“Billy Budd, sailor” 757him from the majority of the society around him,
but rather than portray Billy as the victim of delib-
erate racism, Melville describes Billy’s skin tone as
part of the sailor’s beauty. His dark ebony skin dis-
tinguishes him in much the same way that his height
and his jovial nature do. Another aspect of Billy’s
character that sets him apart is the overwhelming
approval and fondness that other characters have
for him. They seem to understand their distance
from the perfection that they believe exists in Billy
Budd. Everyone looks up to him, from fellow sailors
to sea captains, but they also seem to see him as a
better version of themselves, as something to strive
toward. Billy’s position at the center of his crew is
short-lived, however, as he is taken from his ship,
Rights of Man, and is ordered to serve aboard HMS
Bellipotent.
Immediately, Billy is removed from a society of
which he was the center and thrown into a society
in which he is the outsider. Throughout the story,
his actions reveal his uneasiness in his new position,
and seeing another crew member being disciplined
strikes fear into Billy’s heart. The lashing causes him
to put even more effort into fulfilling his duties;
while he does well, he still feels as if he is being
watched more than other crew members. Despite
his uneasiness with his new crew, Billy attains a
level of popularity similar to that which he enjoyed
upon Rights of Man. Yet his displacement causes
his behavior to change; when he is thrown into
situations that make him nervous, his feelings of
isolation cause him to lose the power of speech.
At these times Billy seems to view his difference
in a negative way. His anxieties about his isolation,
and the physical effects of them, eventually lead to
tragedy. When Billy confesses his feelings of anxiety
to another crew member named Dansker, the older
sailor reveals that the ship’s master-at-arms, John
Claggart, bears ill will toward Billy. Initially Billy’s
innocence prevents him from believing that Clag-
gart would dislike him, as he has never given Clag-
gart any reason for doing so.
Billy’s innocence, and his lack of familiarity with
a meaner, rougher society, causes him to continue
on with his duties and fall victim to a fiendish plot.
When isolated from the crew and asked to “coop-
erate” by a mysterious stranger one night, Billy’s
naiveté causes him not only to threaten uncharac-
teristic violence, but also to lie to others about the
meeting itself. His feelings of separation, both from
the plot developing aboard the ship as well as from
the rest of the crew, cause his anxieties to heighten
once again. He feels a sense of isolation when the
stranger attempts to gain his help and again later
when Claggart goes to Captain Vere with accusa-
tions of Billy’s treason. When confronted with these
accusations, Billy begins to stutter, and rather than
defend himself logically and calmly, he lashes out,
killing Claggart with one blow. His individuality,
once a source of happiness for him, has now made
him feel and act as an outsider. His rash actions
separate him from society once and for all, as he is
immediately sequestered and put on trial. During
his trial, Billy remains unable to speak for the most
part, but maintains his innocence and his sorrow at
the death of Claggart. He also speaks to his anxiety,
explaining that his inability to communicate at the
time of the initial accusation was what caused him
to lash out. Despite inner conflict, Captain Vere
decides that Billy must be punished for the act and
he is hung the next morning at dawn. Unlike many
who face execution, Billy approaches it with calm-
ness, and he utters praise, rather than a condem-
nation, of his captain just before he drops. These
actions reinforce his goodness and individuality,
even in the face of tragedy. While papers tell of his
death as punishment for mutiny, word spreads of
Billy’s inherent goodness and his story becomes a
sort of legend.
Throughout the story, Melville depicts many
different versions of individuality. While many are
drawn to Billy’s individuality for its difference, Clag-
gart is put off by it, thus making the master-at-arms
an individual in a different sense. Nevertheless, Mel-
ville displays the differences in individual personali-
ties and shows the many dimensions and forms that
individuality can take.
Ron Davisviolence in “Billy Budd, sailor”
In “Billy Budd, Sailor,” Melville situates his discus-
sion of violence in the context of HMS Bellipotent,
a late-18th-century British warship. Fear of mutiny
runs high on this ship, as well as many others, due