Good points! I agree with your interpretation, but given that it is a novel I see several layers that are simultaneously true. One layer is the psychological d

Good points! I agree with your interpretation, but given that it is a novel I see several layers that are simultaneously true. One layer is the psychological drama as you indicate. Another layer is what I would call Captain Ahab's attempt to exact revenge on God. He is a man who lost his leg. He has a "crucifixion in his face". There are various passages in which the injustice of life is discussed. He seems to become a Icarus-type character: one who flies too close to the sun, to pierce the "pasteboard masks". As to how the whale can be interpreted in divine/mythological terms, there are various passages that make biblical illusions. Off the top of my head, one such passage is the chapter on the face of the whale and that it is impossible to look a whale in the eyes: the face is so larger that one cannot in fact behold the whale "face to face", which has echoes in the Old Testament and the inability to behold God face to face. I believe both interpretations are valid and are not exclusionary. There are so many layers!