“I must turn idolator”: religious inversion and the quest for genuine faith in Moby-Dick

This thesis explores the major religious themes of repentance, redemption, and expiation in Moby-Dick. While critics have examined some of these themes in isolation, my thesis will demonstrate how Melville takes these Christian doctrines and inverts them in order to display a shift from traditional religious practice to a genuine faith for those outside of God's covenant people. Using Father Mapple's sermon on Jonah as a paradigm through which to see the other religious inversions, I will explore how Ishmael repents of a false view of immorality, finds redemption through an immoral union, and follows a wicked captain who offers the hope of expiating spiritual guilt. When seen together, these inverted religious themes help us understand the cohesive nature of Melville's religious allusions in Moby-Dick, and also explains how Melville can express in a letter: "I have written a wicked book and feel spotless as the lamb."

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Author dc:creator

• Dragoo, Will Marler

Contributors dc:contributor

• Shaheen, Aaron
• Jordan, Joseph; Stuart, Christopher
• College of Arts and Sciences

• Melville, Herman, 1819-1891 -- Moby Dick; Melville, Herman, 1819-1891 -- Criticism and interpretation

Licence

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

Language dc:language

English, eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/496

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1659