Ishmael And Fortinabras In Herman Melville's Moby-Dick

Abstract: There are many Analyst who would agree that the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, the whale is just half of what the novel is really talking about. They would also agree that Melville employs some sort of spiritual read simply by providing scriptures and rephrasing verses from the Bible into the text. But what is it really about? What made Melville come up with this idea style of writing Moby-Dick? Other analyst who also asked themselves this question probably looked deeper into the novel doing tons of research figuring out different possible solutions. The solution that Melville was influenced by Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’ and plenty others, this has been established because of the allusions Melville makes to Hamlet and the other

Ishmael and Fortinabras are a nice fit because they both survived the mass tragedy from afar and being the lone survivor of all the characters. Elijah plays the Ghost of Hamlet’s father as the one who prefigures the death of the characters. For example, in act 1 scene 1 of “Hamlet” the ghost of the former king of Denmark appeared giving off some kind of silent message. Then, the ghost appeared for a second time to the men, and that is when Horatio assumed that it was another warning of fate of Denmark. In the beginning of Moby-Dick, Ishmael encountered the prophet Elijah who informed him of the mysterious tragedy of the Pequod’s crew. Another fit for Elijah in one of Shakespeare other plays is Macbeth; he is compared to the three witches because of the importance of prophecy in both readings. Stated before Elijah warns Ishmael and others not to go on the voyage in the chapter “The Prophet.” Like the three witches in Macbeth, Elijah is also a mysterious figure since their languages are mixed with ambiguity. What each of them say is ambiguous, Elijah describes Ahab as the ‘Old Thunder’ statements like this are very difficult to understand, that they tend to do. Elijah is the stranger of among the other sailors and the three witches are strange figures. The three witches tell Macbeth that one day he would be the king of Scotland in the future and Banquo’s descendants would become king in future. Already discovered that what Elijah tells Ishmael does come true. The ship ‘Pequod’ sinks at last. He says “Ye’ve shipped, have ye? Names down on the papers? Well, well, what’s signed, is signed; and what’s to be, will be; and then again, perhaps it won’t be, after all” (79). An odd fit is Queequeg and Ophelia, but both became excessively dramatic and a little angry, and Ophelia does end up dying. Fedellah is rational and tomb, reasoning with Ahab through looks, but not