Contasts Between Ahab and Starbuck

Contrasts between Ahab and Starbuck



Thesis: In the movie Moby Dick, Herman Melville effectively contrasts his

characters Ahab and Starbuck through their personalities, duties, and struggles.


In the movie Moby Dick, Melville portrays his two characters Ahab and

Starbuck as complete opposites. Ahab, being the captain of the ship, is full of

madness. He is seen as vengeful and bitter (which are not qualities wanted of a

man who controls the management of a ship). The first mate, on the other hand, is

filled with right-mindedness. Starbuck is a calm and a very reasonable person.

Even so, he lacks the power of Captain Ahab. Ahab has ultimate authority on the

ship and has won over most of the crew out of greed and thirst for money, but

with all this authority comes the immediate duties given to all captains. Ahab has

the responsibility of keeping all the men on board safe. He gives his order to the

first mate, and knows they will be followed out according to his plans. Even with

this knowledge in mind, there seems to be some confusion between duties and

personal obsessions. While Captain Ahab gives outlandish orders to satisfy his

burning revenge, Starbuck starts having second doubts about where the Captain’s

real priorities lie. Starbuck realizes what his obligations are, but starts to

struggle between his duties and his morals. During the movie, Ahab also deals

with a struggle from within. Ahab struggles with what he calls the “demon” inside of

him. This force makes him want to accomplish things his heart wouldn’t dare.

Nevertheless, Ahab does not defeat this force and still carries the desire to kill the

white whale. Starbuck knows that the only solution to this problem is to kill the

mad captain, but also seems to struggle with this idea. His morals are too high to

allow him to do such a terrible thing, even if it might be the right choice. In the end,

Starbuck submits to Ahab and both of the characters die in spite of their foolish

actions. Ahab’s mad obsession had made him an unfit captain and many lives

were shortened because of it. On the other hand, Starbuck new something needed

to be done, but was unable to perform the necessary tasks to set things right

again. The relationship as captain and first mate was a disaster because of their

difference in opinion. The two characters are very dissimilar and have different

priorities, but in the end no one sane took change because of struggles and

corruption that had developed along the voyage. The journey had started off as an

adventure for some and a way of living for others. This same journey ended with

one survivor and was indeed just a frivolous attempt at man trying to dominate over

nature.