Moby-Dick Moby-Dick Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship "Pequod", for revenge on Moby Dick, the white whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, the work's genre classifications range from late Romantic to early Symbolist. "Moby-Dick" was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as
Moby Dick (1998 miniseries) of Starbuck to stop chasing Moby Dick because the ship is operating at a loss and the quest for the sperm whale could end in everyone's death. Queequeg engages in passive resistance by completing refusing to do any work on the ship and throws down his harpoon. At the end, Ahab dies in his attempt to kill Moby Dick. The whaling ship sinks. Patrick Stewart took the lead role shortly after making a striking reference to the book, and quoting from it, in "". Gregory Peck appeared as Father Mapple more than 40 years after he played Ahab in the