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- BILLY BUDD
-
- Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were perfect. They were innocent and ignorant, yet
- perfect, so they were allowed to abide in the presence of God. Once they partook of the fruit of
- the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, however, they immediately became unclean as well as
- mortal. In Billy Budd, the author, Herman Melville, presents a question that stems directly from
- this original sin of our first parents: Is it better to be innocent and ignorant, but good and
- righteous, or is it better to be experienced and knowledgeable? I believe that through this book,
- Melville is telling us that we need to strike some kind of balance between these two ideas; we
- need to have morality and virtue; we need to be in the world, but not of the world.
- To illustrate his theme, Melville uses a few characters who are all very different, the most
- important of which is Billy Budd. Billy is the focal point of the book and the single person whom
- we are meant to learn the most from. On the ship, the Rights-of-Man, Billy is a cynosure among
- his shipmates; a leader, not by authority, but by example. All the members of the crew look up to
- him and love him. He is ôstrength and beauty. Tales of his prowess [are] recited. Ashore he [is]
- the champion, afloat the spokesman; on every suitable occasion always foremostö(9).
- Despite his popularity among the crew and his hardworking attitude, Billy is transferred to
- another British ship, the Indomitable. And while he is accepted for his looks and happy
- personality, ôàhardly here [is] he that cynosure he had previously been among those minor shipÆs
- companies of the merchant marineö(14). It is here, on the Indomitable that Billy says good-bye to
- his rights. It is here, also, that Billy meets John Claggart, the master-at-arms. A man ôin whom
- was the mania of an evil nature, not engendered by vicious training or corrupting books or
- licentious living but born with him and innate, in short æa depravity according to natureÆö(38).
- Here then, is presented a man with a personality and character to contrast and conflict
- with BillyÆs. Sweet, innocent Billy immediately realizes that this man is someone he does not wish
- to cross and so after seeing Claggart whip another crew-member for neglecting his
- responsibilities, Billy ôresolved that never through remissness would he make himself liable to
- such a visitation or do or omit aught that might merit even verbal reproofö(31). Billy is so good
- and so innocent that he tries his hardest to stay out of trouble. ôWhat then was his surprise and
- concern when ultimately he found himself getting into petty trouble occasionally about such
- matters as the stowage of his bagàwhich brought down on him a vague threat from one of [the
- shipÆs corporals]ö(31).
- These small threats and incidents establish the tension between Claggart and Billy, and set
- the stage for a later confrontation. They also force Billy to search for help. The person he goes
- to is yet another type of character presented in this book. Red Whiskers. Red Whiskers was an
- old veteran, ôlong anglicized in the service, of few words, many wrinkles, and some honorable
- scarsö(31). Billy recognizes the old Dansker as a figure of experience, and after showing respect
- and courtesy which Billy believes due to his elder, finally seeks his advice, but what he is told
- thoroughly astonishes him. Red Whiskers tells Billy that for some reason, Claggart is after Billy,
- but Billy cannot believe it because he is so innocent and trusting. Through this situation Billy now
- finds himself in, Melville has us ask ourselves a question: Would it be right for Billy to heed the
- advice of experience and wisdom and tell the captain about ClaggartÆs conspiracy? Or should he
- instead keep his mouth shut and try to work things out himself?
- Being the good person that he is, Billy tries to forget about it and hopes that it will pass,
- but it does not. And that is where the fourth of these few characters comes in. Captain Vere,
- with his love for knowledge and books, and ôà his settled convictions [which stood] as a dike
- against those invading waters of novel opinion, social, political, and otherwise, which carried
- away as in a torrent no few minds in those days, minds by nature not inferior to his ownö(25-26).
- Vere is a man who believes in rules, regulations, and procedure. In his opinion, everything must
- be done according to instruction, and deviation from that set way of thinking and operation is
- wrong. This way of thinking is illustrated as Melville commits what he calls a ôliterary sinö:
- In this matter of writing, resolve as one may to keep to the main road, some
- bypaths have an enticement not readily to be withstood. I am going to err into
- such a bypath. If the reader will keep me company I shall be glad. At the least we
- can promise ourselves that pleasure which is wickedly said to be in sinning, for a
- literary sin the divergence will be. (20)
- Because of his philosophy, Captain Vere always strives to do that which he believes to be right
- according to the laws set by his superior officers. This is a stark contrast to Billy, who keeps
- quiet when he learns about a conspiracy to mutiny among the crew on board.
- In the bookÆs climax, Claggart comes to Captain Vere and accuses Billy of conspiring to
- mutiny. Billy, so astonished by ClaggartÆs allegation, strikes him dead with one blow to the head.
- In an effort to uphold military law and regulation, Captain Vere holds a trial in which he
- manipulates the reluctant court into convicting Billy and sentencing him to death. But his death
- was not agonizing or tortuous. It was instead, majestic. ôAt the same moment it chanced that the
- vapory fleece hanging low in the East was shot through with a soft glory as of the fleece of the
- Lamb of God seen in mystical vision, and simultaneously therewith, watched by the wedged mass
- of upturned faces, Billy ascended, and, ascending, took the full rose of the dawnö(80). Such glory
- and beauty in death can only be achieved by those who are truly ready and without regret, as Billy
- was.
- The question, then, is presented. Innocence or wisdom? Which philosophy, which
- way of life is more correct? Claggart, who represents the natural evil in the world, serves as the
- opposition and corruption which we face everyday. He is the obstacle that Billy must deal with,
- and the way in which he confronts that obstacle determines which of these answers is the correct
- one. Melville, in presenting the climax of the book, might be suggesting that it would have been
- better for Billy to have chosen the path of experience and wisdom, like old Red Whiskers, for if he
- had, he would still be alive. However, I believe that through this allusion to ChristÆs crucifixion,
- he is showing us that perhaps we should not always only be concerned about ourselves, but also
- about those around us. Perhaps that through morals and virtue, we can rise above the evil in the
- world and make an impact on the lives of those around us.
- The newspaper article near the end of the book portrays this perfectly. It brands Billy as a
- traitor, but his shipmates will not have it so. They kept track of the spar from which he was
- hanged until it becomes a ôà mere dock-yard boom. To them a chip of it was as a piece of the
- Crossö(87). The legend of BillyÆs innocence will not die, and it changes the lives of the sailors
- forever. I believe Melville is saying that true goodness, aspersed by a Satanic Claggart, and
- doomed to death by a perplexed but upright Vere, even dead, is better than all the wisdom and
- experience of the world because it exists after death, and therefore triumphs.
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