Moby Dick
"Command the murderous chalices! Drink ye harpooners! Drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful whaleboat's bow -- Death to Moby Dick!" So Captain Ahab binds his crew to fulfil his obsession -- the destruction of the great white whale. Under his lordly but maniacal command the Pequod's commercial mission is perverted to one of vengeance. To Ahab, the monster that destroyed his body is not a creature, but the symbol of "some unknown but still reasoning thing." Uncowed by natural disasters, ill omens, even death, Ahab urges his ship towards "the undeliverable, nameless perils of the whale." Key letters from Melville to Nathaniel Hawthorne are printed at the end of this volume.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Moby Dick
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Call me Ishmael. A young man signs onto the Pequod, a Nantucket whaler, and discovers the ship's captain Ahab is not whaling for profit. He wants the white whale that took his leg, and the rest of the world second.
Yes. Moby-Dick was first published in 1851 and is in the public domain. Free editions are available legally through Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, and similar archives.
Yes. Moby-Dick mixes narrative chapters with detailed essays on whaling, biology, and philosophy. The 19th-century prose is rich. Many readers either skim the digressive chapters or skip them on a first read. The novel rewards patience.
Moby Dick is 452 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Moby Dick takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
Moby Dick is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
Moby Dick is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.