Moby Dick Author:Herman Melville Ahab is the hero of Moby Dick, but what sort of a hero? Is he an epic hero, a representative man, in some sense a positive embodiment of the strength, virtues, and ideals of his people? Is his destiny in this sense national or even universal? Or is he a romantic hero, a figure of individual protest, a revel against authority even if that authori... more »ty comes not from man but from God? Or is he a tragic hero, a potentially great man brought low by some flaw, perishing in pity and terror? Is he, in short, another Macbeth, or even another Lear?« less