Everyone is responsible for their own actions. Furthermore, fate is only a scapegoat if something goes wrong. Captain Ahab, a character in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, is a victim of his own careless actions. As a result, he faces an unfortunate death due to the rampage of the white whale. Ahab places all his hatred on the whale, who will later be called Moby Dick, because he lost a leg. He thinks that Moby Dick represents all the hatred and evil in the world and that he must go and destroy it. However, he is fully responsible for his own death due to the fact that he neglected the warning signals that Nature and God provided him, had no communication between himself and his shipmates, and preferred to be isolated from the crew to fuel the his monomania. conscience to put Moby Dick to death. Since Ahab is the captain of the ship, he assumed that he ultimately had higher authority than God. God, in his mind, was wrong, letting Moby Dick “dismember” him (Melville 161); leading to Captain Ahab's growing fixation with the beast. Despite being infatuated with Moby Dick, he is forced to ignore Nature's obvious signs telling him to change his plans if he wishes to live. However, Ahab chose to ignore the warning signs thrown at him throughout the novel. One omen that Ahab chose not to heed was when the Pequod “was left to fight a typhoon that had struck directly ahead” (482). The result of that typhoon was that the ship changed direction, heading west instead of east. Ahab realized this when he "turned to look at the bright rays of the sun" and stated that "[he] will now be taken for the sea chariot of the sun" (495), meaning that the Pequod was dragging the sun with it. ..... half of the paper ...... and the child are Starbuck's too” (521). Ahab refuses to turn the ship because his “eye has been averted; like a rotten fruit tree he shook and threw to the ground his last apple reduced to ashes” (521). Therefore, Ahab ultimately deserves his death since he brought it upon himself. Ahab had been killed by hemp, which is referred to in Fedallah's prophecy. Death was well deserved for the monomaniac captain, whose heresy conquered the humanity within him through his free will. By claiming his immortality on land and sea, Ahab had fostered the idea that he was a proud being. He had shielded his eyes from every sign that Nature and God had bestowed upon his sight, had failed to communicate effectively with his shipmates and crew, and had continually isolated himself in his quarters throughout the voyage. Because of his terrible deeds, Ahab was responsible for his death.