Moby Dick: Symbolic And Physical Warnings

How Symbolic and Physical Warnings are Used Differently in two Versions of Moby Dick to Convey the Same Theme
The ideas of heeding warnings and omens, as well as learning from mistakes, comprise the main theme of Moby Dick, as appearing in both its original literary work by Herman Melville published in 1851, and its filmic adaptation by Anton Diether from 1998. While Melville's written story narrates the hunt for Moby Dick (the antagonist) and by doing so, meticulously describes the history of whaling and life aboard a whaler, Anton Diether's filmic version steers away from this informative endeavor, and instead concentrates directly on the hunt of Moby Dick. This difference between the two versions affects the method of conveying their shared theme to the audience. Differences between the two versions’ usage of symbolic and physical warnings result in the book connecting the reader to its theme through large amounts of subtle and internalizing detail, while the film through concise and focused superficial yet powerful details.

The text provides numerous small and subtle warnings of the fate of the protagonist and his crew. For instance, in the text the protagonist needed a weapon with which to slay Moby Dick, however, he completed part of the harpoon’s construction himself and then quenched the blade in blood. This example builds on the idea of the protagonist forming his own destiny, which in turn foreshadows doom in a story with so much allegorical biblical meaning as Moby Dick. The film leaves out many of these symbolic warnings, only including the few instances directly related to the hunt for Moby Dick. For example, it uses the symbol of St. Elmo’s Fire to illustrate Ahab's connection to the devil, and the wrath of god, which far more clearly relates a sense of impending