Essay on Biblical Allegories in Billy Budd

Dated back to the 10th century B.C., the story of Adam and Eve is told in Genesis chapters 2 and 3 of the Christian Bible. The creation is the main focus of chapter 2 and their fall and punishment is the main focus in chapter 3. God creates Adam in his image from mud, he blows to his face and gives him life. God presents all of the animals of the land to Adam and he is not satisfied, so God created Eve out of Adams rib as a companion and helper for him, and he is satisfied with Gods work. God commands Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But, the serpent persuades Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and she persuades Adam to do so as well. After they eat the forbidden fruit they realize they are naked

However, evil soon entered the garden in the form of a serpent. One day when Eve was walking in the garden she encountered the evil serpent who encouraged her to take a fruit from one of God’s forbidden fruit trees. The serpent succeeded in deceiving Eve to take a fruit; she then ate the fruit and shared it with Adam. Then God became angry with Adam and Eve for betraying Him. To punish Adam and Eve, he ejected them from the garden and subjecting them to mortality, painful childbirth, sin and shame.

The serpent eventually persuades Eve to eat from the “Tree of Knowledge”. After she eats from it, she has Adam eat from it. Shortly after, they finally notice they are naked and become self conscious and cover up. God then asks about what they have done and Eve blames Adam, while Adam blames the Serpent. God curses them, and makes Eve suffer through labor and banishes both of them from the Garden of Eden.

Both characters, Billy Pilgrim and Roland Weary, are imaginative. Billy has a different type of imagining than from Roland. Billy’s way of thinking is to be more “out of the box” or fantasy. Kurt Vonnegut wrote in the book, “Slaughterhouse-Five,” about Billy Pilgrim saying, “And then Billy swung into life again, going backwards until he was

Eve’s hunger to become independent from Adam and all she is commanded to do is similar to Satan’s situation in that their yearn for power and singular identity lead them to revolt against their creator. Her desire to separate from Adam is first seen when she is introduced to the audience in her state of narcissism. She sees a reflection of herself in a pond and is in awe of her beauty “of sympathy and love,” (IV, 465) which shows the parallelism to Satan’s own arrogant vanity. He catches on to this similarity they share and decides she will be an easy target of persuasion. He quickly takes charge and plans how he will lead her to eat the apple from the “Tree of Knowledge,” which is the only tree that God prohibited to pick fruit from. Satan first catches her attention by being a serpent who speaks; something she had never encountered before. He smooth talks her into really listening to him by focusing his words around her and how much better life could be if she just took a bite

It was very unlike Billy to ever do something so rash; he brought out the best in everyone. Captain Vere felt in his heart that Billy’s actions were a mistake, but he could not be sure. The accusation Claggart made was mutiny, and mutiny was a serious crime. Vere had no proof that Billy was not guilty, so for the safety of himself and his crew, he sacrificed Billy’s life.

This is the Tralfamadorian faith to the point where the is no reason of trying to change anything makes Billy feel like everything he has gone through, no matter how awful, could not have gone any other way. "Little Billy was terrified, because his father had said Billy was going to learn to swim by the method of sink-or-swim. His father was going to throw Billy into the deep end, and Billy was going to damn well swim. It was like an execution. . . . [Billy] dimly sensed that somebody was rescuing him. Billy resented that."

As Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they became naked and god cursed them by banishing them from the Garden of Eden and placing a guard around the Tree of Life. The serpent is pre-existent evil and is considered a proto, a type of Satan (devil).

This innocence allows Adam and Eve to live in the Garden of Eden, free from all conflict under the condition that they follow the only rule God gave them. This rule was to simply stay away from the tree of knowledge. However, Satan came to Eve in the form of a snake and tempted her to eat from the tree knowledge. This tree grants the consumer knowledge and curiosity, which negates the innocence Eve once held. Adam, learning of this, is quite furious, yet he eats the apple as well. The apple granted the two beings the ability to know of lust, shame, and mutual distrust. Their punishment would be banishment from the garden, pregnancy for Eve, and labor work for Adam. Hence the title, Paradise Lost, meaning the simple and gracious life they lead has crumbled due to their actions. With this, we are able to connect the monster to Adam. The quote “I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam” (66) is said to Victor by the creature when they encounter each other atop Mont Blanc. This quote essentially explains how the monster began as an innocent creature knowing nothing, much like Adam, and suffers considerably as he discovers how people view him. He is a monster, a symbol of terror to the human race. As readers go further into the book, they learn that the monster reads Paradise Lost

