Punishment of Nature

趙麗莉

【Abstract】This essay is to analyze and study humans encroachment and despisement on nature from the perspective of ecocriticism.Ishmael，as the implied narrator，witnesses the humans exploitation on nature.The evil consequences are brought by anthropocentrism and people who exploit nature receive severely punishment somatically and spiritually.

【Key Words】punishment nature； ecocriticism； Moby Dick

Herman Melville was a prominent American novelist of romanticism during the mid-nineteenth-century.Moby Dick or The Whale was his masterpiece completed in 1851 and is acknowledged as a classic work in the history of American literature.Melville allegorically and vividly depicts the cruel killing of whales by Captain Ahab and the other sailors on the whaling ship，and the tragic ending of death of both the whale and the whalers.

Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment.（Garrard，24） Ecocriticism is to explore the relations and conflicts between human and nature by analyzing the great literary works from the ecological perspective.In Moby Dick，human beings get the punishment they deserved，somatically and spiritually.

I The Embodiment of the Nature：The Whale

On the environmental scale，Melville mercilessly criticized the unrestrained expansion of America at the time，the conflict between Moby Dick and Ahab could be a best representation of the increasingly ferocious and complicating contradiction between the deteriorating ecological system and its sadist-human beings.What underlies beneath the story is the prediction of the impending revenge taken by nature against its executioner-human beings.

The white whale，Moby Dick，symbolizes a diametrically different facet as Melville was concerned，namely，invincible nature，for its inspiring features as being complex，unfathomable，malignant，and beautiful as well.The omnipotence and omnipresence of the whale highlighted throughout the novel have thereby accentuated natures innate mystery and majesty.In a sense，the whale could also be taken as a symbol of unparalleled greatness.

II The Somatic Punishment of Nature

As a result of mans over whaling，the whale in the sea has perished to an extremely small amount and still can not escape dying out of mans frenzy.

Ahab，the captain，though lost his leg a long time ago，was still unwilling to admit the truth and doubt the truthfulness of being hurt by the whale.No matter people believe or not，whales do exert their revenge on people.The direct revenge of nature or the whale is the direct injury and deformation of human body.

At first glance，whales just injure or deformate peoples body.But in the long run，the hurt of the human body will lead to other psychological injury such as madness，frustration，vulnerability or impatience.

III The Spiritual Punishment of Nature

The process of Ahabs pursuit of Moby Dick is in fact a mental process that he consistently asserts the importance of himself，a process of his self-culture and self-development to preserve his individual superiority.

In the face of the serious spirit ecological crisis and its severe results，people gradually start to pay attention to the severe spiritual problems and to probe into the deep root of the problems.Then in what ways，on earth，are we human beings wrong？ “Ahabs spiritual crisis lies in his anthropocentric thought that man，through his rational faculties sits atop and controls the great chain of being，that civilized men and wild beasts” （Wilson，131）.

IV Conclusion

Melvilles Moby Dick probes into the moral relationship between man and nature； it points out that human beings should shift their ecological values from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism and should pay respect to nature and manage to maintain harmony between man and nature.

References：

[1]Greg Garrard.Ecocriticism.Rutledge：Taylor and Francis Group，London and New York，2004.

[2]Herman Melville.Moby-Dick.London：David Campbell Publishers Ltd.，1999.

[3]Wilson Eric.Melville，Darwin，and the Great Chain of Being.Studies in American Fiction，Volume28 Number2.Boston：Department of English Northeastern University.1990.

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