Billy Budd, Sailor Essay

701 Words2 Pages

Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor is a critically acclaimed novella set around the shores of England in the last decade of the Eighteenth Century. The plot revolved around a young Sailor, Billy Budd, who was extracted from the ship he was originally on, The Rights of Man, and was oppressed to a British naval warship named the H.M.S. Billopotent. There were numerous allusions used throughout the novella that enhanced the meaning of this great work. The allusions used pertain towards myths, the Bible, History, and other works of literature. All of them together illuminate the true meaning of the entire novella.
Biblical Allusions were used vividly throughout this work. In fact, a significant reference was made between Billy Budd, the protagonist, and John Claggart, Billy’s Foil, throughout. Billy Budd was compared to Adam of the Garden of Eden and John Claggart to a serpent which would indicate Satan. From a reader’s perspective Herman Melville used this to evoke associations between the two characters and the Bible. Billy resembled Adam of the Garden of Eden because he was often described as a complete innocent. John Claggart, on the other hand, was referred to as someone who had a compliant exterior, but an evil and sinister interior. Moreover, there was another great reference that involved another important character, Captain the Honorable Edward Fairfax Vere, who was linked to God with Billy linked to Jesus. How? According to the Bible, God had to sacrifice his own son Jesus Christ to obtain obedience from his Kingdom. In Billy Budd, Sailor, Vere was perceived to possess strong feelings of care for Billy almost like a father would for a son. Vere had an internal conflict that had him choose between Billy to stay alive or dye...

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...opotent was.
In conclusion, it was evident that this great work of literature provides many allusions that provide reference to more familiar work and help us understand a clearer understanding to the meaning of the work. Even though the allusions do not all pertain to the entire meaning of the work, but they do illuminate a broader perspective of the characters, setting, and tone. Yet, there were a lot of allusions that did illuminate the entire meaning of the novella, and even though the true meaning remains ambiguous they still reflected what most readers consider the meaning. The meaning of Herman Melville’s well known masterpiece is that one who had suffered was not really the one suffering, but the one who caused the suffer is really the one who is suffering.

Works Cited

Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1988. Print.

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