The setting is the last decade of the eighteenth century. The British naval warship H.M.S.

Bellipotent impresses, or involuntarily recruits, the young sailor Billy Budd, extracting him from duty aboard the Rights-of-Man, a merchant ship. Billys commanding officer, aptain !raveling, though reluctant to let one of his best men go, has little choice in the face of the superior ships demands. Billy pac"s up his gear without so much as a protest and follows the boarding officer of the Bellipotent, #ieutenant $atcliffe, across the gangway to his new assignment. %fter a cheery good&bye to his old mates, Billy settles in 'uic"ly among the company of the Bellipotent. He proves most industrious and eager in his role as foretopman and soon earns the affection of his more experienced fellow sailors. Billy is deeply affected by the sight of a violent lashing given to one of the ships crew. Hoping to avoid a similar punishment, Billy attempts to fulfill his duties in model fashion, but finds himself under constant scrutiny due to various minor infractions. (u))led by this persecution, Billy see"s out the advice of the *ans"er, an aged, experienced sailor. %fter explaining the situation to him, the *ans"er concludes that laggart, the master&at&arms, holds a grudge against Billy. $efusing to accept this theory, Billy dismisses the *ans"ers opinion but continues to wonder pensively about his situation. Shortly thereafter, at a lunchtime meal, Billy accidentally spills his soup pan in the ships dining room after a sudden lurch. The contents of the pan tric"le to the feet of the passing laggart, who ma"es an offhand, seemingly lighthearted remar" in recognition of the spill. His comment elicits a stream of obligatory laughter from the ships company, and Billy interprets the event as proof of laggarts approval. But laggart is offended by the accident, and finds it indicative of Billys contempt for him. He fixates on the accident as proof of Billys hostility, and his assistant S'uea" resolves to increase his surreptitious persecutions of Billy in recompense. +ne night, an anonymous figure rouses Billy from his sleep on the upper dec" and as"s him to meet in a remote 'uarter of the ship. onfused, Billy mechanically obeys. %t the mysterious rende)vous, Billy is pu))led when, after some vague discourse, the unidentified man flashes two guineas in exchange for a promise of cooperation. ,ithout comprehending the exact details of this solicitation, Billy recogni)es that something is amiss, and he raises his stuttering voice and threatens the man with uncharacteristic violence. The conspirator 'uic"ly slin"s into the dar"ness, and Billy finds himself confronted with the curious in'uiries of two fellow sailors. -nsure of how to explain the situation, Billy explains that he simply happened upon a fellow sailor who was in the wrong part of the ship, and chased the man bac" to his proper station with a gruff rebu"e. Somewhat later, after a brief s"irmish with an enemy frigate, laggart approaches aptain .ere with news of a rumored mutiny and names Billy Budd as the ringleader of the rebellion. .ere summons Billy to his cabin and instructs laggart to repeat his accusation. -pon hearing of this unexpected blot on his

character, Billy is rendered speechless. .ere commands Billy to defend himself, but then, noticing Billys tendency to stutter, softens his approach. #eft with no other means of defense, and twisted into a rage at laggarts outrageous words against him, Billy stri"es out in a fury, giving laggart a swift punch to the forehead. The blow proves forceful enough to "noc" laggart unconscious, and he lies bleeding from the nose and ears as Billy and .ere attempt to revive him. %bandoning this effort, .ere dismisses Billy to a neighboring stateroom until further notice. The ships surgeon pronounces laggart dead after a brief examination, and aptain .ere summons a group of his senior officers to the cabin. /n a decisive move, .ere calls a drumhead court consisting of the captain of the marines, the first lieutenant, and the sailing master. .ere, functioning as the main witness, gives a testimony of the relevant events to the 0ury. Billy remains rather silent during his period of 'uestioning, admitting to the blow but maintaining his innocence of intention and declaring his lac" of affiliation with any potential mutiny. The court dismisses Billy again to the stateroom. *uring a tense period of deliberation, .ere hovers over the 0ury. ,hen they seem to be deadloc"ed, unable to ma"e a decision, .ere steps forward to declare his conviction that the rule of law must supersede the reservations of conscience. He concludes his speech to the 0ury by insisting that they decide to ac'uit or condemn in strict accordance with the letter of military law. %fter a period of further deliberation, the 0ury finds Billy Budd guilty as charged and sentences him to death by hanging on the following morning. aptain .ere communicates to Billy the news of his fate and, after a discussion with him that we do not learn about directly, he withdraws to leave the prisoner by himself. #ater that evening, .ere calls a general meeting of the ships crew and explains the events of the day. laggart receives an official burial at sea, and all hands prepare to bear witness to Billys hanging at dawn. Billy spends his final hours in chains on board an upper gun dec", guarded by a sentry. The ships chaplain attempts to spiritually prepare Billy for his death, but Billy already seems to be in a state of perfect peace and resignation. %s the chaplain withdraws from Billys company, he "isses him gently on the chee" as a to"en of good will. That morning, shortly after four %.M., Billy is hanged in the mainyard of the ship. %s the crew watches him being strung up, preparing to die, they hear him utter his last words1 2!od bless aptain .ere34 The assembled company automatically echoes this unexpected sentiment, and Billy expires with surprising calm as dawn brea"s over the hori)on. %fter Billys death, the crew begins to murmur, but the officers 'uic"ly disperse them to various tas"s. ,histles blow and the ship returns to regular business. /n the ensuing days, sailors engage in various discussions concerning Billys fate and the mysterious circumstances of his expiration. +n its return voyage, the Bellipotent falls in with a 5rench warship, the Athe, or Atheist. aptain .ere,

