What does the white whale in Moby Dick symbolize？ Why do you think so？

正确答案：For Captain Ahab the white whale represents evil. After the loss of his leg in his encounter with the white whale Ahab begins to hate Moby Dick and tries his best to kill the whale. It seems that he embodies all of the evil he once consigned to the white whale. For other members on the whaling ship the white; whale symbolizes the unknown mysterious natural force of the universe. For the readers the white whale is capable of many interpretations for it is " paradoxically benign and malevolent nourishing and destructive" " massive brutal monolithic but at the same time protean erotically beautiful infinitely variable. "
ForCaptainAhab,thewhitewhalerepresentsevil.Afterthelossofhisleginhisencounterwiththewhitewhale,AhabbeginstohateMobyDickandtrieshisbesttokillthewhale.Itseemsthatheembodiesalloftheevilheonceconsignedtothewhitewhale.Forothermembersonthewhalingship,thewhite;whalesymbolizestheunknown,mysteriousnaturalforceoftheuniverse.Forthereaders,thewhitewhaleiscapableofmanyinterpretations,foritis"paradoxicallybenignandmalevolent,nourishinganddestructive,""massive,brutal,monolithic,butatthesametimeprotean,eroticallybeautiful,infinitelyvariable."