Analysis Of Billy Budd By Herman Melville

The central religious themes of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Moby Dick reflect the turbulent and changing religious climate of their time. In their use of themes from both traditional Calvinism and modern reform, the syncretic efforts of both of these texts offers a response to the uncertainty and change of the period. However, their uses of these themes are different; while Stowe used a precise focus on a Christian polemic against slavery, Melville intentionally de-centralized his text in a way that asks the reader to look beyond the medium of expression to the truth which lays behind it, but cannot be contained in it.

Aboard the Pequod, as the ship is bustling with activity, Melville describes the scene as the crew performs the grueling task of processing a whale. Large, bubbling try-pots of oil blubber fill the deck of the ship and a heavy smoke blankets the air as harpooners and sailors work regardless of the conditions. Through this familiar scene, Melville layers the setting and characters to build up a distinct mood for this passage. Specifically, he pulls dark romanticism into his writing by paralleling Ahab’s monomania and the deterioration of the crew. To establish an ominous atmosphere and describe the impending doom of the voyage, Herman Melville combines many forms of figurative language like sinister similes and the eerie personification of the Pequod with suspenseful imagery.

The book, Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, by Herman Melville was about the perfect sailor Billy Budd and his adventures on his ship, The Indomitable. Billy was liked by all, except a character named Claggart. Claggart did all that he could to make people not like Billy. Towards the end of the short story, Billy and Claggart get into an argument, mainly Claggart yelling at Billy. Billy, being his innocent self, decided instead of using words that he could not think of, he would use his fist, knocking Claggart out. As Claggart is falling, he hits his head on a table, killing him instantly. Capitan Vere, the captain on the Indomitable, witnessing everything that just happened between Billy and Claggart, reports the case to the officials

Billy is described as the handsome innocent sailor that is has an innocent outlook on the world. He has no experience in pain, suffering or facing the kind of evil that most would be familiar with. Billy is compered to Adam before God had threw him out of heaven, he is described to be almost flawless, the only flaw he has would be a stutter that become highlighted when he is under emotional stress. Before he was taken on to the Indomitable, on his pervious ship he was known as the peace

Melville describes Billy in a sexual manner within the first few pages, introducing the sexual language almost immediately. He is the “handsome sailor” compared to the “young Alexander” and the “fiery Bucephalus” (Melville 6). Further down the same page he is described as, “always attractive in masculine conjunction” and goes under the nickname “Baby Budd” (Melville 6). There is immediately a sense of sexual attraction attached to the title character. He is described in sexual terms and presented as a prime physical example of a man. Inciting feelings of attraction and a sense of tranquility within the men around him, the reader is shown right away that this is natural when it comes to Billy Budd. Additionally, due to the fact that the feelings Billy Budd incites in people are introduced within the first few pages of the novella, the reader feels that it is a natural part of the story throughout it. The description of Budd’s attraction continues from chapter one, into chapter two. His physical attractiveness is exhaustedly described and it works to allow the reader to see just how easy it is to fall for the “handsome sailor.” He is compared to the Hercules of Greek mythology, a handsome and shapely figure, and to Biblical Adam. The novella reads, Budd, “In aspect looked even younger than he really was, owing to a lingering adolescent expression in the as yet smooth face all but feminine in purity of natural complexion but where, thanks to seagoing, the lily was quite

Billy does not want to die but he accepts it before his hanging Billy blesses his Captain Vere as Christ once blessed own his killers. Connecting the two in their untimely demises. The narrator, is comparing Billy to Christ's death an example of this are Billy's last words "God Bless Captain Vere!" (p. 872). The words have the same meaning as Christ's own last words in his death in Luke 23:24 "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." .

Throughout reading Herman Melville’s convoluted novel “Moby Dick”, you learn that there is and will always be a limit to the amount of knowledge someone can accumulate. This becomes more apparent when the narrator of the story, Ishmael, constantly attempts to understand the whale Moby Dick, but does so inadequately, even after making use of various systems of knowledge. Moby Dick is painted as a God in this epic novel, and much like the belief that the deity’s in today’s religions are incomprehensible and the ways of them are unknowable to man, Moby Dick is likewise. Despite this fact, Ahab, the central character in the story, tries to interpret the ways of Moby Dick, and in his fruitless efforts, destroys his ship and kills all but one member of his crew. Melville argues that no matter our knowledge, the attempt to understand and interpret unfathomable ideas and beings is futile, and by doing so, may even be fatal.

