The Sublime In Moby Dick

Herman Melville is a famous American writer. His master work Moby Dick describes the captain Ahab’s adventure to hunt the white whale Moby Dick for revenge. By using the Kantian philosophy of the sublime as the theoretical framework, this thesis tries to offer an aesthetic interpretation of the novel Moby Dick, arguing that the images in the novel, such as the sea, the white whale Moby Dick, and the characters such as the captain Ahab is an embodiment of Kantian concepts of the sublime.Structurally, the thesis is divided into seven parts. The first part is the introduction part. It provides the thesis statement and the structure of the thesis. The second part gives out the literature review about the studies on Moby Dick. The third part explores the concept of the sublime by drawing on the Kantian theory of sublimity The fourth part elaborates on the hero of the novel Ahab, focusing on his hatred, determination and tragic destiny, arguing that Ahab himself is an embodiment of the sublime. The fifth part discusses the sea in the novel and its embodiment of Kant’s the mathematical and dynamical sublimity. The sixth part discusses the white whale Moby Dick, who is an image of the great power and the nature and its embodiment of the dynamical sublimity. The final part concludes that Ahab’s irrational revenge and death show the aesthetics of tragedy. The whole novel and the hero Ahab are embodiment of the sublime.