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Literary Motifs › The Hero's Flaw

The Hero's Flaw

1 passage in the novel carry this mark, in the order they appear.

But with Ahab the question assumed a modified aspect. Considering that with two legs man is but a hobbling wight in all times of danger; considering that the pursuit of whales is always under great and extraordinary difficulties; that every individual moment, indeed, then comprises a peril; under these circumstances is it wise for any maimed man to enter a whale-boat in the hunt? As a general thing, the joint-owners of the Pequod must have plainly thought not.

Chapter 50, Ahab’s Boat and Crew. Fedallah · verse 3

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