Moby Dick symbolism

"He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it." Such was Melville's description of Captain Ahab. The symbolism that this statement suggests, along with many other instances of symbolism, are incorporated into Moby Dick. Although the crew knew that Ahab was obsessed …

…overlying principle of the book was one man's revenge. It was a classic struggle between good and evil, and it symbolized multifarious facets of human life. And it showed that, "In pursuit of those mysteries we dream of, or in tormented chase of that demon phantom that, some time or other, swims before all human hearts; while chasing such over this round globe, they either lead us on barren mazes or midway leave us whelmed."