Abstract
This paper describes Herman Melville's novel "Billy Budd" as a non-allegorical story of the intersection of three characters (Billy Budd, Claggart and Captain Vere). The paper argues that each man is compelled to act as he does by internal and external forces.

From the Paper
"While many critics tend to read Herman Melville's "Billy Budd" as an allegory, this is but one possible approach to what can also be understood as a realistic story of how human nature and human psychology functions under conditions of crisis and stress. Melville's allegory rests upon the assumption that Billy Budd represents some type of Noble Sailor or handsome Sailor who must be sacrificed to the common good. Conversely, examining the characters of Budd, Captain Vere and Claggart, Billy's nemesis, one..."

Tags:Herman Melville, Billy Budd, Sailor

Abstract
This paper analyzes and examines Herman Melville's novel "Billy Budd" as a Christian allegory. It shows the ways in which the characters of Vere, Billy, and Claggart parallel biblical figures of Pilate, Jesus, and Satan and how the allegory is developed thematically.

From the Paper
"The purpose of this research is to examine Herman Melville's novel "Billy Budd" as a Christian allegory. The plan of the research will be to set forth the pattern of ideas in the novel and then to discuss means by which the allegorical elements of the narrative surface in respect of not only ways in which the characters can be analyzed as analogues of specific biblical figures but also how the theme of redemptive and otherwise sociologically unmerited suffering defines the moral scope o faction and enables the..."

Tags:allegory, Melville, Billy Budd, Claggart, Jesus, Christian, Pilate, Satan, character analysis

Abstract
This paper discusses why Herman Melville's novel "Billy Budd" is not an allegory. The paper examines various interpretations of the novel, from repressed homosexuality, to the conflict between good and evil, to Marx and Darwin.

From the Paper
"There are many different approaches taken by literary critics to a close reading of Herman Melville's "Billy Budd" among which Eric Goldman includes the Manichean portrayal of conflict between good and evil, an illustration of the dialectical materialism of Marxism, a modern allegory of the Crucifixion and a psychodrama about repressed homosexual desire. The book has also been interpreted more recently by examining the significance of Darwinian discourse which Thomas Hove says is particularly important because the book explores a..."

Tags:Herman Melville, Billy Budd, allegory

Abstract
The paper offers an analysis of the conflict between the individual and society as it is portrayed in Melville's story, "Billy Budd." The paper explains the story of an innocent sailor who is condemned to death due to his vulnerability to the forces of evil.

From the Paper
"The idealism in Melville's "Billy Budd" revolves around the conflict between the individual and society and the vulnerability of innocence. Billy Budd is a twenty-one-year-old sailor who is idealistic, innocent and incapable of perceiving evil intentions in others. Good looking and emitting a virtue of character sugaring the sour of his nature, Billy is vulnerable to the evil on board the H M S Bellipotent in the form of the Master-at-Arms Claggart."

Tags:law, order, liberties, death, naivety, control, war, Melville, Billy Budd

Abstract
The writer of this paper details the characters, plot and dark imagery depicted in Herman Melville's novel "Billy, Budd, Sailor." Melville's novel is an inside narrative about a young man and his adventures on the South Seas. This paper focuses on the novel's vivid characters and objects that are composed of attributes that are associated with both light and dark images, which enables the reader to become acquainted with and grasp each individual element of the story.

From the Paper
"The light images apparent in chapter one, all possess one important quality-they bring joy and happiness to someone. These images include, an African sailor, Billy Budd, and the ship, Rights-of-Man. The African sailor, first mentioned at the very beginning of the chapter, was described vividly. "The two ends of a gray silk handerkerchief thrown loose about the neck danced upon the displayed ebony of his chest, in his ears were big hoops of gold...it was a hot noon in July; and his face lustrous with perspiration, beamed with barbaric good humor. In jovial sallies right and left, his white teeth flashing into view, he rollicked along, the center of a company of his shipmates." Even though this man was dark in complexion, his soul shone through his outer features and made people flock around him, as mentioned in the quote. Billy Budd, the main character of this story, is also another representative of a light image. During the incident when Billy was to be impressed onto another ship, his captain began begging for someone else to be taken in his place. "Beg pardon, but you don't understand, Lieutenant."

