从梅洛·庞蒂身体现象学角度解读《白鲸》中埃哈伯船长的命运

The Interpretation of Captain Ahab’s Fate in Moby-Dick from the Perspective of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of the Body

摘要: 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的《白鲸》中的亚哈船长历来是学术界关注的焦点，既往研究多从象征主义、文化批评等视角解读其形象，将身体视为意义或权力的符号载体。这些研究虽具启发，却普遍将身体工具化，未能充分关注身体作为在世存在之根本经验维度。为突破此局限，本文引入梅洛–庞蒂的身体现象学理论，聚焦于亚哈因截肢而产生的独特“病态具身”体验。通过分析幻肢所代表的创伤性记忆与假肢所体现的工具性现实之间的根本矛盾，本文指出，亚哈深陷于身心二元论的桎梏：幻肢将他锚定于无法回归的完整过去，假肢则支撑着他奔向复仇的未来，这种时间性与存在性的双重撕裂构成了其悲剧的根源。尽管亚哈通过身体知觉短暂地触及了世界的另一面向，并通过语言试图重构自身意义，但其“知觉建构的意义”最终被偏执的复仇意志吞噬，“语言驱动的行动”亦固化为奔赴毁灭的悲壮独白。因此，亚哈的历程并非走向身心解放，而是在追求身心统一的努力中彻底失败的悲剧。本研究揭示，当身体经验被创伤与执念支配时，具身性非但不能导向自由，反而可能成为异化与疯狂的源泉。

Abstract: Captain Ahab in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick has long been a central focus of literary studies, with much of the existing scholarship approaching his character through symbolic or cultural-critical lenses, often treating his body merely as a vessel for meaning or a site of power dynamics. While valuable, such perspectives tend to instrumentalize the body, overlooking its role as the fundamental medium through which we experience and exist in the world. To address this gap, this paper draws on Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body to examine Ahab’s condition of what might be termed “pathological embodiment” following the loss of his leg. I argue that Ahab’s tragic struggle stems from an irreconcilable tension between the phantom limb, a persistent, painful reminder of his lost wholeness, and the prosthetic leg, a functional but alien tool that enables his pursuit of revenge. This conflict traps him in a dualistic view of mind and body: the phantom limb ties him to an unattainable past, while the prosthesis drives him toward a destructive future. Although Ahab occasionally glimpses alternative ways of perceiving the world through bodily sensation, and though he attempts to remake his identity through language, these efforts are ultimately overpowered by his obsessive fixation on vengeance. Thus, his journey does not lead to integration or liberation but instead culminates in failure, illustrating how embodied experience can become a source of fragmentation and madness rather than a path to wholeness.