A search for identity in the narrative maelstrom: a psychoanalytic approach to Ishmael in Moby-Dick

Kim Christopher Williamson
Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:51:27 PDT

'Call me Ishmael.' This opening line has confronted many a wary student first opening Moby-Dick. This thesis also confronts this line, by way of the enigma that is the narrator of the novel. Critics have long noted the fragmented nature of Moby-Dick, especially its oddly varying points of view. The book opens with a homodiegetic narrator telling a sea adventure tale, but by the end is dominated by a heterodiegetic narrator telling the story of Ahab's tragedy. Using classic Freudian psychology and some Lacanian theory, this thesis makes a case for the complexity and importance of Ishmael in the structure and theme of the novel. Dividing the book into separate narratives representing Ishmael's ego, super-ego, and id, this thesis argues that Ishmael develops from a naive, green sailor into an experienced whaleman with a healthier coherent personality. It is in the telling of the story that he is finally able to manifest this healthier personality.