Herman Melville's Moby Dick tells a story of revenge and obsession. Captain Ahab, a whaler, loses a leg to a white whale. A smoldering anger begins to grow in the one-legged captain.

I know that he was never very jolly; and I know that on the passage home, he was a little out of his mind for a spell … I know, too, that ever since he lost his leg last voyage by that accursed whale, he's been a kind of moody—desperate moody, and savage sometimes.

Captain Ahab's anger grows into a fixation on revenge against the sea monster. As his lust and hatred grow, so does his lack of wisdom. On his next whale-hunting trip, the driving force in his soul begins to override good judgment, putting the man, the crew, and his ship into insanely hazardous situations. Common sense is overruled by his wild passion for killing the white whale. All else is secondary. As the captain hurls man and ship into the perilous seas of hate, his opportunity to take vengeance finally arrives. The white whale is within Ahab's grasp. A chase ensues for three days. The crewmembers realize that Ahab's folly may mean doom—not for the whale, but for themselves.

A man named Starbuck, Ahab's first mate and the only one who dares to question the captain, cries out, "Oh! Ahab, not too late is it, even now, the third day, to desist. See! Moby Dick seeks you not. It is you, you, that madly seek him!" But it is too late. Ahab's desire for revenge grows deeper, ignoring every danger. In the end, the ship is lost; the crew, save one, is lost; and Ahab loses both his quest and his life. The white whale—representing the great unknowable—has won.

Possible Preaching Angles: Hatred; Revenge; Bitterness—Moby Dick illustrates the dark path down which hatred can lead us. We may think revenge and hatred will bring us salvation. But, as with Captain Ahab, they bring us—spiritually, if not literally—only certain death.