Ishmael (Moby-Dick) Biblical in origin: in Genesis 16:1-16; 17:18-25; 21:6-21; 25:9-17, Ishmael was the son of Abraham by the servant Hagar. In 16:11-12, the most significant verses for Melville's allegory, Hagar was cast off after the birth of Isaac, who inherited the covenant of the Lord instead of his older half-brother. Melville shapes his allegory to the Biblical Ishmael as follows: And so the name points to a Biblical analogy that marks Ishmael as the prototype of "wanderer and outcast," the man set at odds with his fellows. Wright says that all Melville's heroes—with the exception of Benito Cereno and Billy Budd—are
Ishmael / For the Lord has paid heed to your suffering." Abraham was blessed so that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. God would make of Ishmael a great nation because he was of the seed of Abraham. However, God told Hagar that her son would be a "wild ass (donkey) of a man" (Genesis 16:12), living in conflict with his relatives. When Ishmael was born, Abraham was 86 years old. When he was 13 years old, Ishmael was circumcised at the same time as all other males in Abraham's household, becoming a part of