Abstract
This paper discusses the influence of the young, virtuous sailor Billy Budd on other members of the crew of the Bellipotent, including Captain Vere, Claggart, the Seargant-at-Arms and others. Billy's biggest influence is argued to be his ability to get experienced seamen to question their allegience to authority from a consideration of moral rightness or wrongness of an action.

From the Paper
"In Herman Melville's "Billy Budd", an innocent and attractive young man is pressed into service on the Bellipotent sailing ship under the authority of Captain Vere. We are told Billy's aura of innocence and goodness is so great that upon first sight of him, Captain Vere equates him to a young Adam before the Fall. Unaware of the evil that is in some men's hearts because of his innocence and virtue, Billy is vulnerable to the hatred and envy of Claggart. Claggart's jealousy..."

Tags:Christ, Adam, compassion, forgiveness, guilt, mutiny, law, discipline, evil, condemned

Abstract
This paper discusses Herman Melville's story "Billy Budd" which took him 3 years to complete. It analyzes the two main characters of the story, Budd and Claggart, as well as dwells upon some of the many symbols and themes found throughout the book.

From the Paper
"Although Billy Budd is portrayed as the epitome of innocence, he is not naive. He is a popular man, who has no problems dealing with other men. He is "illiterate and ignorant even of whom his father was, since he is a foundling, in whom, nevertheless, "noble descent" is as evident as "in a blood horse."" (Chase, 157) Budd does not seem to be aware of this however, as Melville portrays him as an instinctively "upright barbarian" and an image "of young Adam before the Fall." It is apparent that Melville is thinking in Biblical terms when he comments that a person of such untainted innocence seems to have been "exceptionally transmitted from a period prior to Cain's city and citified man." (Chase, 157)".

Tags:Cain, Rights-of-Man, Vere, H.M.S, Bellipotent