Captain Ahab, the fifty-eight-year-old commander of the Pequod, is one of the most fascinating mortals in literary history. The reader sees him oscillate between sanity and madness, the latter winning each slight battle and eventually conquering his entire mind, body, and spirit. But this doesn't just happen to Ahab, for he plays an absolutely active role in his own demise. The choices he consciously makes, knowing the results that will follow, are of his own free will. This journey of self-destruction is spurred by four important turning points in the development of Ahab's mad suicide mission. The captain's preliminary altercation with Moby Dick, the night he convinces the crew of the Pequod to undertake their quest, Fedallah's prophecy and Ahab's decisive, fatal and irrevocable confrontation with the White Whale are the most important events. most significant and most striking in the life of the unfortunate captain. suicidal pilgrimage. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The first significant event in the development of Ahab's monomania is his first encounter with his obsession, Moby Dick. Although this event has already occurred when the reader first meets Captain Ahab, it is discussed and referred to throughout the text and serves as the necessary trigger for Ahab's obsession. When a young Ahab, confident enough to cover a lifetime of emotional and physical trauma, encounters an oceanic beast like Moby Dick, he is threatened with losing his precious leg to the whale's voracious and malicious jaws. Having a fanatical mother and an arduous existence, Ahab is no stranger to the inequalities of life. He has seen much evil and is separated from his wife and child, some of the only people he is capable of showing compassion for, due to his lonely and demanding life aboard the whaling ship. Ahab blames God for the injustice among men that his life illustrates, and therefore he believes that because God created such injustice, God is not perfect. This leads Ahab to the conclusion that he is even superior to the Creator. Because he robs Ahab of his independence and contributes to the inequality of Ahab's life by taking his leg, Moby Dick is the scapegoat Ahab needs for all this evil and hatred. In other words, Moby Dick, for Ahab, is God incarnate and conqueror. Because Ahab has a divine opinion of himself, he feels capable of destroying this evil and remaining unharmed. Without this starting point, which provides Ahab with the insane motivation to destroy the white whale, destroy all evil in his world, and defeat an unjust God, the doomed quest for Moby Dick's skin would not be undertaken. The decisive event in Ahab's journey of self-destruction is the night aboard the Pequod where he convinces his crew to become co-conspirators in his plot to annihilate the white whale. During his first official appearance before his crowd of sailors, he excites their curiosity by asking simple questions which become more and more fervent to draw them into his unhealthy travel plans. Ahab displays magnificent and frightening zeal as his passionate screams hypnotize and captivate his wild-eyed team. Cheering and shouting in harmony, Ahab's men can't help but get swept up in his plan as he feeds them alcohol, christens the harpooneers' weapons, and bonds the crew with his intoxicating, charismatic personality manipulative. This event is significant because Ahab has now convinced a large group of men to support his foolish pursuit. Because he got.