廊坊师范学院
本科生毕业论文
题目：《白鲸》的象征意义
姓名：魏玲玲
指导教师：吴秀兰
系别：英语系 专业：英语教育 年级：02接本
完成时间 2004年5月20日
A Reading of Symbols in Moby Dick
By Wei Lingling Prof: Wu Xiulan
Submitted to the B.A. committee in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the English Department of Langfang Teachers College
2004/5/20
2
题目：《白鲸》的象征意义
摘要:《白鲸》使美国作家麦尔维尔誉满全球,它不仅是一部惊心动魄
的灾难历险小说，也是一部被赋予象征意味的哲理小说。其中的白鲸被描写成无处不在，无所不能的万能的上帝。埃哈布船长为复仇远涉重洋捕捉白鲸，最后自己，同伴与白鲸同归于尽的事迹，既表现了人类的勇敢与忍耐，也反映了他们的偏执与疯狂。另一个贯穿全文的象征就是“床单”，它象征世界不同文化的混合与交织，世界就像一块由多种布拼凑而成的床单，由不同的文化、种族、背景交织而成，人们在一起相互依靠，相互依存，小说中来自不同国家的船员就是最生动形象的体现。
关键词：白鲸; 埃哈布; 上帝; 人类; 床单
3
Title: A Reading of Symbols in Moby Dick
Abstract: Moby Dick is not merely a whaling tale or sea adventure, but
also a philosophic novel with symbolic meanings. Moby Dick represents God owing to his godlike characters and his awfully severe beauty. Ahab symbolizes the league human with evil. In the whaling trip, we can see his bravery and patience, as well as his madness and stubbornness. The third symbolic element is the idea of the “counterpane” that is woven throughout the story as a symbol of the world’s multiculturalism. Melville develops the symbol proving that the world is indeed a counterpane of diverse cultures, races, and environment, in which we are always connected by our humanity.
Key words: Moby Dick; Arab; God; human; counterpane
4
Contents
I. Introduction ………………………………………………………………...…6 II. The Symbolic Meanings of Moby Dick …………………………..…………7 1. Moby Dick’s Characteristics ……………………………………….…….7 2. Moby Dick’s Whiteness…………………………………………….…….8 3. Moby Dick’s Power and Strength ……………………...……………..…..8 III. The Symbolic Meanings of Ahab …………………………...……………....9 1. The Name Ahab ………. ……………...……………………………...…10 2. Ahab’s Madness…………………………………………………....……..10 3. Ahab’s Characters ………………………………………...……...………12 IV. The Symbolic Meanings of Counterpane………………………………..….14
1. The Grandiose Sea…………………………………………...…….……..14 2. The Crew of the Pequod……………………………………………....….14 3. The Character Queequeg…………………………………….….…………16 V. Conclusion ………………………………………...…………………….…...18 Notes……………………………………………………………...……..…….…19 Bibliography………………………………………………………………...…...20
5
《白鲸》的象征意义
