Abstract: Moby Dick is one of the masterpieces written by Herman Melville. The book tells the story of a deranged whaling Captain Ahab’s obsession to pursue and capture the great white whale that has ripped off his leg. Many critics have studied Captain Ahab who is one of the controversial protagonists in literature research from different angles. However, there are not many researches on Ahab’s immortality from the perspective of archetype. This thesis aims to use Frye's archetypal criticism to interpret this great novel and the archetypal significance of the protagonist’s death, to some extent, with the reference value letting readers recognize Ahab anew and understand the archetypal meaning of his immortality of death. This thesis is composed of five parts.The first part of my thesis is a brief introduction, including the writer, his writings, and literature review. Section two is the introduction to the definition of Archetype and death motif. Section three is the detailed study of the Captain Ahab’s immortality according to his adventurous quest, mortal challenge, and immortal funeral. Section four is the deduction of the archetypal significance of Ahab’s Death. The last part is the conclusion of the thesis which states the immortality of Captain Ahab. From a new perspective , the readers will have a new sight into him.
 
Key words: Moby Dick; Captain Ahab; Archetype Criticism; Immortality;

摘要:《白鲸》是美国伟大作家赫尔曼•麦尔维尔的著作之一。这部作品主要讲述了一个疯狂的捕鲸船船长着迷于追捕咬断他腿的白鲸莫比迪克的故事。许多批评家从不同角度对文学研究中颇具争议的亚哈船长进行了分析。但是对亚哈及其死亡的原型研究并不是很多。本文旨在用弗莱的原型批判来解读这部伟大的小说和其主人公之死的原型意义，对读者能够重新认识亚哈这个人物以及了解他不朽之死的原型意义具有一定的参考价值。本文分为五个部分。论文的第一部分是简要的介绍，包括作者及其作品以及文献研究现状。第二章是介绍原型以及死亡主题的定义。第三章会是根据亚哈船长大胆的冒险经历、必死的挑战、以及他不朽的葬礼，对他的永生不朽做一个详细地研究。第四章是关于亚哈之死的原型意义的推论。最后一部分是本文的总结，由分析得出结论，亚哈船长是不朽的。读者会从新视角重新认识到亚哈船长这个人物原型。

关键词：白鲸；亚哈船长；原型批判；不朽