Ahab's Pride: His Wicked Vehicle to the World BelowIn Herman Melville's Moby Dick the reader embarks on a journey narrated by a man in search of his soul and led by a man seeking the destruction of evil. Captain Ahab of the whaling ship Pequod is a man whose heart is driven by revenge and a monomania that leads to the destruction of the Pequod and all but one of its crew. He is trying to destroy the abominable White Whale, the Evil of the Earth, Moby Dick. This impulse, in which Ahab believes he is doing good to the world by ridding it of this evil creature, actually leads Ahab to commit the ultimate sin, pride, and become the evil of Christianity. He turns his back on God and follows the path of Lucifer himself. The twisted satanic-based relationship between Ahab and Moby Dick begins as an imperceptible aspect in the story and slowly grows until, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the full presence of the Devil can be felt and seen in every move made by both Captains . Ahab and Moby Dick. “Idle hands are the Devil's tools,” a quote taken from grandmother's mouths everywhere could be better applied to the novel, saying, “A man without momentum will be driven by the Devil,” as Ahab was. Ahab, the reader, assumes that at some point in his life he had a life that could be considered a normal life. However, it is evident that when Moby Dick took Ahab's leg there was nothing more important in his life than revenge. The reader may assume that his wife and children obviously take a backseat to Moby Dick. "Yes, Starbuck; yes, my kind regards; it was Moby Dick that dismasted me; Moby Dick that brought me to this dead stump on which I now stand. Yes, yes, he cried with a terrible, loud sound, ... .. in the center of the card ... stellar star, son of the dawn! You are cast down to the earth, you who once destroyed the nations,” (Bible Isaiah 14:12). Ahab does not fall from heaven, but from Earth even lower, his sinful nature does not allow him to join the angels of heaven above. “‘I turn my body away from the sun’” (Melville 538). Ahab's last words speak of him turning his back on the sun, the greatest source of light on Earth, and turning to the depths of Hell. He was no match for his nemesis Moby Dick and took his final dive into the ocean with him, a fitting ending for a man who drowned to death long ago due to his obsession and his sin of pride. Ahab's body drowned, just as his soul had when Moby Dick first took his leg. Works Cited: Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. New American Standard Bible. Reference ed. Chicago: Moody Press, 1975.