Billy Budd: Three Main Characters
Billy Budd, a 19th century novel written by Herman Melville, involves three main characters: Billy Budd, John Claggart and Captain Vere. In the beginning of the novel, Melville portrays each character with distinct personality; Billy Budd is represented as the simple-minded sailor, Claggart is viewed as the villain, and Captain Vere is seen as the honorable superior of the ship. As the novel develops, the earlier images of these characters are contradicted as previously unseen traits of each character are revealed.
John Claggart represents the epitome of a demon-haunted man. In chapter twenty, Melville carefully describes the change in Claggart’s twisted figure as he speaks to Billy with a “hypnotic stare” of his charge against the handsome sailor. His image initially was of “a serpent fascination;” however, his facial expression corrodes as he reveals his anger and antipathy toward Billy face to face. First, his eyes change their color from a “wonted rich violet” to a “muddy purple.” Melville even portrays him almost as a non-human being, an “alien eyes of an uncatalogued creature.” Furthermore, as opposed to his initial image, Melville compares the man to a “hungry lurch of the torpedo-fish.” Melville deliberately transforms Claggart’s demonic trait to a more extreme level.
Billy Budd plays a role of a good-hearted and simple peacemaker. His winsome looks and innocent nature wins the loyalty of many sailors except for John Claggart. During Billy’s brief moment of his stay in Captain Vere’s cabin, one can see that his angelic image morphs into an image of a deadly creature. When John Claggart shocks Billy with the accusation of being involved in a rebellious group, Billy becomes “impaled, struck by white leprosy.” He is dumbfounded and tongue-tied as if the hypnosis- ***Hypnotist?***Claggart – had actually mesmerized him into blocking his ability to speak. Captain Vere even urges Billy to defend himself; however, one knows for a fact that Billy’s main weakness is his inability to speak out in such situation. Melville also compares Billy to an old schoolmate of Captain Vere. Just like the young schoolmate, Billy shrinks into a helpless child, struggling to spit out a word. That moment of helplessness is broken when Billy slashes out with a cannonball punch at Claggart. Instantaneously, Billy’s image of a good-natured sailor is replaced by the image of a manslayer. It is that unexpected transformation in Billy’s nature which puts his life on trial.
Unlike Claggart and Billy, Captain Vere’s role fluctuates throughout the chapter- from a fatherly role to a military disciplinarian role. Captain Vere, like Claggart, also sees the charming spirit within Billy Budd. However, unlike Claggart, Vere admires Billy’s such spirit without feeling hatred toward him. Vere really loves Billy, and often one can find that moment of fatherly love in the chapter. Only Vere sees the “inexperienced nonage choke in amazement by the accusation” and furthermore, the Captain tries to ease the boy by “laying a soothing hand on his [Billy] shoulder, telling him to “take his time.” This simple of act of kindness startles the young sailor even more, causing the boy to striking John Claggart. After Claggart drops dead, the Captain suddenly changes his role to a military disciplinarian.
The beginning of the novel illustrates each main character with distinct roles: Claggart as the villain of the story, Captain Vere as the honorable and superior, and Billy Budd as the simple-minded sailor. Claggart morphed into an image of an alien. The handsome sailor turned out to be a brutal killer. Captain Vere's fatherly trait was taken over by his militarian role. With great haste, Herman Melville drastically changes our perspective of the characters in Billy Budd, and all of this happens in only four pages. These four pages are vital to the story because they uncover the masks of these three characters.
***You have done a good job with this essay. It is very well written. Did you read the whole book or just these four pages? If you read the whole book, I think that it would be interesting to see you take this idea a little farther and discuss why Melville chooses this particular point in the novel to show such drastic changes in the three main characters. You did a good job of incorporating quotes into your argument; just be sure to cite the page number when you do that. This is the proper format – “QUOTE” (15). (15 is the page number)Partner sites: Pitbull pics, Study Spanish in Ecuador, and Free Essays and Term Papers