This simple act of sympathy shocks the young sailor even more, causing the boy to hit John Claggart. After Claggart dies, the Captain abruptly changes his personality to a military authoritarian. Captain Vere makes the right choice by killing Billy Budd. “Much print has been devoted to the problem of whether Billy's benediction to Captain Vere expresses Melville's feeling or its opposite. Since Billy is an imaginary figure in an imaginary situation contrived by a profession an love list who plainly labels the cry "conventional" here is no reason to suppose that the question is even relevant.”

Herman Melville’s novella Billy Budd, Sailor (1929) has been a contentious work since its publishing date. The actions of Captain Fairfax Vere seem to implicitly state that an individual in an unfortunate situation is tied by strict adherence to the law in order to be seen as legitimate, and thus to be able to command those who are subordinate without a threat of mutiny. However, the supposed strict adherence to the “rule of law” in absolute terms is questioned by Richard Weisberg. Weisberg suggests that we should be aware of the “internal and external narrative” of Vere’s actions. In his critical reading of Melville’s novella, Weisberg suggests rather that Vere manipulates the “rule of law” in order to do his own will, which is eventually realized through the prompt execution of Billy Budd. This ‘sacrifice’ of something ‘beautiful’ for the supposed heightened security exemplifies how, in certain situations, leaders such as Vere use the law in order to achieve policy objectives in times of crisis. Weisberg’s criticisms of Vere’s actions in a time of duress extend to us today, especially in a post-September 11th world, where heightened security and surveillance, ever-dissolving liberties and rights, and an ever-extending state of emergency is the new normal.

Billy’s position was a naval duty as a foretopman of the sailor. The foretopman was a sailor that sits atop of the foremast on the warship H.M.S. Bellipotent. He was as known as the “Handsome Sailor” at the age of twenty-one. The captain was sorry to lose Billy to Bellipotent because he was one of the best sailor and a peacemaker. He was well kind by this fellow sailors and they do anything billy asked him to do.

Every writer has their own writing style; for example, Herman Melville’s style can be explained using complex diction, lengthy syntax, repeated ideas, description and characterization. First off, Melville can use simple words like, “cautiously,” “animation,” and “excited,” (Melville 3&4) but he mainly uses complex words such as, “countenance,” “inarticulate,” and “convulsively” (3&4). Furthermore, Melville seems to be very fond of using long sentences such as, Receiving the topmaul from Starbuck, he advanced towards the mainmast with the hammer uplifted in one hand, exhibiting the gold with the other, and with a high raised voice exclaiming: “Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever

Billy Budd is saying his goodbyes to his fellow shipmates as his captain Graveling has told him he is being sent to another ship due to superior officer’s commands. Billy is soon to packing up his belongings and is soon on his way with Bellipotent, Lieutenant Ratcliffe whom of which is the boarding officer. Billy arrives at his new ship and proves himself worthy among the company on the Bellipontent. Billy is doing his duties as he has always done, although something that has caught his attention. The lashing of another crew member on his ship. Billy is working extra hard to not have the same outcome as the other sailor, but as Billy keeps doing his best little problems keep him on edge. Billy looks for help to help himself

Melville grabs the audience’s eyes is by the way he clashes fact, fiction, and adventure into one

Moby Dick by Herman Melville is a tale of many things, and has become perhaps one of the most widely known revenge stories ever told, wherein the mad Captain Ahab chases the titular white whale to the ends of the earth, willing to sacrifice everything for revenge. The novel is known for its extensive symbolism and abstract or open-ended meaning. Many people find different meanings in the story, and the debate over what certain elements mean has been a point of contention since the novel was published. The criticisms and analyses by Randall Bass and R.C. Sproul give great insight into the most symbolic element of the plot, the whale itself. The whale Moby Dick may mean many things, including the “other” to the “self”, God, or, as I believe, the unknowable, inscrutable, and ineffable of the world.

In Melville’s “Billy Budd,” the contemptuous presentation of Christianity emphasizes an intrinsic flaw in the narrator; his unverified convictions and ambiguous moral code. Billy Budd characterizes a very pious and innocent form, like Adam before the Fall or Christ, to emphasize the narrator’s romanticized perception of him. Likewise, Claggart’s portrayal as the villainous snake from the Fall epitomizes the narrator’s conception of evil. While Melville may seem to mock religion, he mocks the narrator’s incorrigible rectitude, which inaccurately recounts events as well as unfoundedly adheres to Captain Vere’s justifications.