wounded in the s"irmish, eventually dies in a !ibraltar hospital, uttering as his last words, 2Billy Budd, Billy Budd.4 5inally, the legend of Billy Budd becomes recorded and institutionali)ed in naval circles. % newspaper reports the incident from afar, implicating Billy Budd as the villainous assailant of an innocent laggart. The sailors themselves, however, begin to revere Billys growing legend, treating the spar from his gallows as a holy ob0ect, and composing laudatory verse in his memory Billy Budd & *iscovered on a doorstep as an infant, Billy Budd is a fine physical specimen at age twenty&one, renowned for his good loo"s and gentle, innocent ways. -pon ta"ing up as a young seaman in the service of His Ma0esty the 6ing of 7ngland, Billy grows into the near&perfect image of what Melville calls the 2Handsome Sailor,4 an ideal specimen who inspires love and admiration in all his fellows. ,hile wor"ing on board the merchant ship Rights-of-Man, Billy is impressed into naval duty as a foretopman 8a sailor who sits atop the foremast or above9 on board the warship H.M.S. Bellipotent. %lthough much younger than most of the Bellipotents crewmen, the cheerful, innocent young man 'uic"ly gains bac" the popularity he had previously en0oyed, earning the nic"name 2Baby Budd4 in the process. He has several shortcomings, however, including an inability to perceive ill will in other people. He also has an unpredictable tendency to stutter, and at certain crucial moments he is rendered completely speechless aptain the Honorable 7dward 5airfax .ere & aptain of the H.M.S. Bellipotent. % bachelor of aristocratic lineage, the forty&year&old .ere has made his mar" as a distinguished sailor. His nic"name, 2Starry .ere,4 seems fitting for this abstracted, intellectual figure who often shuts himself up at sea with his boo"s. .ere remains somewhat aloof and diffident among his peers, though he is not haughty. :ohn laggart & The master&at&arms of the Bellipotent, an office e'uivalent to chief of police on board the ship. Behind his bac", the crew refers to laggart with the derogatory nic"name 2:emmy #egs.4 %t age thirty&five, laggart is lean and tall, with a protruding chin and an authoritative ga)e. His brow bespea"s cleverness, and his blac" hair contrasts star"ly with his pallid complexion. Because of his pale face, he stays out of the sun as much as possible. The narrator gives few details about laggarts past, although speculation runs rampant among the crewmembers. /t is "nown that after entering the navy unusually late in life, laggart rose through the ran"s to attain his present position on the strength of his sobriety, deference to authority, and patriotism. However, his compliant exterior disguises a cruel and sinister strea", which the narrator explains is actually a natural tendency toward evil and depravity. The *ans"er & Billys ac'uaintance and confidante aboard the Bellipotent. % wi)ened old sailor with beady eyes, the *ans"er listens and occasionally issues

inscrutable, oracular responses when Billy see"s out his confidence. %t other times, however, the *ans"er is decidedly reticent and unhelpful. Ships Surgeon & (ronounces laggart dead upon arriving in the captains cabin. The surgeon considers .eres decision to call a drumhead court somewhat abrupt and hasty. Though unable to account for Billys unusually peaceful death in the gallows, he refuses to believe that the event is attended by supernatural circumstances. Ships (urser & $uddy and rotund, the purser speculates that Billys unusually peaceful death in the gallows shows a phenomenal degree of will on Billys behalf, perhaps revealing a superhuman power. Billy Budd *istinguished by his stri"ing good loo"s and affable nature, Billys primary 'uality is his extraordinary, even disturbing innocence. %t twenty&one years of age, he has never directly confronted evil. *ue to his good loo"s, he has always been well li"ed and admired wherever he goes. %s a result, he na;vely ta"es the view that other people always mean him the best. He has not developed the prudent cynicism of a figure li"e the *ans"er, who is well aware of mans evil inclinations. He has no defense against a hateful man such as laggart, and cannot even perceive the malice in laggarts sarcastic comment about Billys accident with the soup. /f Billy had believed it when the *ans"er told him that laggart was plotting against Billy, he might have been able to protect himself. But Billy is blinded by his own openhearted nature, and he mis0udges the malevolent laggart as a friend. Billys demise is brought about by a combination of his own wea"nesses and evil influences that are outside of him and beyond his comprehension. %long with his na;ve trust in others, his wea"nesses include his speech impediment, which renders him unable to defend himself when laggart accuses him of mutiny. Melville presents this speech impediment as more than a physical condition, however<Billys hesitancy and speechlessness seem directly related to his ignorance and innocence. He has no words with which to confront laggart because he cannot understand laggarts evil or formulate any clear thoughts about him. 5aced with laggarts lie, he can thin" of no way to rebut him other than with brute force. Similarly, Billy is unable to identify and condemn the conspirators on the ship ade'uately so as to nip the situation before it buds. 7ssentially, Billys mental and emotional shortcomings render him extremely vulnerable to the evil influences on board the ship, although the evil itself lies in other people. Melville portrays Billys innocence as something to be both admired and pitied. /n a number of ways, Billys fate parallels that of :esus hrist, suggesting that the sacrifice of Billys innocence represents both a significant loss for the world and a hope for man"inds redemption. /t would be a mista"e, however, to view Billy

