Richard B. Sewall Claims That Melvilles Vision In Moby-Dick Is A Cruel

Richard B. Sewall claims that Melville's vision in Moby-Dick is a cruel reminder of the original terror, in which all moral judgements are accompanied by tensions, paradoxes, and ambiguities. In response to this statement, I agree that all moral judgements are fraught with tensions, paradoxes and ambiguities. Much of Ishmael's experiences while on land and at sea deal with making moral judgements; the act of forming an opinion by discerning what is right and wrong. Melville uses Ishmael to prove his vision that moral judgements are derived from (life) experiences directly affected by tensions, paradoxes, and ambiguities. Melville uses excellent representations of how tension can impact moral judgement making. Ishmael undergoes a particular situation in which tension directly affects his process of analyzing and judgement making. There is an obvious tension between Captain Ahab and the crew of the Pequod due to Ahab's silent intensity and self-concentrated desire to kill Moby-Dick. Ahab seems to be in his own world, loosing himself to the temptations of getting revenge on the White Whale. Ishmael makes note of this unspoken tension while looking for him during his watch. ...I instantly gazed aft to mark if any strange face were visible; for my first vague disquietude touching the unknown captain, now in the seclusion of the sea, became almost a perturbation...but whatever it was of apprehensiveness or uneasiness-to call it so-which I felt...(Melville, 109). Although Ishmael had not seen Ahab yet, he found it peculiar that he remained secluded in his quarters below the deck. This instance creates tensi on in Ishmael's mind, making him second-guess his attendance aboard the Pequod. This tension was the perfect recipe to help Ishmael decide how much he would want to interact with Ahab. In other instances, Melville uses the whale to show how paradoxes can affect judgement. When Stubb kills a whale in Chapter 61, Ishmael lingers around the incident, explaining first exactly what the dart is and what the crotch is. When Ishmael wants to examine representations of whales, he looks at monstrous and less erroneous pictures of whales and then depictions of whales in paint, teeth, wood, sheet-iron, stone, mountains, and stars. This commitment to analyzing the whale in general creates a paradox in that Ishmael either underestimates or overestimates the whale and its characteristics. It is a constant contradiction that affects Ishmael's judgement in a way that makes him feel either at ease or unrest with the whale. Melville states the ambiguity of experience in the chapter Queequeg in his Coffin. When Queequeg is seized by fever, he orders his coffin in the shape of a canoe. When he recovers, he uses it as a storage chest and an object of art. Later, the coffin is used as a life preserve/buoy for Ishmael. The general idea Melville portrays is that the meaning of an object is determined by an individual, and not in itself. Melville uses Ishmael as the direct link to Queequeg and his coffin when the ship sinks. The different perceptions of the coffin more or less deal with foreshadowing, and Ishmael's desire to analyze the future and judge for himself what is best for him. Melville had many ways of portraying how moral judgements can be impacted. I believe Sewall's claim that all moral judgements are fraught with tensions, paradoxes, and ambiguities to directly apply to moral judgement, as Melville portrayed this through Ishmael and particular events that took place in the novel. Sewall was accurate in his statement in that these three elements can greatly affect a person and their moral sense of judgement. Richard B. Sewall claims that Melville's vision in Moby-Dick is a cruel reminder of the original terror, in which all moral judgements are accompanied by tensions, paradoxes, and ambiguities. In response to this statement, I agree that all moral judgements are fraught with tensions, paradoxes and ambiguities. Much of Ishmael's experiences while on land and at sea deal with making moral judgements; the act of forming an opinion by discerning what is right and wrong. Melville uses Ishmael to prove his vision that moral judgements are derived from (life) experiences directly affected by tensions, paradoxes, and ambiguities. Melville uses excellent representations of how tension can impact moral judgement making. Ishmael undergoes a particular situation in