In Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor, readers are introduced to the conflict of good and evil between Billy Budd and Claggart. However, there is another conflict, which, in ways is more significant than the epic clash of good and evil. Vere’s struggle between duty and conscience is more significant because it occurs in the mind. Whereas Billy Budd was clearly the noble sacrificed hero and Claggart was the vindictive villain, duty is just as noble as conscience and conscience is just as noble as duty. Melville sets up this conflict by placing a man with the intuition and innocence of a child, in the hands of a captain amidst war. In a description of Captain Vere it can be anticipated that Vere, who values peace and common good, would be in conflict with his job, which requires him to be a militaristic authoritarian. Captain Vere learns important lessons when innocent hands bring about destruction of life. Vere was moved by his beckoning duty as captain, to convince the drumhead court to convict Billy Budd. However, the paternal emotions towards Billy Budd and his rational thinking did invoke indecision. Captain Vere realizes, when he has to act, he does not have the strength of conviction he had thought. Vere’s character is written to be a medium between Billy Budd and Claggart. Vere, like Claggart, has experience that makes him a salted sailor. However, like Billy Budd, Vere has been able to hold on to his natural intelligence. Along with his intelligence, Vere has an innocent quality to him: he believes when a crisis between duty and conscience calls, he will be able to hold fast to duty as called for on the seas during war. Captain Vere learns that in the face of conflict between duty and conscience, he does not have the strength of conviction he thought he had. Captain Vere learns that to balance conscience and duty is a very hard task even for a man as conscious of his actions as he is.
Captain Vere, despite having paternal feelings towards Billy Budd, soon realizes the decision facing him. After Claggart’s last breathe, “ ‘Fated boy,’ breathed Captain Vere in tone so low as to be almost a whisper, ‘what have you done!’ ” (350). Vere’s paternal feelings can be seen when he says “Fated boy”. The fact Captain Vere whispers this implies the emotions he is feeling. He realizes the severity of Billy’s actions and reproaches him as a father would a child...
... middle of paper ...
...d conscience. The manifestation of complete opposites in the characters of Billy Budd and Claggart give readers a very clear sense of the enemy, and which character to emulate. However, Billy Budd and Claggart are very exaggerated views of balancing opposite interests. Melville, more subtly, uses the murder of Claggart by Billy Budd, to show the readers the balance needing to be achieved within Captain Vere. His struggle between duty and conscience are representative of different interests. These different interests might not be clearly right and wrong. Duty is just as noble as emotion and vice versa. Despite what people think of themselves, it is very hard to strike that balance in which both interests can be achieved. Vere’s actions when wavering between emotion and duty reflect how actions counteract one another. One minute Vere was calm and the next he was passionately exclaiming. The human condition is always shifting, always looking for that balance of interests. People believe strongly in many things, but when the strong beliefs are pitted against one another balance must be found. As Vere learned, in the face of conflict between two rights, he finds his convictions shaken.
After Montag had burned Captain Beatty's body, he got the last laugh and said to him "You always said don't face a problem, burn it. Well now I've done both. Goodbye, Captain." on page 121. Captain Beatty was the type of person to ignore every problem and push the contradictory things out of the way. Literature is like that, it is upsetting, confusing, and often times will pull the rug out from under
As chapter 5 begins, the ship was in the midst of a tempest and its crew feared for their lives. Voltaire used vivid imagery to describe the individuals aboard the ship as “making loud outcries, or betook themselves to their prayers; the sails were blown into shreds, the vessel was a total wreck”. As events transpired, James pulled the evil sailor back to safety only to have a sudden jerk of the ship send him overboard. This was the first instance of irony, as James forgave the sailor for the slamming him mere seconds ago and went on to save him for no
In conclusion, this essay analyzes the similarities and differences of the two stories written by Herman Melville, Billy Budd and Bartleby. The settings, characters, and endings in the two stories reveal very interesting comparisons and contrasts. The comparison and contrast also includes the interpretation of the symbolism that Melville used in his two stories. The characters, Billy and Bartleby, could even be considered autobiographical representatives of Herman Melville.
When this story is viewed through Sigmund Freud’s “psychoanalytic lens” the novel reveals itself as much more than just another gory war novel. According to Sigmund Freud psychology there are three parts of the mind that control a person’s actions which are the id, ego, and superego. Psychoanalysis states that there are three parts of the human mind, both conscious and subconscious, that control a person’s actions. The Id, ego, and
Since ours is an age that has found irony, ambiguity, and paradox to be central not only in literature but in life, it is not surprising that Hawthorne has seemed to us one of the most modern of nineteenth century American writers. The bulk and general excellence of the great outburst of Hawthorne criticism of the past decade attest to his relevance for us(54).