simply as a hrist figure. Billy is a flawed human being, even violent at times. -nli"e hrist, Billy does not willingly or even wittingly sacrifice himself for the sa"e of others. ,hereas hrist, in his death, intentionally ta"es all of the sins of the world upon himself to save human"ind from evil, Billy dies because he cannot comprehend evil or defend himself ade'uately against it. /n this sense, Billy is more human than hrist<what happens to Billy more closely resembles something that could happen to us, and we are perhaps able to pity him and empathi)e with him more deeply. Claggart With no power to annul the elemental evil in him, though readily enough he could hide it apprehending the good, !ut powerless to !e it a nature li"e Claggart#s, surcharged with energy as such natures almost invaria!ly are, what recourse is left to it !ut to recoil upon itself and, li"e the scorpion for which the Creator alone is responsi!le, act out to the end the part allotted it. $%ee &mportant 'uotations ()plained* /f Billy represents innocence in the novel, the older, higher&ran"ed laggart represents evil. laggarts innate wic"edness is causeless and seemingly limitless. His motives are far more sophisticated and subtle than Billy can comprehend. Billy lac"s awareness of the discrepancies that exist between human action and human intention, always ta"ing actions at face value= laggart, on the other hand, exhibits a great understanding of deception and ambiguity and ma"es fre'uent use of them in his nefarious plots<for instance, he shows "indness toward Billy to mas" his un"ind intentions. Because laggart carefully hides his own motives and intentions, he has a tendency to assume that other people are also motivated by hidden malice, and he overinterprets the actions of others in order to find the ill will concealed within them. *eeply egocentric, laggart obtains sustenance from envy. ,hen Billy spills the soup, laggart assumes that Billy has purposely directed this action toward him, utterly ignoring the obvious indication that Billy simply spilled by accident. See"ing to destroy Billy, laggart employs underhanded and vicious methods, falsely accusing Billy of mutiny in order to see him "illed. /n the novels hristian allegory, laggart represents Satan, wor"ing tirelessly to pervert goodness and defeat morality and human trust. +n another level, laggart represents the serpent that tempted %dam and 7ve in the !arden of 7den. ,hen laggarts false allegation prompts Billy to stri"e him violently, laggart has effectively coaxed Billy into abandoning his virtue and committing an evil deed. /ndeed, the narrator refers to laggarts corpse as a dead sna"e. Thus, it is possible to interpret Billys death as a double victory for laggart1 Billy dies, as laggart wished, and he falls from moral grace, as well. aptain .ere .ere symboli)es the conflict between the individuals inner self and the role society forces the individual to play. .ere li"es Billy and distrusts laggart, and he seems not to believe laggarts accusations against Billy. ,hen Billy stri"es 5

laggart, .ere feels sympathy toward Billy= he does not seem to believe that Billy has committed a terrible sin. However, .ere ignores his inner emotions, convenes a court to try Billy, and urges the 0ury to disregard their own feelings of compassion and punish Billy according to the letter of the law. %s a man, .ere exonerates Billy, but as a ships captain, he finds himself duty& bound to punish him, allowing his role as a captain to supersede his inner conscience. He does this partly to avoid ta"ing responsibility for Billys death, ma"ing him the parallel of (ontius (ilate in the novels hristian allegory. But he also sacrifices Billy because he believes in the ultimate supremacy of societys laws over the desires and impulses of individuals. ,ith this belief, and in his actions throughout the later part of the novel, .ere demonstrates that he places greater faith in reason and rational philosophy than he does in the dictates of his own heart. 5amous for his wide reading and his love of philosophy, .ere is in some ways too cerebral to be a leader of men, and in his rigorous adherence to the rule of law he fails in his moral responsibility to Billy. ,e are li"ely to feel that .ere is wrong in applying the letter of the law rather than following his heart, and one of the basic 'uestions that this novel poses is why .ere is wrong to do this. +ne possible explanation may be that the rules governing the treatment of someone in Billys situation are predicated on mistrust and cynicism about human beings. /n the eyes of the law, someone who stri"es and "ills his accuser, as Billy does, must be guilty of murder, and is probably guilty of the crime for which he was initially accused, as well. Billys individual circumstances are too uni'ue and complex to be ta"en into consideration within the law. The novel remains ambiguous about which is paramount, the good of society or the good of the individual= still, it does ma"e clear that .ere is rac"ed with guilt after putting the law ahead of his conscience. .eres last words before he dies are a repetition of Billys name, suggesting that he is unable to let go of his sense of debt to Billy. Themes, Motifs > Symbols +hemes +hemes are the fundamental and often universal ideas e)plored in a literary wor". The /ndividual .ersus Society Melville is deeply interested in the ways in which society forces people to curtail or limit their individuality. ,hen the warship Bellipotent extracts the unassuming Billy from his former ship, the Rights-of-Man, the symbolism is relatively explicit1 society is all&powerful, it compels men into participation in war, and in doing so it can readily dispense with the rights of the individual. The names of the ships alone<Bellipotent means 2power of war4<suggest as much. aptain .eres dilemma in dealing with Billy illustrates how society re'uires the separation of ones inner feelings from ones social obligations. /n prosecuting Billy, .ere decides to follow the letter of the law, despite his own sense that Billy personifies goodness and innocence. 5eeling the pressure of his position as a

