In Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, the struggle between the characters' romantic, religious, and sometimes overly emotional intent and their reasonable nature creates the complexities faced on the Pequod, the ship led by Ahab. This competition is exacerbated by the believed influence of God in man's problems, shown by the multitude of appeals of figures such as Ahab. Romanticism, after all, allows you to ignore the factual reality of events that happen and instead allows you to attach your own values ​​and meanings to situations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay On the third and final day of the hunt for Moby-Dick, Ahab defines the dichotomy found in the man as he tries to sight the whale: “Here is food for thought, Ahab had time to think; but Ahab never thinks; just feels, feels, feels; this is tingling enough for a mortal man! thinking is audacity. Only God has this right and privilege. Thinking is, or should be, coolness and calm; and our poor hearts beat, and our poor brains beat too much for it” (419). The repetition of “think” in the monologue highlights the distinction from the other repeated word “feel”. Ahab means to clearly demonstrate a duality that exists within a person regarding emotion, or romance, and thought, or reason. Although both halves exist, the only active part of man should be his feelings, since reason belongs to God. Ahab notes that “thinking is boldness,” calling the use of thought blasphemy, as such power remains the “privilege” of God; this connotes a superiority of reason over emotion. This classification of parts creates greater complexity as Ahab wants men to choose the inferior side, perhaps because he believes that men are not worthy of, or capable of, right thinking. However, Ahab attempts to be the God of his crew through the use of feelings and his absolute will, convincing his men to do exactly what he wishes. The irony of this situation, as Ahab recognizes that emotions are inferior to reason and yet desires his feelings to subjugate his crew, demonstrates Ahab's desire to become the God of his ship, but a "God" aware of being inferior and imperfect. In fact, he states that the calm necessary for thought cannot be found in men due to the speed and ferocity with which emotions control their weak bodies, making their "poor hearts" and "poor brains" palpitate. These phrases also connect the emotional to the irrational, as demonstrated by the liveliness of the action fueled by feelings, further showing Ahab's romantic nature. This philosophy of Ahab indicates the great disconnect from reality that Ahab expresses in his actions and worldview. Ahab's romantic intentions lead him to emphasize the emotional and even the irrational, rejecting reasonable and logical situations. Ahab continues to hunt Moby-Dick, using his fatalistic feeling that he is destined to kill the whale to motivate his impulses; in fact, thinking logically about the outcome of the fight against Moby-Dick, taking into account past experiences and the warnings of others, would lead Ahab to reject the hunt. Although Ahab's fatalism drives him to continue the search for Moby-Dick and put his need for revenge before logical consequences, his romantic nature initiates this negative tendency. In order not to dwell on the probable catastrophe resulting from the attempt to kill the whale, Ahab inserts a form of optimism by not analyzing the possibilities of success, but only hisfeelings of revenge. Not thinking about the risks the journey truly entails, but only about the joy he will feel in completing his quest, Ahab demonstrates why he only has feelings. In fact, Ahab knows that he must use these feelings to motivate himself, and perhaps even thinks he must, because these angry emotions will provide a better chance of continuing and succeeding in his destiny. Ahab also appeals to God to achieve this goal, displaying a religious devotion that matches his perception of the world. He once again demonstrates his divine reign over the ship, going from “Ahab never thinks” to considering any man's thinking to be sinful. In this way, Ahab uses his feelings, entirely subjective opinions, to create a meaning of events that differs greatly from the realistic nature of the past and present. Ahab’s invective against Starbuck’s accusation of subjecting everyone to arduous labor for a whale further invokes Ahab’s romanticized nature and his view of events: “Take out your eye! more intolerable than the glances of demons is a dull look! So so; you redder and paler; my heat melted you, transforming you into a burning rage. But look, Starbuck, what is said in heat, that thing is not said by itself. There are men for whom affectionate words are a small humiliation. I didn't mean to incense you” (140). Ahab uses words such as "redder", "heat", "melted", "flare of anger", "hot words", and "incense" in a heat motif throughout this monologue to emphasize the ferocity of the emotions he feels due to what he perceives as Starbuck's unfounded complaint. Ahab interprets the meaning of Starbuck's question as a challenge to his plans rather than genuine concern from a friend, which demonstrates how a romantic nature can distract from reasonable thought. Ahab's romantic intentions lead him to see himself as the most important character in his narrative and cause him to view events that occur in the past and present as either supporting or opposing his destiny. This behavior causes Ahab to view anything that does not agree with his fatalism as inferior, such as Starbuck, who he notes has a "stupid look", connoting a complete lack of respect for his first mate. Indeed, Ahab sees Starbuck's outburst as worse than a "devil's glare," appealing to a biblical allusion to link Starbuck, who opposes his plans, to a creature from Hell. In another appeal to religion, Ahab demonstrates how strongly he feels that his way is the right one and that those who approach him do so from a diabolical or nefarious point of view. Ahab's romantic nature is also found in Pip, although in a more perverse way. As the crew saves Pip from drowning, Ishmael talks about the romantic change that comes to Pip in the water. “He saw the foot of God on the treadle of the loom and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad. Therefore the madness of man is the meaning of heaven; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that heavenly thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frenetic; and for better or worse, he then feels intransigent, indifferent like his God” (321-2). As Pip is drowning, in a near-death situation, he knows that no logical thought could save him, leaving him only with the emotion of hope. Therefore, he believes that God saved him from drowning, noted by seeing “God's foot on the treadle of the loom”; this idea omits the fact that Pip's shipmates actually saved him from death, demonstrating why "his shipmates called him mad". This example shows how you can interpret factual reality to assign your own.