Term Papers on Billy Budd

Term Paper Title	Billy Budd
# of Words	985
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.94

Billy Budd

     In Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, the author focuses the plot around three symbols, three main figures in his story. These include Captain Vere, Billy Budd, and John Claggart. All three figures have tremendously different personalities and characteristics. They are three men in the British navy who feed off each other in so many ways. The three symbols shown in Melville’s Billy Budd are Captain Vere, symbolizing authority, Billy Budd, representing innocence, and John Claggart being the true meaning of evil. With these three symbols the whole plot of the story is developed. Melville does an excellent job in portraying each character’s qualities so efficiently.
     The first symbol used in Herman Melville’s Billy Budd is Captain Vere’s symbol of authority. He is always putting himself in a position of an officer responsible for the well-being of his men. He does not have enough trust in his men to let them make their own decisions, and feels he must do the thinking for them. From this, we tend to judge him as a cold, narrow-minded man who lacks compassion. He does, however, have a sense of spiritual understanding with Billy Budd and himself. It seems to be a kind of father and son relationship. Captain Vere did have a strange sense about him. He was often caught in dreaminess, gazing absently off into the Black Sea. For this, he earned the name, “Starry Vere,” in the navy. In a poem entitled “Appleton House” was a discription of Captain Vere, “This’ tis to have been from the first, In a domestic heaven nursed, Under the discipline severe, of Fairfax and the Starry Vere”(McQuade, 907). This explains how the strict and controlling Captain Vere was often in dazes beyond anyone’s control. Despite Captain Vere’s strong sense of authority, he did have a soft side, a love for books. He would never go out to sea without them. This makes us believe that he does have feelings. Toward the end of the story he shows his authority yet also lets Billy Budd know he does believe him. This is shown when Captain Vere tries to live an authoratative, high profile life yet the reader feels the bond between Billy Budd and Vere. At the moment prior to Billy’s death, I get the feeling that the souls of the two men are one. This is because Captain Vere goes into shock and I sense he is experiencing the pain. Melville writes, “And yet at that instant Billy alone must have been in their hearts, even as in their eyes” (McQuade, 942).
     The second symbol in Melville’s Billy Budd is John Claggart, the master-at-arms, Billy’s exact opposite. He had an abnormal look to him, which contrasted from Budd’s beauty and innocence. Claggart had an evil nature to him, demonstrated in all manners by his appearance. Claggart glowed with this evil while Budd gl...

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