Tags:literature, herman, melville, imagery

Abstract
The most striking feature of the collective body of critical response to "Billy Budd" is the sheer volume of differing interpretations of the piece's symbolism. Despite the profusion of differing opinions regarding "Billy Budd", there are two main schools of thought that most scholarly responses tend to represent. In this paper, I will briefly outline both of these critical theories and the principal symbols that support each.

Tags:melville's, symbolism

Abstract
This paper explains that the plot of Herman Melville's "Billy Budd" revolves around the central axis of the war between good and evil by using Biblical and mythical allusions. The author relates that, although Billy Budd seems to be the innocent character, from a religious point of view he becomes guilty after committing an involuntary crime. The paper concludes that the central message of the story is that natural innocence is to be preferred instead of moral truth.

From the Paper
"The character of Billy Budd is drafted on an opposition between the natural and the religious truth. He is at once portrayed as a noble savage, with a natural charm and a baffling innocence. Billy attracts everyone through his natural and pure character, but at the same time, he inspires some of the others with sinful feelings of either desire or envy. His shipmates and the captain also are irresistibly drawn towards Billy as to something incredibly pure and innocent. His beauty also emphasizes the idea that he represents natural perfection. He represents nature in its pristine form, untouched by the usual tinges of civilization. In shape, he seems to be descended from the "unadulterated blood of Ham", an ideal representation of nature and savageness, with an intensely black skin:"[He was] so intensely black that he must needs have been a native African of the unadulterated blood of Ham. A symmetric figure much above the average height."(Melville, 2) His shipmates swarm around him, attracted irresistibly by his natural virtue and sweetness: "Not that he preached to them or said or did anything in particular; but a virtue went out of him

Tags:stammer, ship, symbolic, allusions, innocence

Abstract
This paper argues that the writing style used in "Billy Budd" was chosen by Melville so he could best address those aspects of the story structure that required a strong degree of comprehension on the part of the reader. This paper demonstrates that Melville's writing style in "Billy Budd" was used in such a manner to denote a greater sense of significance within specific parts of the story.

Abstract
This paper provides a brief essay describing the impact of Billy on the others on board in Herman Melville's "Billy Budd".

From the Paper
"In Herman Melville's "Billy Budd", the title character is an attractive young sailor who is associated with innocence and virtue. We are told by the narrator that the first instance when Captain Vere sees Billy he thinks of him as a young Adam before the Fall. Billy will experience a Fall but the fall will result from Claggart's hatred of Billy which leads him to make the false accusation that Billy is a traitor. Though Billy will be falsely accused and condemned..."

Tags:treason, innocence, Christ, guilt, hatred, virtue

Abstract
The paper attempts to determine who was responsible for Billy Budd's death in Melville's short story of the same name. The paper shows how the characters of Captain Vere and Claggart, the rigidity of the naval system of justice, and Billy himself, all contributed to Billy's downfall.

From the Paper
"Herman Melville's 1891 seafaring novella Billy Budd is a Christian allegory, transposed into the relatively contemporary setting of a British naval vessel. The Christian Bible details the death of Christ as a series of betrayals and injustices. The popular leader and teacher Christ is betrayed by one of his own followers, Judas, and is handed over by the leadership of his own nation to the Roman judge Pontius Pilate. Pilate washes his hands of his responsibility for a man whom he believes is innocent, because Christ will not verbally defend himself, and because the Roman authorities have charged him with preserving order amongst the populace. Pilate acquiesces, going against his better moral instincts."

Tags:Captain, Vere, Claggart, Royal, Navy, justice