Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville Biography of Herman Melville:
Herman Melville was born on August 1st, 1819 into a prominent and wealthy family. His father was a successful import merchant, so his family had everything they needed and more. His father also told stories of the sea and other far-away places. When he was 16, Melville attended Albany Classical School, but only for a year. Afterward, he went to live on a farm with his uncle. Not long after that, he went back to New York and became a cabin boy on a boat going to Liverpool, England. He liked the sea and went on other journeys by ship. These voyages also gave him inspiration for some of his novels.
In 1847, He married Elizabeth Shaw, and later had four children with her. In 1850, the family moved to Massachusetts, where Melville had a prolific period of writing. He was friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne, and dedicated his most well known book, Moby Dick, to him. In 1863, he gave up the farm life and moved to New York, where he worked at the New York Custom House. He continued writing poetry until his death, at the time of which he was an obscure writer. He died on September 28th, 1891, and is buried next to his wife.
Plot Synopsis:
The story is set in the late 1700s. Billy Budd, a sailor working on the merchant ship "Rights-of-Man" is impressed (taken in without the sailor choosing) by the British naval ship "H.M.S. Bellipotent." Billy Budd is a simple man, so he does not think much of it and goes with the new ship. He likes his role and the new ship and is liked by the new crew. Billythen sees a whipping of a sailor that did something wrong, and is affected by it. He becomes determined to do everything right, but because of various minor things that go wrong, he is scrutinized. He asks the advice of a more experienced sailor, and the sailor concludes that the Master-at-Arms, Claggart, has a grudge against Billy. Billy refuses to accept that possibility and continues to wonder what the problem is. Then after he spills his soup at a meal, Claggart makes a seemingly lighthearted comment, which Billy thinks means that Claggart does not have a grudge against him after all. Claggart, however, views the incident as proof of Billy's disdain for him. A few nights later, a sailor wakes Billy in the night and brings him to a remote part of the ship. He offers him money in exchange for future cooperation. Billy, confused due to being half asleep and due to the vagueness of the offering, reacts by yelling violently at him. When confronted by other sailors about the situation, he just says he found a sailor in the wrong part of the ship and told him to get back to where he belonged.
What will happen with the conflict of Billy Budd and Claggart? What was the cooperation all about? Read the book to find out!
Literary Information:
Melville worked on this novel in the last few years of his life. He made a manuscript, but it was not prepared to be published. Many editors have gone over the text to see what Melville intended and prepare it for publication, which is why different editions of this book differ in plot and theme, and in some details. It is a novella, short at 131 pages, but it has 30 short chapters. It was first published in 1924 and has been republished many times since.
Literary Analysis (spoilers):
I think that Herman Melville does an excellent job promoting several unrelated themes with a single plot. One major theme is law versus feelings. This is mainly shown in the end of the book, when Billy is convicted of the killing of Claggart. Vere is for Billy, feeling-wise, because he thinks Billy did not truly mean it. However, he still told the court to convict because of the rules of navy ships. Melville is showing that law triumphs over feelings, but also shows that the law is not always right, in this case through its conviction of the protagonist. Another theme addressed is the conflict of society against the individual. Throughout the book, Melville shows how powerless the individual is to society, from when Billy Budd is impressed into duty on a Naval ship to when there is an inaccurate article describing what happened on the H.M.S Bellipotent. In this theme as well I believe he is showing a fault of the workings of society, again by victimizing the protagonist. There is also one major set of symbols that Melville included: the ships. The ship Billy was originally on, the Rights-of-Man, represented the ideal society. Everyone was happy with their work and with their fellow sailors. Individuals can be themselves. The Bellipotent, on the other hand, represents the real world. Where society rules over the individual, and where law triumphs over feelings, showing the themes.
Criticism:
There are several things about this book that I liked, and several that I did not. I liked the plot of this book. It was interesting and had relatively simple ideas. However, because it was left unfinished at the time of his death, there often were things that were confusing that most likely would have been fixed if he had gotten the opportunity to work with a publisher. I should not have liked the ending very much, because I generally do not like endings where everyone dies, but it worked for this story, as it was showing what is wrong with the world, and dying definitely shows flaws.
