Ishmael is the narrator of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, published in 1851, opening the novel with one of the most famous first lines in English literature, Call me Ishmael. A restless young sailor who signs onto the whaling ship Pequod out of Nantucket seeking adventure, Ishmael becomes the observer and chronicler of the voyage commanded by the monomaniacal Captain Ahab, whose sole purpose is hunting down Moby Dick, the white sperm whale that took his leg on an earlier voyage. Ishmael forms a close bond with the Polynesian harpooner Queequeg before the ship sails, and throughout the novel his narration alternates between the unfolding events aboard ship and lengthy digressions on whaling, natural history and philosophy. When the Pequod is finally destroyed by Moby Dick and the entire crew is killed, Ishmael alone survives, kept afloat on Queequeg's coffin until he is picked up by a passing ship, making him both the novel's narrator and its sole witness to Ahab's destruction.
Facts
Narrative RoleSourced to the subject's own accountFirst-person narrator of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), whose famous opening line "Call me Ishmael" introduces the novel, though early critics mistook Captain Ahab for the true protagonist. 1 Defining TraitSourced to the subject's own accountNamed for the Biblical outcast, Ishmael wanders upon the sea rather than the desert, and later critics have seen his mystic, speculative consciousness as the novel's true central force. 1 Narrative role (class)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
Sources
1. Ishmael (Moby-Dick) (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, paragraph 1
He is the first-person narrator of the book.
Lead section, paragraph 2
By contrast with his eponym from the Book of Genesis, who is banished into the desert, Melville's Ishmael wanders upon the sea.
Lead section, central force
Later critics distinguished Ishmael from Melville, and some saw his mystic and speculative consciousness as the novel's central force rather than Captain Ahab's monomaniacal force of will.
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ishmael or Captain Ahab the real protagonist of Moby-Dick?
Ishmael narrates the whole novel, but he recedes into the background once the Pequod sails, which led early critics of Moby-Dick to treat Captain Ahab as its true protagonist. Later critics separated Ishmael from Melville himself and argued that Ishmael's own restless, questioning mind, not Ahab's obsession, is really the novel's central force.
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