Biblical Refenrance
Prior to their down 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? Melville explains to 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, as Meliville explains:He is "strength and beauty. Tales of his prowess [are] recited. Ashor
A man: "in 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 'a depravity according to nature'"(38). Such glory and beauty in death can only be achieved by those who are truly ready and without regret, as Billy was. It is here, also, that Billy meets John Claggart, the master-at-arms. e he [is] the champion, afloat the spokesman; on every suitable occasion always foremost"(9). 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. They kept track of the spar from which he was hanged until it becomes a ". 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. "At 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 dawn"(80). hardly here [is] he that cynosure he had previously been among those minor ship's companies of the merchant marine"(14). 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. In his opinion, everything must be done according to instruction, and deviation from that set way of thinking and operation is wrong. In the book's climax, Claggart comes to Captain Vere and accuses Billy of conspiring to mutiny. Despite his popularity among the crew and his hardworking attitude, Billy is transferred to another British ship, the Indomitable.
Common topics in this essay:
Captain Vere,
Red Whiskers,
Lamb God,
Billy's Sweet,
Rights-of-Man Billy,
Herman Melville,
Billy Melville,
John Claggart,
Claggart Billy,
Satanic Claggart,
red whiskers,
captain vere,
billy budd,
evil world,
literary sin,
comes captain,
claggart billy,
innocent ignorant,
comes captain vere,
experience wisdom,
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Acceptance Essays