leader with a responsibility to see that the men obey the Mutiny %ct, .ere forces himself to disregard his own feelings about Billys situation and even urges the 0urors in the case to do the same. #aws, not the dictates of individual conscience, govern society= in order to fill a social role well, it may sometimes be necessary to act against ones own impulses. To be a 2good4 captain, .ere must do something that he instinctually interprets as morally wrong<condemning an innocent soul. Being a good captain re'uires him to be a bad friend to Billy, 0ust as being a good friend to Billy would re'uire him to be a bad captain. /n presenting .eres dilemma, the narrator introduces a lengthy discussion about the famous mutiny at ?ore. The narrator shows that most of the participants in the mutiny ultimately redeem themselves in the momentous victory at Trafalgar, where they display true patriotism. The narrators point seems to be that the impulses of individuals are generally good and beneficial to society as a whole. However, the outcome of the narrators story is more ominous. %lthough the British war machine greatly benefits from the individual enthusiasm and patriotism of its sailors, the more powerful the navy becomes, the more it is able to s'uelch individualism. /n fact, the harsh legislation of the Mutiny %ct is passed to suppress any further murmurings of dissent. Melville seems to suggest that ultimately, the individuals attempt to assert himself in the face of society will prove futile. onscience .ersus #aw %lthough a number of the characters in Billy Budd possess strong individual consciences= fundamentally, the people on the ship are unable to trust one another. (aranoia abounds. onse'uently, life aboard the ship is governed by a strict set of rules, and everybody trusts the rules<not the honor or conscience of individuals<to maintain order. The mistrust that the characters feel, and that is li"ely also to affect us as we read, stems from the sense that evil is pervasive. 7vil men li"e laggart seem to be lur"ing everywhere. Because it is impossible to "now for sure whether peoples intentions are good or evil, the evil men not only disguise their own insidious designs, they also impute evil motives to others. Most notably, laggart misinterprets Billys intention in the soup&spilling incident and subse'uently plots his downfall. The *ans"er understands this sort of dishonesty all too well, and as a result, he has ac'uired a cynicism in his dealings with other people. The *ans"ers reticence may be interpreted in different ways, but one plausible interpretation is that he fails to ta"e direct action against evil men because he fears the conse'uences of confronting evil directly, thus leaving other good men li"e Billy to fend for themselves. He may represent people who play roles in order to fit into society, never fully acting on their own impulses and distancing themselves from the rest of society. /n this reading, the *ans"er confronts a dilemma similar to .eres. The *ans"er li"es Billy and tries to help him, but he ultimately sacrifices Billy to the claustrophobic, paranoid world of the ship, in which men are disconnected from their own consciences. /n Billy Budd, men who confront the law and men who confront evil suffer similar conse'uences, suggesting the dar" view that evil and the law are closely connected. 7

The .ulnerability of /nnocence Billy Budd does not represent goodness so much as he does innocence, and the conflict between innocence and evil in this novel is different from the conflict between good and evil. The narrator ma"es clear that Billy is not a hero in the traditional sense. Though he has the good loo"s and blithe attitude of the ideal Handsome Sailor, his defining characteristic is extreme na;vet@, not moral strength or courage. Billy does not have a sufficient awareness of good and evil to choose goodness consciously, let alone champion it. Because he is unable to recogni)e evil when confronted by it, he ultimately allows laggart to draw him away from virtue and into violence %s a youthful, handsome, and popular sailor, Billy wishes only to be well li"ed and well&ad0usted in his social role. He assumes that no one has cause to disli"e him, and ta"es everyone at face value. laggart, on the other hand, is full of deception, distrust, and malice, and interprets Billys placidity as a dangerous faAade. laggart seems to destroy Billy for no reason other than the latters innocence. 7vil exists to corrupt innocence, and even though Billy "ills laggart, in a sense laggart achieves a double victory over Billy in his own death. laggarts actions cause Billy to fall from both social and moral grace by committing murder, and Billy suffers death as a conse'uence. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the te)t#s ma,or themes. hristian %llegory %lthough the narrator rarely alludes to the Bible explicitly, Billy Budd contains many implicit allusions to the imagery, language, and stories of the Bible, creating a sustained parallel between Billys story and hrists (assion, the story of hrists suffering and death on the cross. #i"e hrist, Billy sacrifices his life as the innocent victim of a hostile society. .eres role in the story parallels that of (ontius (ilate in the !ospels, as he is the official who permits the sacrifice by following the letter of the law instead of his own conscience. laggart functions as a satanic figure, tempting Billy into evil and wor"ing to destroy him throughout the novel. Satan is not a part of the story of hrists (assion, and laggarts temptation of Billy more closely mirrors the serpents temptation of %dam and 7ve in the !arden of 7den than anything in the !ospels. The narrator ma"es laggarts connection to the serpent in !enesis more explicit by comparing laggarts dead body to the corpse of a sna"e. /n addition to these main parallels, the novels innumerable hristian references form a complex web of associations and contrasts. ritics remain sharply divided over whether Billy Budds religious imagery represents Melvilles embrace of religion or harsh criti'ue of it, which illustrates the ambiguity of the religious allegory in the story. Melville leaves to each reader the decision of what the connection between Billy Budd and hristianity signifies. Suggestive ?ames 8