Part of Billy's appeal to his shipmates was due to his unparalleled feats of strength that had become canonized amongst them. Just as Jesus' tales of miracle workings and deeds helped to further His legend, Billy's prodigious exploits and physical attributes in turn furthered his own: "Tales of his prowess were recited. Ashore he was the champion; afloat the spokesman; on every suitable occasion always foremost" (1486). The recantation of Billy manhandling Red Whiskers, who is openly hostile towards Billy, and subsequent winning of his allegiance, can be viewed as an allegorical tale of Jesus winning over the stubborn Simon Peter into His congregation of Apostles. Billy, like Christ, is a symbol of peace and unites the other sailors into a familial contingent: "But Billy came; and it was like a Catholic priest striking peace in an Irish shindy. Not that he preached to them or said or did anything in particular; but a virtue went out of him, sugaring the sour ones" (1488). The familial aspect of the crew is alluded to in the description of Billy not having any known relatives or family members: "for Billy, as will shortly be seen, his entire family was practically invested in himself" (1490). This idea goes along with Christian theology often invoking the image of the

Billy Budd is responsible for his own death. There are times when taking someone’s life is necessary such as a time of war, but not in a heating argument. Captain Vere, said it best that the crime is what they were worried about, not the case between right and wrong. The crime was murder. Billy was a hard worker who would do his best to help anyone out. However, Billy was not judged on the type of man he was he was judged by the action that had taken place.

Billy Pilgrim is a very complex character. There are many parts of his life that seem too strange to be real. One of the most interesting aspects of Billy’s character is his resemblance to the Christ figure. Billy is a very simple man who never seems to hold a grudge against the people who despise him and “conforms” to his fate. His fate being shot with a laser on Friday 13, 1976 (Vonnegut 180). According to the Bible, the Christ figure Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. Jesus also knew he would die, and did nothing to stop the process. He even goes as far as to say that he will prepare a place for us (the people of Earth) and that he will “come again” (John 14:1-31, ESV). Billy utters a similar response to the police that offer to stay with

Eve was not so easily swayed by the subtle and manipulative serpent in the text. The story demonstrates that the serpent – which is actually Satan in disguise – does try to goad her into biting into the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge by at first buttering her up with compliments such as “Fairest resemblance of thy Maker fair, / Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine / By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore / With ravishment beheld!” (9.538-541) This is a common manipulative tactic towards women into executing tasks from men and since Eve appears to be the smarter one and disbelievingly questions the serpent’s advances by interrogating how a serpent could even talk. In the painting by William Blake, Eve is illustrated with a monochromatic brownish tint and her facial detail looks pinched, as if she is consuming the fruit against her will because at first, she declines the temptations of the devilish reptile knowing that God had forewarned them that should they eat the fruit bared from this tree, they would surely be sorry. Such a strong-willed person such as Eve with much vigor to stand up to the serpent should have more color value, representing her shades of courage, instead of a dull ruddy brown. The tempter then continues to try and persuade her by saying, “By the fruit? It gives you life / To knowledge; by threat’ner? Look on me, / Me, who have touched and tasted; yet both lived,” (9.686-688) It was only then that Eve had been successfully persuaded: she wanted the knowledge in which the fruit gave. The knowledge the fruit gives would surely enrich her (and possibly Adam’s) life. Such knowledge would mean disobeying God and his direction though. The tree in which the fruit is bared is illustrated by having a thorny trunk – similar to a

William ‘Billy’ Budd has been described as a ‘Christ’ like character. His physical appearance remains to be a focus throughout, and his perfection is, ultimately, what attracts all the sailors to him. Billy has an innocence to him that many on the ship have lost. However, nothing is perfect as it seems, as Billy’s flaws lead to his demise. Billy’s stutter, as well as his childlike mentality when it comes to aggravated situations show that while God can create seemingly ‘perfect’ beings, Satan and evil also have their say and play a crucial part. Billy’s death in the novella can be considered a mirrored image of Christ’s death in the bible. Even their last words bear a sense of forgiveness. Billy’s final “God Bless Captain Vere!”, (page 86), is very similar to Christ’s, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Billy’s final exclamation results in a lack of wavering faith and, almost, forgiveness for Captain Vere’s condemning William to death. Additionally, as written in chapter 27, Melville compares Billy to

Billy had become this way because of a very tragic event that had happened in his childhood involving a wizard, Griffin, and a Basilisk. So, a