The theme that Herman Melville expresses between the two characters Captain Ahab and Starbuck in Moby Dick is loyalty. “ Their hands met; their eyes fastened; Starbuck’s tears the glue. ‘ Oh, my captain, my captain!-noble heart- go not- go not!” Starbuck knows that Ahab is risking his life by getting off of the Pequod and into one of the smaller boats and out of his loyalty to Ahab he attempts to convince him not to go. Starbuck’s loyalty forced him to cry when he realized that Ahab may die if he goes into the smaller boat. “ To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous.’ ‘Stand by to sway me up!’ cried Ahab. ‘ Aye, aye, sir,’ and straightway Starbuck did Ahab’s bidding.” Starbuck doesn’t fully agree with Ahab’s obsession