Question

If such a furious trope may stand, his special lunacy stormed his general sanity, and carried it, and turned all its concentred cannon upon its own mad mark; so that far from having lost his strength, Ahab, to that one end, did now possess a thousand fold more potency than ever he had sanely brought to bear upon any one reasonable object. What is the meaning of this excerpt? Though Ahab is physically weakened, his insanity has strengthened his will for revenge. Ahab’s anger has increased his physical strength, and he expects to do battle. Ahab has always been somewhat mad, but his insanity has recently flourished. Though Ahab has lost his ability to seek revenge, he still harbors anger and resentment.

Answer 1

Answer:

Ahab has always been somewhat mad, but his insanity has recently flourished.

Explanation:

This is the statement that best describes the meaning of the excerpt. In this excerpt, we learn that Ahab has always had a type of insanity. However, we also learn that this insanity has recently become much more intense and difficult to deal with. We learn that Ahab has recently become obsessed with one particular thing, and that his lunacy has become a thousand times more intense than it had ever been before.

Answer 2

The answer is: Ahab has always been somewhat mad, but his insanity has recently flourished.

In the excerpt from "Moby D*ck," by Herman Melville, the narrator refers to madness, one of the themes of the novel. He means that Captain Ahab has always been insane, but then his madness becomes completely delirious and absurd. One of the reasons is he has lost a leg because of Moby D*ck, so he turns outrageously vengeful and obsessed with killing the whale.