Throughout the novel, Melville uses names to indicate ideas about the true nature of people and things. 5or example, Billys last name, Budd, suggests his innocence and youth by con0uring an image of a flowers bud. aptain .eres name suggests his tendency to veer between attitudes. The name of the Rightsof-Man suggests the greater individual liberties en0oyed by the crew of that happier ship, while the name of the Bellipotent suggests its association with war and the power represented by its military order. The name of the Athe means 2the atheist,4 and when this ship defeats the Bellipotent-which carries the characters who stand for hristian figures<the event suggests that hristian society moves toward a disastrous fall from grace as it becomes more dependent on violence and military discipline. (rimitive and %nimal /magery The narrator fre'uently uses animal imagery to describe both Billy and his fellow sailors. 5or example, the narrator remar"s that Billy appears to have the 2self& consciousness4 of a Saint Bernard. #ater, the narrator says that Billy 2was li"e a young horse fresh from the pasture suddenly inhaling a vile whiff from some chemical factory4 when presented with the conspiratorial bribe. %gain, during the trial, Billy gives .ere a 'uestioning loo" 2not unli"e that which a dog of generous breed might turn upon his master.4 ,hen he lashes out at laggart, Billy is said to resemble a cornered dog or caged mon"ey. This animal imagery functions primarily to highlight Billys extreme innocence, suggesting moreover that he is distanced from society because he lac"s the proper vocabulary to understand social interactions. Melville combines this animal imagery with references to Billy as a 2babe,4 a 2savage,4 and an 2upright barbarian,4 suggesting that Billy represents Melvilles exploration of what happens to the natural or primitive man when confronted with the law and hristianity. Mutiny Mutiny figures prominently in the plot and historical bac"ground of Billy Budd, and it relates to numerous themes as well. The feigned mutinous conspiracy presented to Billy by the anonymous stranger on the upper dec" ultimately leads to his demise. The narrator spends much time detailing the mutinies that ultimately led to the Mutiny %ct, the law that necessitates .eres condemnation of Billy. +n the one hand, mutiny represents opposition to war. /t also represents individuality and agency in the face of authority. Still, since a successful mutiny re'uires the cooperation of many sailors, it also represents a form of society. Moreover, this association defines itself in opposition to an authoritarian force that aims to "eep men separated from their fellow dissenters. Thus, the captains whistle the men bac" to their individual duties 'uic"ly whenever they hear a murmur in the crowd. %ym!ols %ym!ols are o!,ects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent a!stract ideas or concepts.

The Ships Broadly spea"ing, the H.M.S. Bellipotent symboli)es society, with the actions of a few characters standing for the state of human society in general. /n a sense, the various ships in the novel represent different types of societies1 the Rights-ofMan symboli)es a place where individuals maintain their individuality, while the Bellipotent represents a military world in which, under the threat of violence<and therefore in the presence of evil<the rules of society impinge upon the individual rights of men. The Athe, whose name means 2the atheist4 in 5rench, symboli)es the anti&religious aspects of a powerful, war&driven society. The (urser and the Surgeon The purser and the surgeon who debate Billys story after his death represent faith and s"epticism, the two fundamentally opposed attitudes toward religious mysteries. The purser believes that Billys death indicates some special 'uality in Billy, possibly supernatural. The surgeon, on the other hand, maintaining a scientific viewpoint, refuses to ac"nowledge Billys unusually peaceful death as more than a 'uir" of matter. Besides dramati)ing two long&standing attitudes toward religion, these two characters and their conversation are important because they initiate the narrators exploration of Billys posthumous legend. The narrator ultimately calls into 'uestion the novels larger hristian allegory as he investigates how people transform events into legendary narratives. Billy Budd is a novella begun in ?ovember BCCC by %merican author Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in BCDB and not published until BDEF. /t was acclaimed by British critics as a masterpiece when published in #ondon, and 'uic"ly too" its place among the canon of significant wor"s in the -nited States. The novella was discovered in manuscript form in BDBD by $aymond M. ,eaver, who was studying MelvilleGs papers as his first biographer. HBI 7dited by MelvilleGs widow, the manuscript was confusing. (oor transcription and misinterpretation of MelvilleGs notes marred the first published editions of the text. %fter several years of study, Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Sealts, :r. published what is now considered the authoritative text in BDJE. The novella was adapted as a stage play in BDKB and produced on Broadway, where it won the *onaldson %wards and +uter ritics ircle %wards for best play. Ben0amin Britten adapted it as an opera by the same name, first performed in *ecember BDKB. (lot The plot follows Billy Budd, a seaman impressed into service aboard HMS Bellipotent in the year BLDL, when the British $oyal ?avy was reeling from two ma0or mutinies and was threatened by the $evolutionary 5rench $epublicGs military ambitions. He is impressed from another ship, +he Rights of Man 8named

10

after the boo" by Thomas (aine9. %s his former ship moves off, Budd shouts, M!ood&by to you too, old Rights-of-Man.M Billy, a foundling, has an openness and natural charisma that ma"es him popular with the crew. 5or unexplained reasons, he arouses the antagonism of the shipGs Master&at&arms, :ohn laggart, who falsely accuses Billy of conspiracy to mutiny. ,hen laggart brings his charges to the aptain, the Hon. 7dward 5airfax MStarryM .ere, he summons laggart and Billy to his cabin for a private meeting. laggart ma"es his charges and Billy is unable to respond, due to a stutter which grows more severe with intense emotion. He stri"es and accidentally "ills laggart.

