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Melville continues, "Ahab, without speaking, was slowly rubbing the gold piece against the skirts of his jacket, as if to heighten its lustre, and without using any words was meanwhile lowly humming to himself" (Melville 159). Ahab may be mad, and the author combines all of these details to give the reader a picture of a man who is unique, different, and just a bit frightening as well. As the novel progresses, so will Ahab's madness, which is another way the author portrays him as a very different and frightening man throughout the novel.
Ahab is also very singular in his actions and his thoughts. Melville shows he is behaving more oddly as the voyage progresses, especially during his daily walks on deck. The author states of the captain, "[H]e was won't to pause in turn at each spot, and stand there strangely eyeing the particular object before him. When he halted before the binnacle, with his glance fastened on the pointed needle in the compass, that glance shot like a javelin with the pointed intensity of his purpose"...
It is as if he has never seen these things before, and yet he has been a captain for years, and is familiar with everything on board his ship. His behavior becomes more erratic and bizarre, showing how different he is, and how his life is degenerating into madness and obsession over catching Moby Dick.
In conclusion, Captain Ahab is a fascinating character to study, because Melville paints him as a unique and tortured man from the beginning of the novel. Toward the end of the novel, Ahab has become larger than life, a stoic man with an "iron soul" (Melville 527) who no longer has anything in common with his crew. He is different physically, intellectually, and mentally and as the voyage progresses it becomes quite clear that these differences will lead to his downfall. He is a sad character, who is so different that it costs him his life.
References
Melville, Herman. Mansfield, Luther S., and Howard P. Vincent, eds. Moby Dick or, the Whale. New York: Hendricks House, 1952.
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