|
Ishmael is a fictional character, the protagonist in Herman Melville's ''Moby-Dick'' (1851). Ishmael, the only surviving crewmember of the ''Pequod'', is the narrator of the book. As a character he is a few years younger than as a narrator. His importance relies on his role as narrator; as a character, he is only a minor participant in the action. The name has come to symbolize orphans, exiles, and social outcasts. Because he was the first person narrator, much early criticism of ''Moby-Dick'' either confused Ishmael with the author himself or overlooked him. From the mid-twentieth century onward, critics distinguished Ishmael from Melville. They established Ishmael's mystic and speculative consciousness as a central force in the book in contrast to Captain Ahab's monomaniacal force of will. By contrast with his namesake Ishmael from Genesis, who is banished into the desert, Ishmael is wandering upon the sea. Each Ishmael, however, experiences a miraculous rescue; one from thirst, the other as the lone surviving crew-member. == Characteristics == Both Ahab and Ishmael are fascinated by the whale, but whereas Ahab perceives him exclusively as evil, Ishmael keeps an open mind. Ishmael's worldview is not static, as Ahab's is, but flux. "And flux in turn ... is the chief characteristic of Ishmael himself."〔Sweeney (1975), 94〕 In the chapter "The Doubloon," Ishmael reports how each spectator sees his own personality reflected in the coin, but does not look at it himself. Only fourteen chapters later, in "The Guilder," does he participate in "what is clearly a recapitulation" of the earlier chapter.〔Sweeney (1975), 93〕 The difference is that the surface of the golden sea in "The Guilder" is alive, whereas the surface of the doubloon is unalterably fixed, "only one of several contrasts between Ishmael and Ahab."〔Sweeney (1975), 95〕 Ishmael meditates on a wide range of topics. In addition to explicitly philosophical references, in Chapter 89, for instance, he expounds on the legal concept, Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish, which he takes to mean that possession, rather than a moral claim, bestows the right of ownership. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ishmael (Moby-Dick)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|