.ere convenes a drumhead court&martial. He acts as convening authority, prosecutor, defense counsel and sole witness 8except for Billy9. He intervenes in the deliberations of the court&martial panel to argue them into convicting Billy, despite their and his belief in BillyGs moral innocence. 8.ere says in the moments following laggartGs death, MStruc" dead by an angel of !od3 Net the angel must hang3M9 .ere claims to be following the letter of the Mutiny %ct and the %rticles of ,ar. %lthough .ere and the other officers do not believe laggartGs charge of conspiracy and thin" Billy 0ustified in his response, they find that their own opinions matter little1 M,e are not tal"ing about 0ustice, we are tal"ing about the lawM. The law states that an enlisted man "illing an officer during wartime 8accidentally or not9 must hang. The court&martial convicts Billy following .ereGs argument that any appearance of wea"ness in the officers and failure to enforce discipline could stir more mutiny throughout the British fleet. ondemned to be hanged the morning after his attac" on laggart, Billy before his execution says, M!od bless aptain .ere3M His words were repeated by the gathered crew in a Mresonant and sympathetic echo.M H EJ The novel closes with three chapters that present ambiguity1 hapter ED describes the death of aptain .ere. /n a naval action against the 5rench ship, Athe 8the Atheist9, aptain .ere is mortally wounded. His last words are MBilly Budd, Billy Budd.M hapter OP presents an extract from an official naval ga)ette purporting to give the facts of the fates of :ohn laggart and Billy Budd aboard HMS Bellipotent < but the MfactsM offered turn the facts that the reader learned from the story upside down. The ga)ette article described Budd as a conspiring mutineer li"ely of foreign birth and mysterious antecedents who, when confronted by :ohn laggart, the master&at&arms loyally enforcing the law, stabs laggart and "ills him. The ga)ette concludes that the crime and weapon used suggest a foreign birth and subversive character= it reports that the mutineer was executed and nothing is amiss aboard HMS Bellipotent. 11

 hapter OB reprints a cheaply printed ballad written by one of BillyGs shipmates as an elegy. The adult, experienced man represented in the poem is not the innocent youth portrayed in the preceding chapters.

reated slowly over the last five years of his life, the novella Billy Budd represents MelvilleGs return to prose fiction after three decades when he wrote only poetry. He started it as a poem, a ballad entitled MBilly in the *arbiesM, which he intended to include in his boo", .ohn Marr and /ther %ailors. Melville composed a short, prose head&note to introduce the spea"er and set the scene. The character of MBillyM in this early version was an older man condemned for inciting mutiny and apparently guilty as charged. He did not include the poem in his published boo". Melville incorporated the ballad and expanded the head&note s"etch into a story that eventually reached BKP manuscript pages. This was the first of what were to be three ma0or expansions, each related to one of the principal characters.HEI Melville had a difficult time writing, describing his process with Mo!y-0ic" as follows1 MTa"ing a boo" off the brain is a"in to the tic"lish > dangerous business of ta"ing an old painting off a panel<you have to scrape off the whole business in order to get at it with safety.M HOI The MscrapingsM of Billy Budd lie in the OKB&page manuscript now in the Houghton #ibrary at Harvard. The state of this manuscript has been described as Mchaotic,M with a bewildering array of corrections, cancellations, cut and pasted leaves, annotations inscribed by several hands, and with at least two different attempts made at a fair copy. The composition proceeded in three general phases, as shown by the Melville scholars Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Sealts, :r., who did an extensive study of the original papers from BDKO to BDJE.HFI M/n three main stages he had introduced in turn the three main characters1 first Billy, then laggart, and finally .ere. %s the focus of his attention shifted from one to another of these three principals, the plot and thematic emphasis of the expanding novel underwent conse'uent modifications within each main phase. :ust where the emphasis finally lay in the not altogether finished story as he left it is, in essence, the issue that has engaged and divided critics of Billy BuddM.HEI %fter MelvilleGs death, his wife 7li)abeth, who had acted as his amanuensis on other pro0ects, scribbled notes and con0ectures, corrected spelling, sorted leaves and, in some instances, wrote over her husbandGs faint writing. She tried to follow through on what she perceived as her husbandGs ob0ectives but her editing was confusing to the first professional editors, ,eaver and 5reeman, who mistoo" her writing for MelvilleGs. %t some point 7li)abeth Melville placed the manuscript in Ma 0apanned tin boxMHKI with the authorGs other literary materials, and it remained undiscovered for another EC years.

