Moby Dick Characters

Character descriptions/roles in Moby Dick

Ishmael

• The narrator, and a junior member of the crew of the Pequod

• This character doesn’t play a major role in the events of the novel

• Speaks with eloquent verbose on whales and whaling

Captain Ahab

• Lost a leg to Moby Dick

• Dictatorial, but not unfair

• Represents humanity's struggle against nature.

• Egomaniacal and obsessive captain of Pequod

Moby Dick

• The great white sperm whale

• Aka: “The White Whale”

• Considered by Ahab the incarnation of evil and a fated nemesis

• Infamous and dangerous threat to seamen

Starbuck

• FIRST mate of Pequod

• Questions Ahab’s judgement

• A voice of reason aboard the ship, acts as a conservative force against Ahab’s mania

• Pragmatic and loyal, he represents the moral compass among the crew

• Quaker who believes Christianity offers a way to interpret world around him

Queequeg

• Starbuck’s skilled harpooner

• Narrator’s best friend

• Once a prince from a south sea island

• Cannibal with tattoos

• Stowed away on a whaling ship in search of adventure

• Brave and generous

• Enables Ishmael to see that race has no bearing on a man’s character

Stubb

• SECOND mate of Pequod

• Mischievous, good humor, easy going, popular

• Nihilist, always trusting in fate

• Refuses to assign too much significance to anything

Tastego

• Stubb’s harpooner

• Gay Head Indian from Martha’s Vineyard, one of the last of a tribe about to disapear.

• Can perform skilled tasks (tapping case of spermaceti in whale’s head)

• embodies characteristics of “noble savage” → meant to defy racial sterotypes

• craves rum

• less practical/intellectual than Queequeg

Flask

• THIRD mate of Pequod

• Native of Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard

• Short, stocky

• Confrontational attitude, no reverence for anything

• Nicknamed “King Post” → resembles certain type of short, square timber

Daggoo

• Flask’s harpooner

• Physically enormous, imperious-looking African

• stowed away on a whaling ship near home (like Queequeg)

• Not very prominent in story

Pip

• Young Black boy → fills role of cabin boy/jester on Pequod

• Goes insane after being left to drift alone in the sea for some time

• Half idiot, half prophet → often perceives things that others don’t

Fedallah

• Strange “oriental” old Parsee (Persian fire-worshipper) whom Ahab brought on board (unbeknownst to most of the crew)

• Has turban made of his own hair, black Chinese jacket and pants

• (almost) supernaturally skilled hunter

• Prophet to Ahab

• viewed with unease by rest of the crew

Peleg

• Retired whaleman of Nantucket

• Quaker

• 1 of 2 owners of Pequod, takes care of hiring crew

• Slightly more generous than Captain Bildad when negotiating wages for Ishmael and Queeqeug

Father Mapple

• Former whaleman

• Currently the preacher in New Bedford Whaleman’s Chapel

• Delivered a sermon on Jonah and the whale

• An example of someone whose trials have led him toward God rather than bitterness/revenge

Captain Boomer

• Jovial captain of the Samuel Enderby (English whaling ship)

• Lost his arm in an accident w/ Moby Dick

• Foil to Ahab, two men react in different ways to the same experience

  • He is glad to have escaped with his life

  • Sees further pursuit of the whale as madness

Gabriel

• Sailor aboard the Jeroboam

• Prophesied that Moby Dick is the incarnation of the Shaker God → any attempts to harm him = disaster

Steelkilt

• Sailor from Buffalo

• Instigates a mutiny aboard the Town-Ho (American whaling ship the Pequod encounters)

• Seeks revenge/murder on Radney (recieved condescending treatment from)

• Ends up not killing Radney

Bildad

• Other co owner of Pequod

• Quaker

• Retired whaleman from Nantucket

Elijah

• Strange man who prophesies doom for the Pequod

  • biblical illusion - prophet who told King Ahab that there would be no rain, calls out the prophets of Baal, hears God as a small, still voice - 1 Kings 19:18

Fleece

• Cook aboard the Pequod

• Preaches a sermon to the sharks

Perth

• Blacksmith who makes Ahab’s harpoon

Peleg and Bildad

• Biblical allusion: one of Job’s three friends

• The co owners of Pequod

Dough boy

• The pale, nervous steward of the ship

• Black man

The carpenter (nameless)

• Ahab calls on him to fashion a new whalebone leg after the one he wears is damaged

Jonah

• Biblical character

• Subject of Father Mapple’s sermon

• God told him to take his message to Ninevah but he didn’t and tried to escape from God by boarding a ship to a different land.

