Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

The Nautilus represents the destructive potential of technological innovation when taken to its most extreme point. The ship is a marvel of engineering and is often used for exploration and learning. However, there is a dark underside to the benefits of a ship that can withstand the pressures of the ocean’s depths. In the hands of an obsessive, sometimes overly self-confident captain, the Nautilus often pushes the limits of discovery, as when it heads under the Antarctic ice. Ned proclaims that, while the ice under the water is beautiful, he worries “we are seeing here things which God never intended man to see” (202), implying that Nemo’s belief that the underwater world belongs to him is hubris that will be divinely punished.

But there are further problems to controlling such a powerful machine, as it also becomes the ultimate weapon. As Captain Nemo succumbs to his desire for vengeance, he turns the ship into the ultimate weapon of destruction. He slaughters several cachalots with the spur of his ship, covering the sea “with mutilated bodies” (184), an act Ned condemns as “butchery” (184). Soon after, Captain Nemo uses the Nautilus to destroy a ship he has been pursuing all along, one he believes carries a man responsible for the destruction of Nemo’s family. Professor Aronnax, Ned, and Conseil all morally oppose this vicious act of revenge, which murders an entire ship’s worth of crew to kill one man, even a guilty one.

Professor Aronnax once lauded Captain Nemo as courageous, admirable, and a man he understood. However, the man whom he previously viewed as a “genie of the sea” (165, 241) has become “a perfect archangel of hatred” (238). He feels “an insurmountable horror for Captain Nemo” (239), as the latter’s “spirit of vengeance” (244) has eclipsed his quest for knowledge. The unrivaled power and capabilities of the Nautilus have allowed Captain Nemo to employ it as an instrument of terror, showing the dangers of technology when it falls into the hands of a “terrible avenger” (238).

Nemo’s insignia, which consists of the letter “N,” symbolizes Captain Nemo’s ego and his desire for control—through his insignia, Nemo crafts an underwater empire he hopes to rule. The “N” is engraved on dinnerware and embroidered on the banners Nemo unfurls at the South Pole, staking his claim on the continent the way a country’s explorer would with a flag, taking “possession of this part of the globe, equal to one-sixth of the known continents” (198).

Conversely, however, the fact that he has given up his real name and uses an enigmatic pseudonym that means “no name” undercuts his ability to truly assert ownership over the seas; his desire to stamp an “N” on everything points out that ultimately the person who claims to own the underwater world is literally no one—the implication of Nemo’s chosen name.