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HeditI (ublication history /n %ugust BDBD, $aymond M. ,eaver, a professor at olumbia -niversity, doing research for what would become the first biography of Melville, paid a visit to his granddaughter, 7leanor Melville Metcalf, at her South +range, ?ew :ersey home. She gave him access to all the surviving records of Melville1 manuscripts, letters, 0ournals, annotated boo"s, photographs, and a variety of other material. %mong these papers, ,eaver was astonished to find a substantial manuscript for an un"nown prose wor" entitled Billy Budd.Hcitation neededI %fter producing a text that would later be described as Mhastily transcribedM, HBI ,eaver published the first edition of the wor" in BDEF as .olume Q/// of the Standard 7dition of MelvilleGs Complete Wor"s 8#ondon1 onstable and ompany9. /n BDEC he published another version of the text which, despite numerous variations, may be considered essentially the same text. 5. Barron 5reeman published a second text in BDFC, edited on different principles, as Melville1s Billy Budd 8 ambridge1 Harvard -niversity (ress9. He believed he stayed closer to what Melville wrote, but still relied on ,eaverGs text, with what are now considered mista"en assumptions and textual errors. Subse'uent reprints of Billy Budd up through the early BDJPs are, strictly spea"ing, versions of one or the other of these two basic texts. HJI %fter several years of study, in BDJE, Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Sealts, :r., established what is now considered the correct, authoritative text. /t was published by the -niversity of hicago (ress, and contains both a MreadingM and a MgeneticM text. Most editions printed since then follow the Hayford&Sealts text. Based on the confusing manuscripts, the published versions had many variations. 5or example, early versions gave the boo"Gs title as Billy Budd, 2oretopman, while it now seems clear Melville intended Billy Budd, %ailor3 $An &nside 4arrative*1= some versions wrongly included a chapter that Melville had excised as a preface 8the correct text has no preface9. /n addition, some early versions did not follow his change of the name of the ship to Bellipotent 8from the #atin !ellum war and potens powerful9, from &ndomita!le, as Melville called it in an earlier draft. /t is unclear of his full intentions in changing the name of the ship since he used the name Bellipotent only six times.HLI #iterary significance and reception The boo" has undergone a number of substantial, critical reevaluations in the years since its discovery. $aymond ,eaver, its first editor, was initially unimpressed and described it as Mnot distinguishedM. %fter its publication debut in 7ngland, and with critics of such caliber as *. H. #awrence and :ohn Middleton Murry hailing it as a masterpiece, ,eaver changed his mind. /n the introduction to its second edition in the BDEC %horter 4ovels of 5erman Melville, he declared1 M/n 6ierre, Melville had hurled himself into a fury of vituperation against the world= with Billy Budd he would 0ustify the ways of !od to man.M /n mid&BDEF Murry orchestrated the reception of Billy Budd, 2oretopman, first in #ondon, in the influential +imes 7iterary %upplement, in an essay called MHerman

13

MelvilleGs SilenceM 8:uly BP, BDEF9, then in a reprinting of the essay, slightly expanded, in the 4ew 8or" +imes Boo" Review 8%ugust BP, BDEF9. /n relatively short order he and several other influential British literati had managed to canoni)e Billy Budd, placing it along side Mo!y-0ic" as one of the great boo"s of ,estern literature. ,holly un"nown to the public until BDEF, Billy Budd by BDEJ had 0oint billing with the boo" that had 0ust recently been firmly established as a literary masterpiece. /n its first text and subse'uent texts, and as read by different audiences, the boo" has "ept that high status ever since. HBI /n BDDP the Melville biographer and scholar Hershel (ar"er pointed out that all the early estimations of Billy Budd were based on readings from the flawed transcription texts of ,eaver. Some of these flaws were crucial to an understanding of MelvilleGs intent, such as the famous McodaM at the end of the chapter containing the news account of the death of the MadmirableM :ohn laggart and the MdepravedM ,illiam Budd 8EK in ,eaver, ED in Hayford > Sealts reading text, OFFBa in the genetic text9 1 Weaver1 MHere ends a story not unwarranted by what happens in this incongruous world of ours<innocence and GinfirmaryG, spiritual depravity and fair GrespiteG.M +he Ms1 MHere ends a story not unwarranted by what happens in this R word undecipheredS world of ours<innocence and GinfamyG, spiritual depravity and fair GreputeG.M Melville had written this as an end&note after his second ma0or revision. ,hen he enlarged the boo" with the third ma0or section, developing aptain .ere, he deleted the end&note, as it no longer applied to the expanded story. Many of the early readers, such as Murry and 5reeman, thought this passage was a foundational statement of MelvilleGs philosophical views on life. (ar"er wonders what they could possibly have understood from the passage as written. %lthough (ar"er agrees that MmasterpieceM is an appropriate description of the boo", he adds a proviso. M7xamining the history and reputation of Billy Budd has left me more convinced than before that it deserves high stature 8although not precisely the high stature it holds, whatever that stature is9 and more convinced that it is a wonderfully teachable story<as long as it is not taught as a finished, complete, coherent, and totally interpretable wor" of art.M HKI There appear to be three principal conceptions of the meaning of MelvilleGs Billy Budd1 the first, and most heavily supported, that it is MelvilleGs MTestament of acceptance,M his valedictory and his final benediction. The second view, a reaction against the first, holds that Billy Budd is ironic, and that its real import is precisely the opposite of its ostensible meaning. Still a third interpretation denies that interpretation is possible= a wor" of art has no meaning at all that can be abstracted from it, nor is a manGs wor" in any way an index of his character or his opinion. %ll three of these views of Billy Budd are in their own sense true. <$. H. 5ogleHCI 14