• Swallowed by a whale before he was spit out after agreeing to go to Ninevah

Peter Coffin

• Landlord of the Spouter-Inn

Bulkington

• Sailor that Ishmael first meets in the Spouting-Inn and sees on the deck of the Pequod

• Holds himself apart from the other men when first spotted by Ishmael

Aunt Charity

• Bildad’s sister

• Helps get the ship ready to sail

• tries to prohibit the men from drinking on the ship

• Gives harpooners a teapot and ginger tea to drink instead of liquor (teapot is thrown overboard)

Radney

• Mate of Town-Ho

• Cowardly man who is killed by Moby Dick

• Flogs (whips) Steelkilt

Pequod

• Ship on which most of the book takes place

• Sunk by Moby Dick

Mrs. Hussey

• Wife of the landlord of the Try Pots Inn, she runs the place while he is away

Yojo

• The small idol that Queequeg worships

• Queequeg prays to it each night before retiring to bed and consults it before any decision

• It tells him that Ishmael has to pick the ship the two men are to sail on

Nantucket

• City from which the Pequod starts its Journey

• The city where American whaling first began

• Located near Cape Cod in Massachusets

Spouter Inn

• The inn where Ishmael meets Queequeg

• A whaler’s inn, has various whaling weapons hung on walls, bar set inside jaw of a whale

• Mysterious whale painting

• Landlord is Peter Coffin

The Samuel Enderby

• A British sailing ship

• Its captain lost an arm to Moby Dick

The Rachel

• A ship whose captain lost his son to Moby Dick

• Ahab refuses the captain’s help to find the lost boy

• The ship that picks up Ishmael after the Pequod sinks

The Delight

• The last ship the Pequod sees

• Seen dropping a body into the ocean

• Have lost three other men in hunting Moby Dick

Sperm Whale

• The type of whale Moby Dick is

• Huge rounded heads

• Hunted for their spermeceti (stored in their heads)

• Largest toothed whale

• Largest toothed predator

Right Whale

• Large, mostly black whale with whitish patches on the head and belly

• No dorsal fin

• Graceful, deeply notched “fluke” or tail

• Thick blubber that yielded a lot of oil

• Was an early favorite of whalers

• They remain afloat after they’ve been killed

Kokovoko

• Queequeg’s home

• Island in the South Pacific

• “Not down on any map, true places never are”

Hosea Hussey

• Cousin of Peter Coffin

• Landlord of Try Pots Inn

• Not seen in the book

Archy

• Sailor on the Pequod with excellent hearing

• Knows there are stowaways on the boat → hears them coughing

Cabaco

• Does not believe Archy when he says there are stowaways

Cassock

• Type of robe often worn by priests

• In Moby Dick, it is made of the skin from a whale’s private part

Captain Gardiner

• Captain of the Rachel

• Lost his son at sea (frantically looking for him)

• His boat saves Ishmael

Dereck De Deer

• Captain of the Jungfrau (German whaling ship (“the virgin”))

• Comes to Pequod to beg for oil

• Tries to out race the Pequod in pursuit of a whale

• Has captured no whales

• Needs oil for lamps

• Trying to catch a fin whale at the time

Manxman

• The oldest sailor aboard the Pequod

• Passes occasional words of wisdom

Captain Mayhew

• Captain of the Jeroboam

Harem

• Females in a “school” of whales, with one male “lord”

Doctor Bunger

• Doctor on the Samuel Enderby