Analysis on Tragic Characteristics of Two Protagonists in Moby Dick and The Old Man and the Sea
Abstract
Moby Dick and The Old Man and the Sea are two works in American literature, which belong to the genre of classical Greek tragedy. The authors of the two novels, Melville and Hemingway, are important figures in the history of American literature, and the characters
they portray in their works have distinctive signs of their times and typical spiritual qualities. Symbolism is used in Moby Dick to depict the
tragedy of the main character Ahab in the struggle between man and nature. The Old Man and the Sea is concerned with the conflicting propositions of human existence, fate and environment. This paper first introduces the main Europe and America theories about tragic characters
and discusses the characteristics and meanings of tragic heroes, and then compares and analyzes the characteristics of the heroes of the two
novels. These characteristics are the reasons why the two main characters end up in failure in their struggle with nature. The significance of
this paper is to inspire people to follow the natural law and avoid destroying nature in the process of getting along with nature.
they portray in their works have distinctive signs of their times and typical spiritual qualities. Symbolism is used in Moby Dick to depict the
tragedy of the main character Ahab in the struggle between man and nature. The Old Man and the Sea is concerned with the conflicting propositions of human existence, fate and environment. This paper first introduces the main Europe and America theories about tragic characters
and discusses the characteristics and meanings of tragic heroes, and then compares and analyzes the characteristics of the heroes of the two
novels. These characteristics are the reasons why the two main characters end up in failure in their struggle with nature. The significance of
this paper is to inspire people to follow the natural law and avoid destroying nature in the process of getting along with nature.
Keywords
Spiritual qualities; Tragic character; Environment and fate
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[6] Melville, Herman. Moby Dick, or The Whale[M]. Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1964.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/wef.v4i4.9897
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