A distinct conscience is formed by the values and desires of one’s unique identity. However, common beliefs of societal standards can influence conscientious desires. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee introduces a young girl named Scout, who learns about the difference between social conformity and human conscience. Through this, she notices the conflict it brings: choosing to conform or stand with your desire. Through Maycomb’s discriminatory principles, Atticus’ actions against common beliefs, and Scout’s comprehension of Boo, Lee reveals how society’s standards and conformity hinders personal desires for righteousness.
Since ours is an age that has found irony, ambiguity, and paradox to be central not only in literature but in life, it is not surprising that Hawthorne has seemed to us one of the most modern of nineteenth century American writers. The bulk and general excellence of the great outburst of Hawthorne criticism of the past decade attest to his relevance for us (54).
Montag is under pressure from his wife, Mildred and Captain Beatty to do his job, to not ask questions, and listen to the ‘family’. But he had equal support from Clarisse, the one who asked plenty of questions about society and Montag’s static, routine life, and from Faber who supported his unconventional and somewhat dangerous idea of starting a small printing press for illegal books even though he himself was a coward and acted through Montag. Granger is someone who doesn’t actively fight against the system, but does contribute as he recognized the way people helped shaped society and the same with society shaping people as it had with
Human nature is a conglomerate perception which is the dominant liable expressed in the short story of “A Tell-Tale Heart”. Directly related, Edgar Allan Poe displays the ramifications of guilt and how it can consume oneself, as well as disclosing the nature of human defense mechanisms, all the while continuing on with displaying the labyrinth of passion and fears of humans which make a blind appearance throughout the story. A guilty conscience of one’s self is a pertinent facet of human nature that Edgar Allan Poe continually stresses throughout the story. The emotion that causes a person to choose right from wrong, good over bad is guilt, which consequently is one of the most ethically moral and methodically powerful emotion known to human nature. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe displays the narrator to be rather complacent and pompous, however, the narrator establishes what one could define as apprehension and remorse after committing murder of an innocent man. It is to believe that the narrator will never confess but as his heightened senses blur the lines between real and ...
The captain is characterized as incompetent even at sailing a ship despite his title. The captain should have been the one to lead the castaways but his incompetence caused the island dwellers to despise him. Ten years after being marooned on the island, “the captain become a very boring person, without enough to think about, without enough to do.”(294). Trying to find a purpose to his boring life, the captain hovered around a spring, the island’s only water supply. He would tell the kanka-bono girls the kind of mood the spring was in on that day despite the fact that “The dribbling [from the spring] was in fact quite steady, and had been for thousands of years”(295). The kanka-bono girls did not speak english and therefore the captain’s attempt at humanising the spring were lost on the girls making it a completely pointless endeavor. Moreover,If not for the lack of tools on the island, the captain would have tried to improve the springs and consequently might have clogged it(296) potentially putting the life of castaways at risk. The captain was desperate to find a purpose to his mundane life on the island, so much that he was willing to put his and the island’s inhabitant 's life at risk. The captain’s attempt at accomplishing something to find a purpose in his life was useless and even
Captain Aubrey exhibits and demonstrates leadership characteristics that inspire his crew to be the best that they can be. One of the most important leadership traits that Captain Jack has is a single-minded focus on his purpose. All of his decisions are held up against the g...
First, Montag appears empathetic towards his fellow citizens, while the Captain is bent on burning literature and expects the same characteristic from his cohorts. Before the firemen could burn a woman’s collection of publications, she instead set himself - and her whole house - on fire rather than relinquish her literature. The incident sank deep into Montag’s heart and he questions the tactics of his peers. Over a game of cards, Montag confided to Beatty, “‘I’ve tried to imagine .... just how it would feel. I mean, to have firemen burn our houses and our books.’ .... ‘Was─was it always like this? The
Having to grow up in a rough neighbor, going to college and being kicked out, growing up with no parents and going to jail, and being raised during segregation and move to not be mistreated and end up in worst are life stories that can be a testimony that people may look at as inspirational and encouraging.
Symbolism was used to express the Captains minds set. In the beginning paragraphs, the Captain is viewed as depressed, apprehensive, and insecure. The Captain viewed the land as insecure, whereas the sea was stable. The Captain was secure with the sea, and wished he were more like it.
Captain Vere was a very intelligent and wholehearted man with wisdom. He was one of the three men that was most controversial out of them all. Now coming into the seventh chapter the narrator widens the initial background information of Captain Vere. Captain Vere has a passion and ambition to the devotion of reading all different types of articles to books. His enthusiasm for reading books has sometimes distant himself from his fellow officers. John Claggart was a very confusing man to describe and difficult to say that he held only one characteristics about himself. He was the type of man that put everything into one basket but could give you three different sides to him depending on the situation and your place within his life. Mr. Claggart