If you liked this book…
While there are no books quite like this book being done this term, here are a few books to try:
Moby Dick, Omoo, Typee, all by Herman Melville
Other versions of this book (see Literary Information section for why)
by Herman Melville
Biography of Herman Melville:
Herman Melville was born on August 1st, 1819 into a prominent and wealthy family. His father was a successful import merchant, so his family had everything they needed and more. His father also told stories of the sea and other far-away places. When he was 16, Melville attended Albany Classical School, but only for a year. Afterward, he went to live on a farm with his uncle. Not long after that, he went back to New York and became a cabin boy on a boat going to Liverpool, England. He liked the sea and went on other journeys by ship. These voyages also gave him inspiration for some of his novels.
In 1847, He married Elizabeth Shaw, and later had four children with her. In 1850, the family moved to Massachusetts, where Melville had a prolific period of writing. He was friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne, and dedicated his most well known book, Moby Dick, to him. In 1863, he gave up the farm life and moved to New York, where he worked at the New York Custom House. He continued writing poetry until his death, at the time of which he was an obscure writer. He died on September 28th, 1891, and is buried next to his wife.
Plot Synopsis:
The story is set in the late 1700s. Billy Budd, a sailor working on the merchant ship "Rights-of-Man" is impressed (taken in without the sailor choosing) by the British naval ship "H.M.S. Bellipotent." Billy Budd is a simple man, so he does not think much of it and goes with the new ship. He likes his role and the new ship and is liked by the new crew. Billythen sees a whipping of a sailor that did something wrong, and is affected by it. He becomes determined to do everything right, but because of various minor things that go wrong, he is scrutinized. He asks the advice of a more experienced sailor, and the sailor concludes that the Master-at-Arms, Claggart, has a grudge against Billy. Billy refuses to accept that possibility and continues to wonder what the problem is. Then after he spills his soup at a meal, Claggart makes a seemingly lighthearted comment, which Billy thinks means that Claggart does not have a grudge against him after all. Claggart, however, views the incident as proof of Billy's disdain for him. A few nights later, a sailor wakes Billy in the night and brings him to a remote part of the ship. He offers him money in exchange for future cooperation. Billy, confused due to being half asleep and due to the vagueness of the offering, reacts by yelling violently at him. When confronted by other sailors about the situation, he just says he found a sailor in the wrong part of the ship and told him to get back to where he belonged.
What will happen with the conflict of Billy Budd and Claggart? What was the cooperation all about? Read the book to find out!
Literary Information:
Melville worked on this novel in the last few years of his life. He made a manuscript, but it was not prepared to be published. Many editors have gone over the text to see what Melville intended and prepare it for publication, which is why different editions of this book differ in plot and theme, and in some details. It is a novella, short at 131 pages, but it has 30 short chapters. It was first published in 1924 and has been republished many times since.
Literary Analysis (spoilers):
I think that Herman Melville does an excellent job promoting several unrelated themes with a single plot. One major theme is law versus feelings. This is mainly shown in the end of the book, when Billy is convicted of the killing of Claggart. Vere is for Billy, feeling-wise, because he thinks Billy did not truly mean it. However, he still told the court to convict because of the rules of navy ships. Melville is showing that law triumphs over feelings, but also shows that the law is not always right, in this case through its conviction of the protagonist. Another theme addressed is the conflict of society against the individual. Throughout the book, Melville shows how powerless the individual is to society, from when Billy Budd is impressed into duty on a Naval ship to when there is an inaccurate article describing what happened on the H.M.S Bellipotent. In this theme as well I believe he is showing a fault of the workings of society, again by victimizing the protagonist. There is also one major set of symbols that Melville included: the ships. The ship Billy was originally on, the Rights-of-Man, represented the ideal society. Everyone was happy with their work and with their fellow sailors. Individuals can be themselves. The Bellipotent, on the other hand, represents the real world. Where society rules over the individual, and where law triumphs over feelings, showing the themes.
Criticism:
There are several things about this book that I liked, and several that I did not. I liked the plot of this book. It was interesting and had relatively simple ideas. However, because it was left unfinished at the time of his death, there often were things that were confusing that most likely would have been fixed if he had gotten the opportunity to work with a publisher. I should not have liked the ending very much, because I generally do not like endings where everyone dies, but it worked for this story, as it was showing what is wrong with the world, and dying definitely shows flaws.
If you liked this book…
While there are no books quite like this book being done this term, here are a few books to try: