The Madness of Humanity—An Analysis of Moby Dick with Lacan’s Desire Theory

黃鵬飛

【Abstract】The author of this thesis firstly has a brief introduction on Herman Melville and his works. With a general review on the studies of Herman Melville and his works， the necessity to write this thesis is provided to its readers. By analyzing the different levels of desire the characters have in Moby Dick， and according to the desire theory of Lacan， the statement of this thesis is exposed—characters in Moby Dick have different levels of desire， being satisfied or unsatisfied， they are driven into madness by the desires they have， and become inhumanity.

【Keywords】madness； need； demand； desire； Moby Dick

【中圖分類號】I712 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2019）06-0226-02

Introduction

Herman Melville is one of the most famous writers in American Romanticism， as a representative romantic writer in 19th century， he is not only a great writer who is good at novels， but also a famous poet and proser. Based on his rich experience on navigation， Herman Melville finished a large number of exciting stories with his exclusive and insight viewpoint. Although as one of the most important writers in the period of romanticism， most of Herman Melvilles works are widely known as works with deep realistic features. It is clear that Herman Melville is a prolific writer， among all the novels and his later poems， Moby Dick is universally regarded as one of the most important and best one by the critics and public. Published in 1851， the novel Moby Dick was also titled as The Whale， it is a book that attracted many readers when it came into being. However， the length of the novel stops many readers so that the selling of this book is limited.

I.Need—The Crews Struggle for Material Security

A.The Crews Need for Basic Living

For most of the characters in Moby Dick， the same need were shared. Like the narrator Ismael， people in Nantucket and other harbors with whaling ships depended on the income from whaling. They all have the need to earn money and bought the basic living stuffs they need for a better life， no matter it is the captains of the ships or the mates and sailors on them， or the people who ran business on the land. For the people on the harbor and the crew on the ship， a whale captured means the oil collected， and the oil means money they can get for the security of daily life. As the symbol of fortune and power， money plays an indispensable role in human society， without which， man can not live in the modern society and will starve to death. For Ismael， he can not afford the life without it， and the lacking of money is the reason that forces him to choose the road to the coast where he can find a whaling ship to hire him as a sailor.

B.The Crews Need for Material Security

Apart from the need for food and water， there were other types of needs that belong to the first level of desire. As important as water and food， the oil on the ship is very precious， for without it the ship will have no light， the seamens life on the ship would be bleak， worse， the profit would greatly shrink，. This would be the greatest cost for the seamens years work on the ship. The oil of whale was so important for the whaling ship that different ships would compete for the capturing of a whale even with the sacrifice of the friendship between the two ships.

II.Demand—The Crews Seeking for Love and Accom？鄄pany

A.The Crews Demand for Love and Care

In the case of Moby Dick， the demand level of desire was estimated by the relationship between Ismael and Queequeg.

Ismael was a person who went whaling to make his first level of desire， Queequeg started his journey in order to learn advanced culture to tutor his people. However， both of them faced difficulties in the process of satisfying themselves and their needs can not be met in a short time. With similar experiences， they felt disappointed and suffered from the difficulties caused by life. As a new hand on the whaling ship， Ismael wanted a person from whom he can learn and be companied； as a depressed prince of his tribe， Queequeg also wanted someone to company him for he has neither friends nor family at the land he once expected to live in. In this way， the same demand of the two people put them together， and a special friendship between these two people was originated. Ismael finally agrees to share the bed with Queequeg， the time spent together with the savage at first was tough for Ismael was scared by the dark， purplish and yellow colored face， covered with large and black squares， the face of the savage is hard for Ismael to recognize. However， with the help of the hotel keeper， these two people began to know each other and got along with each other. The two people began their life together in an harmonious way.

B.The Crews Demand for Accompany

Another type of demand that happened among the crew of the ship is the crew members demand for company.

However， different from the demand between Ismael and Queequeg， the second type of demand is company the crew needed. What they wanted is the accompanying of the other person or people， or say， they wanted a person or several people to talk and communicate with， to exchange their views on the capturing of whale， on the experiences of what they had during the past years or the last sailings. But not a type of demand for love and tender love from the other one.

III.Desire—The Crews Madness Driven by Their Desires

Among all the characters in Moby Dick， Ahab is no doubt the most controversial and the most popular one that receives the wide study and discussion by the critics and the public. Different from the other crew on board， he has a stronger desire， which is the third level of the desire theory. Driven by his desire to revenge， he set the killing of Moby Dick as his ultimate life goal. The desire to revenge has become an indispensable part of his body， it is so strong that the carrier of it， Ahab， lost himself in the revenge. In order to kill the whale and revenge for his lost leg， he seek for the whale on the vast and bleak oceans， and begins his journey of revenge at all hazards. This journey itself is a mad behavior， for a whaling ship on the ocean is like a mite on an elephant， while the whale Moby Dick is a drop in the ocean.

Another example to prove the madness of captain Ahab is the pot of oil leaking， through the different attitudes held by the first mate and the captain， Ahabs madness driven by his revenge was once again estimated.

Conclusion

With the introduction of Lacans desire theory， this thesis had the different desires of the characters examined from three different aspects， which were respectively， the first level of desire， need； the second level of desire， demand； and the third level of desire， desire. The characters included were the crew on the whaling ship Pequod， as the sailors or harpooneers on the whaling ship， all of them wanted something from it， and all of them had different sorts of desires. Some of them had only one type of desire， some of them had two of them， while some of them had all the three different levels of desire.