An Ecocritical Interpretation Of Moby-Dick

Industrial Revolution not only alters the outlook of the world, but also changes the relationship between human beings and nature. Because of crazy pursuit of economical profit, human beings start to rob, hate and ignore nature. The relationship between human beings and nature takes a drastic turn for worse, which results in ecological crisis all over the world. A new kind of literary criticism springs up in America in1970s which combines literature with ecology and reevaluates the relationship between human beings and nature based on the texts—Ecocriticism. It matures in mid-nineties, and rapidly develops into an international multi-cultural movement with its rich and numerous contents. One of the most important issues in ecocriticism is to reevaluate literary and cultural classics. With the development of cultural communication, it is propagated in China and shapes a trend of literary criticism in literary studies. The American novelist Herman Melville’s masterpiece Moby-Dick reveals the tough relationship between human beings and nature as well as is regarded as a warning work for ecological tragedy.This thesis systematically analyzes the intrinsic connotation of Moby-Dick with a perspective of ecocriticism and reveals its anti-ecological factors. Through analyzing the ecological ideology and the awakening on ecological responsibility of main characters, people could explore the mental root of ecological crisis:Anthropocentrism. By reevaluating literary classics about anti-ecology, it will help us dig out the modern value by further in Melville’s Moby-Dick, and also stimulate human beings’environmental awareness as well as enlightens that human beings should walk out of anthropocentrism, revere life, and respect nature and eventually return to nature.