7arly critics discussed the novella in terms of good and evil, Billy Budd has often been interpreted allegorically in hristian terms, as hristianity and the Bible were important influences in %merican literature and western culture. Billy is interpreted typologically as the hrist or as %dam 8before the 5all9. laggart, compared to a sna"e several times in the text, is seen to represent 7vil. (art of laggartGs hatred comes because of BillyGs goodness rather than in spite of it.
Hcitation neededI

laggart has also been compared to the Biblical :udas of the !ospels. He has charged an innocent man with a crime and turned him in to the authorities. ritics note that the chaplain "isses Billy on the chee" before he hangs, as :udas "issed :esus on the chee" when he was betrayed. .ere is often associated with (ontius (ilate. This theory stems mainly from the characteristics attributed to each man. Billy is innocent, often compared to a barbarian or a child= while laggart is a representation of evil with a Mdepravity according to nature,M a phrase Melville borrows from (lato. .ere, without a doubt the most conflicted character in the novel, is torn between his compassion for the MHandsome SailorM and his adherence to his own authority. Hcitation neededI +ther critics interpret BuddGs character as the antithesis of laggart, the fallen angel. Budd is naturally good, but also has the courage and ability to believe in his goodness to the point that it is not accessible to him as a concept. .ere represents the good man with no courage or faith in his own goodness, and is therefore susceptible to evil.Hcitation neededI laggart is the archetypal fallen angel, a man who has abandoned his goodness for ego, and, "nowing this, i.e. his own cowardice, see"s to seduce the flawed .ere and destroy Budd. Hcitation neededI Some critics have interpreted Billy Budd as an historical novel that attempts to evaluate manGs relation to the past. Thomas :. Scor)a has written about the philosophical framewor" of the story. He understands the wor" as a comment on the historical feud between poets and philosophers. By this interpretation, Melville is opposing the scientific, rational systems of thought, which laggartGs character represents, in favor of the more comprehensive poetic pursuit of "nowledge embodied by Billy. HDI /n her boo" (pistemology of the Closet 8BDDPTEPPC9, 7ve Sedgwic", expanding on earlier interpretations of the same themes, posits that the interrelationships between Billy, laggart and aptain .ere are representations of male homosexual desire and the mechanisms of prohibition against this desire. She points out that laggartGs Mnatural depravity,M which is defined tautologically as Mdepravity according to nature,M and the accumulation of e'uivocal terms 8MphenomenalM, MmysteryM, etc.9 used in the explanation of the fault in his character, are an indication of his status as the central homosexual figure in the text. She also interprets the mutiny scare aboard the Bellipotent, the political circumstances that are at the center of the events of the story, as a portrayal of homophobia.HBPI /n the BDCPs, $ichard ,eisberg advanced a reading of the novel based on his research into the history of the governing law. Based on his study of statutory law and practices in the $oyal ?avy in the era in which the boo" ta"es place, 15

,eisberg re0ects the traditional reading of aptain .ere as a good man trapped by bad law. He says that .ere deliberately distorted the applicable substantive and procedural law to bring about BillyGs death. The most fully wor"ed&out version of ,eisbergGs argument can be found in chapters C and D of his boo" +he 2ailure of the Word3 +he 7awyer as 6rotagonist in Modern 2iction Horig. ed., BDCF= expanded ed., BDCDI. ,eisbergGs close reading of the boo" has confirmed the central role of Billy Budd, %ailor in the emerging field of law and literature.HBBI H. Bruce 5ran"lin sees a direct connection between the hanging of Budd and the controversy around capital punishment. ,hile Melville was writing Billy Budd between BCCJ and BCDB, the publicGs attention was focused on the issue. HBEI +ther commentators have suggested that the story may have been based on events onboard -SS %omers, an %merican naval vessel= #t. !uert !ansevoort, a defendant in a later investigation, was a first cousin of Melville. HBOI Harold Schechter, a professor who has written a number of boo"s on %merican serial "illers, has said that the authorGs description of laggart could be considered to be a definition of a sociopath. He ac"nowledges that Melville was writing at a time before the word MsociopathM was used. HBFI The centrality of Billy BuddGs extraordinary good loo"s in the novella, where he is described by aptain .ere as Mthe young fellow who seems so popular with the men<Billy, the Handsome Sailor,M have led to interpretations of a homoerotic sensibility in the novel. #aura Mulvey added a theory of scopophilia and masculine and feminine sub0ectivityTob0ectivity. 8Uuote from Billy Budd, %ailor, (enguin (opular lassics, BDDK, p. KF9. This version tends to inform interpretations of BrittenGs opera, perhaps owing to the composerGs own homosexuality. HBKI The boo"Gs concluding chapters raise a 'uestion that is implicit throughout MelvilleGs story1 How can one "now the truthV The focus of chapter EB on the court&martial impeaches that court&martialGs attempts to establish Mthe truth.M The boo"Gs multiple endings, and the doubt and confusion pervading the Minside narrativeGsM account of events aboard this ship, provo"e doubt about whether the truth can be "nown, even from an Minside narrative.M Hcitation neededI The legal scholar $obert over suggests in the preface to his boo", .ustice Accused3 Antislavery and the .udicial 6rocess, that aptain .ere may have been modeled after hief :ustice #emuel Shaw of the Massachusetts Supreme :udicial ourt. MelvilleGs father&in&law, Shaw was an abolitionist who was "nown to apply existing fugitive slave laws in his decisions, in spite of his beliefs. %lthough over admits there is no direct evidence to suggest this interpretation, he says there are parallels, such as BillyGs MdumbnessM and the rule that prohibited fugitive slaves from testifying in their own defense at trial. He believes that such a subtext was intentional.

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