Abstract: Moby Dick is one of the masterpieces written by Herman Melville. The book tells the story of a deranged whaling Captain Ahab’s obsession to pursue and capture the great white whale that has ripped off his leg. Many critics have studied Captain Ahab who is one of the controversial protagonists in literature research from different angles. However, there are not many researches on Ahab’s immortality from the perspective of archetype. This thesis aims to use Frye's archetypal criticism to interpret this great novel and the archetypal significance of the protagonist’s death, to some extent, with the reference value letting readers recognize Ahab anew and understand the archetypal meaning of his immortality of death. This thesis is composed of five parts.The first part of my thesis is a brief introduction, including the writer, his writings, and literature review. Section two is the introduction to the definition of Archetype and death motif. Section three is the detailed study of the Captain Ahab’s immortality according to his adventurous quest, mortal challenge, and immortal funeral. Section four is the deduction of the archetypal significance of Ahab’s Death. The last part is the conclusion of the thesis which states the immortality of Captain Ahab. From a new perspective , the readers will have a new sight into him. |
