Herman Melville's "Billy Bud, Sailor"

Paper Summary:

The paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the novel "Billy Budd, Sailor" by Herman Melville. Specifically it contains a persuasive essay regarding sacrifice and the possibility of redemption in the novel. The paper states that in the novel, Billy dies as a result of miscommunication, hatred, and lies, yet, he accepts his fate and sacrifices his life for the rest of the crew. The paper relates that civilization should not require sacrifice, but for the sake of peace and freedom, most often, civilization does require sacrifice by one or many to remain free of anarchy and chaos. The paper concludes that the author questions what this says about our civilization.

From the Paper:

"He compares other characters to ferrets, horses, and other creatures, and he does this again to separate the characters and indicate Billy's innocence and Claggart's evil. As noted, this also indicates just how closely aligned the characters are to the animal world, a world where the fittest survive, and chaos ensues if there is not order and dominance. Clearly, this applies to life on the ship, as well, and so, the society on board ship is somewhat animal-like and inhuman, which is why society demands for the execution of Billy. He is far too innocent and good to survive in this alien world, and Claggart, the most evil of all the characters, understands this far too well. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Beauchamp, Gorman. "The Scorpion's Suicide: Claggart's Death in Billy Budd." Melville Society Extracts July 2005: 7+.
• Goldman, Eric. "Bringing out the Beast in Melville's Billy Budd: The Dialogue of Darwinian and "Holy" Lexicons on Board the Bellipotent." Studies in the Novel 37.4 (2005): 430+.
• Melville, Herman. Four Short Novels. New York: Bantam Books, 1959.
• Wenke, John. "4 Melville S Indirection: Billy Budd, the Genetic Text, and "the Deadly Space Between"." New Essays on Billy Budd. Ed. Donald Yannella. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 114-141.

More papers on Herman Melville's "Billy Bud, Sailor":

• Book Review # 4053 : "The Allegory of Billy Budd"
• Term Paper # 127612 : "Herman Melville"
• Analytical Essay # 2325 : "Herman Melville's "Billy Budd"

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