Captain Ahab is a fictional character from Herman Melville's novel, Moby-Dick, published in 1851. He is the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship, the Pequod, and is driven by a singular obsession to hunt and kill the giant white whale, Moby Dick, which had previously destroyed his ship and bitten off his leg. Ahab is portrayed as a complex figure, embodying themes of revenge, obsession, and the struggle against nature. His relentless pursuit of the whale symbolizes humanity's conflict with the unknown and the limits of knowledge. Ahab's character has become an iconic representation of obsession in literature.