【正文】 Melville uses many other symbols to make the white whale a symbol of divine power. Moby Dick is thought to be immortal. He is the collective whale soul, the essential, eternal whale of which all other whales are only ephemeral manifestations. The sacred, special character of Moby Dick is indicated by his whiteness. His awfully severe beauty is godlike, as is his titanic power and his pyramidlike white hump. His color, white, has signified a special sanctify: In many natural objects, whiteness refines and enhances beauty, as in pearls, or confers special qualities such as innocence or purity. There is an elusive quality that causes the thought of whiteness to heighten terror, such as the white bear of the poles or the white shark of the tropics. Among humans, the Albino is considered shocking and loathed, while the whiteness of a corpse is a distinguishing and disturbing feature. In its most profound idealized significance it calls up a peculiar apparition to the soul. White is portentous because it is indefinite, not so much a color as the visible absence of color. [3]In this chapter, Melville attempts to define Moby Dick through its whiteness, instead finding that the very nature of the color white defines definition. Melville devotes an entire chapter, narrated by Ishmael, in which he explores the meaning of whiteness through the ages and through the eyes of many different cultures. White or albino animals are typically considered sacred. Melville notes this fact, giving as examples the sacred white elephant of the Orient and the sacred white dog of the Iroquois.Melville portrays Moby Dick in nearly human terms, endowing the great whale a sense of intelligence, strategy and grandeur. The whale is more than a match for Ahab, despite his dogged persistence, and in fact appears altogether unconquerable. From the beginning of the novel, we are confronted with the image of the whale as the personification of power and strength, as Stubb says in the inn, “If God where to be any fish, he would be a whale,” the quote proves that the whale holds a great deal of power. It’s also obvious that to confront a whale is much like confronting Mother Nature or God. One of the first remarks that makes about the whale is “Aye, it was Moby Dick that tore my body and soul until they bled into each other.” This quote, by captain Ahab, describes the whale as not only having power to destroy in the physical realm, but also to ruin in the spiritual world. Many biblical allusions in the story reinforce the notion that Moby Dick is an instrument of God if not God himself.Through these and other small clues and symbols, Melville hints that Moby Dick is sacred and godlike. He destroys those who seek to destroy Moby Dick. Harry Mackey, second mate of the Jeroboam, who pursues Moby Dick, is killed. However, Ahab, suggestive of an Old Testament conception of God, sees Moby Dick as unjust and too powerful. For the character Ahab, however, the whale represents only evil. Moby Dick is like a wall, hiding some unknown, a mysterious thing behind. Ahab wills the whole crew on the Pequod to join him in the pursuit of the big whale so as to pierce the wall, to root out the evil, but only to be destroyed by evil, in this case, by his own consuming desire, his madness.III. The Symbolic Meanings of AhabAhab is the central character and the primary focus of the novel, despite his mysterious and longdelayed appearance. Long before Ahab actually interacts with Ishmael and the other characters, Melville establishes him as an impressive and tragic figure, deserving of sympathy. Most of the details surrounding Ahab contain some elements of legend, such as the story that he loses one of his legs, and Melville further creates a tension between Ahab’s supposed grandeur and his more fearsome qualities. Pelage describes him as simultaneously that the dynamic between these sides of Ahab’s personality will form the primary internal struggle against Moby Dick. Melville additionally continues the Biblical allusions that dominate the character’s name. The name Ahab in Moby Dick is symbolic and taken from the Bible, in which Ahab is described as a king who turns vile, suggesting that the Ahab of this novel will be a similarly conflicted leader. Ahab is an evil man having had someone killed so he could be king. Mysterious captain Ahab, a bination of Macbeth, Job, and Milton’s Satan, appears after several days at sea. Melville names the character after the Israelite king who worshiped the pagan sun god Baal.Ahab’s blasphemous hunt of Moby Dick has made him a sinner against God. Ahab wants to look through the “pasteboard mask” of reality and see what is behind physical objects. He wants to look behind the mask of Moby Dick and see God, to challenge him and question his justness. Ahab believes God is oblivious to the suffering of mankind and even states, “ sometimes I think there’s naught beyond” the mask of Moby Dick. Not only has Ahab questioned God’s justice。 he has questioned God’s existence. This blasphemy against God and no acceptance of human limitations have made Ahab to harpoon God, God in the guise of Moby Dick.Melville many times in Moby Dick makes Ahab’s association with evil forces in the world apparent. Ahab declares himself to be mad and “demoniac”. He was called the AntiChrist by the church Fathers. Ahab sets sail on Christmas Day, leaving when Christ’s life begins, symbolizing Ahab’s opposition to Christ like values. Ahab also names his specially made harpoon in the name of the devil—“Ego no baptize tee in nominee patris, sed in nomine diaboli.” The translation of Ahab’s Latin is “I do not baptize thee in the name of the father, but in the name of devil.” Ahab baptizes his harpoon in the blood of his pagan harpooners. Queequeg, Dagoo, and Tashtego, Ahab’s personal whaleboat abounds with heathens, led by Fedallah, whose name suggests “devil, Allah,” the crusader view of Allah.Ahab is a deeply disturbe