허먼 멜빌의 『모비 딕』

Moby Dick by Herman Melville: The Conflicts and Challenges against Melville s Christian Doctrine

The purpose of this study is to show the challenges and conflicts of Herman Melville s Christian doctrine through the analysis of Moby Dick. Melville has a lifelong interest in the Christian faith and the Bible. He becomes interested in the doctrine of Calvinism through the influence of the religious education. Melville shows his view of Christian doctrine through Captain Ahab and Ishmael, who are similar to him. Melville describes his intentions through Ahab about the predestination. Ahab loses his leg to Moby Dick, a white whale. This pain causes Ahab to seek vengeance against Moby Dick. However, this vengeance was already predestinated for Ahab a million years ago, and he blames the predestination of God. On the other hand, an example of free will is described through Ishmael, the narrator of this novel. Ishmael likens it to the loom weaving the fabric of destiny. In other words, the movement of the loom is the same as the free will. The intended destiny is that it changes into various forms, such as a coincidence, or a movement of a stick that binds a shuttle according to free will. Therefore, Melville protestes against predestination through Ahab, and Ishmael s philosophical thoughts raise his objection to Calvinist agenda.