Why does Ahab die by hemp?
The line attached to his own harpoon catches around his neck and pulls him from the boat. Fedallah's prophecy is fulfilled literally, though Ahab misread hemp as the impossibility of a land-based hanging.
What are the two hearses?
Fedallah's corpse is borne by Moby Dick, a hearse not made by human hands; the American-built Pequod becomes Ahab's second hearse when the whale sinks it.
Why does the Pequod sink?
Moby Dick turns from the pursuing boats and rams the ship. The hull fails, and the vessel drags the remaining crew into the whirlpool.
Why does Ishmael survive?
He is thrown clear of Ahab's boat, remains outside the ship's final destruction, and is carried up by Queequeg's coffin after the vortex subsides. The Rachel rescues him the next day.
Is Moby Dick evil?
Ahab insists the whale embodies a malicious force behind appearances, but the narrative never confirms that belief. The animal behaves as a powerful hunted creature, while Ahab supplies the moral interpretation that destroys the crew.
Themes and What the Ending Means
Obsession and interpretation: Ahab reduces the world's ambiguity to one enemy and forces people, omens, tools, and nature into that reading.
Fellowship and dependence: Ishmael's bond with Queequeg and the crew's shared labor offer a life-preserving alternative to isolated will.
Knowledge and incompleteness: Cetology, anatomy, art, myth, and measurement accumulate without exhausting the whale.
Labor, commerce, and violence: The voyage depends on skilled multinational work that turns living animals into global commodities.
Fate and choice: Prophecy matters because Ahab interprets it confidently and repeatedly chooses the course that fulfills it.
Surface and depth: Whiteness, calm seas, bodily forms, and social appearances conceal meanings that remain unstable or inaccessible.