Symbolism in Moby Dick

Abstract：Moby Dick is the masterpiece of Herman Melville， a famous American novelist of 19th century， who uses the symbolic methods in the novel and makes the novel full of the permanent artistic charm and the literary value above time and space， and symbolism is also considered the most significant feature of the work.

摘 要：《白鯨》是19世紀美國著名小說家赫爾曼·麥爾維爾的鴻篇巨制。作者在小說中充分使用了象征主義手法，使小說充滿了永久的藝術魅力和超越時空的文學價值。象征主義也被認為是此杰作中的最顯著特征。

Key words：Symbolism；Moby Dick ；Herman Melville

關鍵詞：象征主義；白鯨 ；赫爾曼·麥爾維爾

作者簡介:高紅霞，女（1987.7-），籍貫：河北省衡水市，西南交通大學外國語學院，外國語言學與應用語言學碩士研究生，研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐。

[中圖分類號]：I106 [文獻標識碼]：A [文章編號]：1002-2139(2011)-15-0010-01

Herman Melville's iconic novel Moby-dick contains dozens of symbolic images artfully connected and expanded. The power of the imagery lies in how the symbols reappear throughout， like a juggler's balls constantly in the air. These range from lofty literary and Biblical allusions to simple words with archetypal associations.

Moby Dick’s “white abnormal forehead” \"Pyramid-like white hump\" is very elusive. It not only represents peace and noble but also symbolizes evil and horror， or it is simply the embodiment of contradictions and conflicts. It is not only a symbol of evil and terror， also on behalf of kindness and innocence. That makes it as a combination of contradictions.

White represents the mystery of the universe. From the very beginning Ishmael admits “what scares me most is its white skin”， which leaves him numerous imaginations. White also symbolizes death， so that Ishmael thinks it is elusive and formidable. The cruel rulers’ skin color white and the color of Moby Dick coincide with each other at here. Therefore， white has a symbolic meaning of scary and evil.

At the same time， white symbolizes purity and innocence. The author believes that white is very quiet， very peaceful， very friendly. As long as human beings are able to understand the mutual existence between human and nature and not to bother it， it will not destroy human.

In the novel， the sailors’ struggle with the white whale symbolizes the struggle between man and nature. Moby Dick is freely living in the nature who never takes the initiative to get close to humans， and never take the initiative to attack humans， but the evil sides of sailors’ humanity are doing everything possible to conquer and destroy it， so finally destroy themselves.

In addition， Moby Dick is also on behalf of the mystery of the universe. This is also one of the author's pessimism: in front of the powerful nature， humans’ nature is powerless and tiny. They will never discover the mystery of the nature .In short， Moby Dick has multi-symbolic meanings.

The enormous symbolisms employed it this novel have attached far-reaching significance to the story. These symbols run through the novel， which are necessary to develop and deepen the theme of the works and enlighten the ideas of the book. Therefore， it is a reader- friendly， elaborate but understandable masterpiece.

References:

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