The duality of man in Moby Dick In Herman Melville's novel, Moby Dick, each character is a symbol of the good and bad sides of humanity . However, none of the characters represent pure evil or pure goodness. Even Melville's description of Ahab, which here repeatedly refers to the monomaniac, suggesting that he is driven mad by a single goal, has a chance of being seen as a frail and sympathetic character. Ishmael represents the character with the most good in the crew, even if his survival. is unclear because he never had a direct opponent to defeat. He has his moments when bad thoughts invade his mind. The lack of clarity of morality in the universe is prevalent throughout Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The outcome of choosing good or evil cannot be considered favorable or just. Ahab is the main human character in the novel. He is also the captain of the ship and is considered the representative of evil. Then there is Ishmaël, the young sailor, who is making his first real journey. He is in pure comparison to Ahab because he has no need for revenge. Ultimately, it is the dichotomy between the respective fortunes of Ishmael and Ahab that remains with the reader. There is a greater moral ambiguity here than previously suggested. Although Ishmael is the only survivor of the Pequod, it is remarkable that in his own way, Ahab realizes his desire for revenge by ensuring the destruction of the White Whale alongside his own death. Despite the apparent superiority of Ishmael's fate, Melville does not explicitly state it. . Rather, he subtly suggests that Ishmael's survival is lonely and empty after being rescued: "It was Rachel, the sneaky cruise, who in her trace section...... middle of paper ... ...reader, a moral hierarchy, and in doing so, remains ambiguous The reader is then left with the possibility of attributing symbolic relationships between the characters. If we look at them on the largest scale, it is possible to see the. whale and the sea as a morally ambivalent cosmos the fault of Ahab and the crew of the Pequod is their vain attempt to master a force of nature far beyond their comprehension, and are destroyed for it. of Ishmael floating helplessly on the ocean, without even the wreckage of the Pequod, then becomes a surprisingly lonely image of humanity adrift in a universe that is neither good nor bad. The uncertainty of each character's final outcome brings. to wonder if good or evil has triumphed in this novel New York: bantam., 1967.