Nation as well as American Literature. In this novel he presents tragedy like Shakespeare. Another great influence in writing Moby Dick was Nathaniel Hawthorne. Definitely, not only by his works, but also meeting him had an impact on Moby Dick. They became friends and later neighbors in the summer of 1850 with “an infinite fraternity of feeling” as Melville called it. He especially admired Hawthorne’s psychological deepness and linked him with unique American Literature. Such was Melville’s admiration for Hawthorne that he dedicated Moby Dick to him.
Melville’s life had a great impact on the story Moby Dick. In the same way, he had a bad leg on one of his journeys, he creates Captain Ahab with a broken leg. Primarily, by reading Shakespeare’s plays he creates the setting and language of the novel. In the same manner, he uses his dramatic technique in creating Ahab as a tragic hero villain. The character’s madness and disrespectful behavior are part of this Shakespearean technique. Including tragedy in the novel made possible Ahab’s character. Moreover because

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