SOURCE: "The World is Mad: Moby-Dick," in "The Twisted Mind": Madness in Herman Melville's Fiction, University of Iowa Press, 1990, pp. 50-73.
In the following essay, McCarthy studies Herman Melville's depiction of madness in Moby-Dick, arguing that "madness is all but ubiquitous" in this novel. McCarthy contends that madness is found in animals and humans, that the universe itself appears to be mad. Furthermore, McCarthy analyzes the distinct manifestations of insanity in the characters on board the ship and demonstrates the progression of madness in Ahab.
