Billy Budd’s Guilt
One of the biggest questions raised about the story of “Billy Budd” is the strictness with which Captain Vere and the people aboard the Bellipotent adhere to the laws of the sea when deciding upon Billy’s punishment for striking Claggart, the Master at Arms. Although the blow may have accidentally killed the Master At Arms, and the punishment for such an action is death, Melville could not have elaborated more on Billy’s likeability and popular position aboard the ship. One would expect there to be more of an argument in Billy’s favor, defending him from such a severe punishment, especially seeing that it seemed to have been a mistake.
Captain Vere is ultimately pained and haunted by sentencing Billy to his early death. Even he is acutely aware of Billy’s seeming magnetism aboard the boat, and yet the second after Billy strikes Claggart he calls Billy “‘Fated boy'”(p. 350) in a whisper, knowing what was in store for him. He does not even stop to think for an alternate way for the situation to play out before he considers Billy’s fate to be sealed. Not soon after he proclaims,”‘Struck dead by an angel of God! And yet the angel must hang'”(352)!
So what was Melville’s intention in writing such an unhappy and disputable end for the innocent Billy Budd? At a time where he was looking back at his sailing experiences so fondly, I found myself confused when looking for Melville’s intentions or deeper meanings. Perhaps it was because of the notable mutinies that had occurred so soon before the story, and the story is a testament to Captain Vere’s honor and commitment to the seafaring code? Or perhaps, more likely in my mind, Melville is commenting on the death of the days of the sailing ship. The days he looked back on warmly seemed to be more about ships full of good sailors, rather than the new ships – often steam powered – which depended more on the boats and the rules upon them than the sailors who inhabited them. This would relate back to the ideas of the painting “The Fighting Temeraire” that Melville was familiar with and which we discussed in class. Billy Budd, as an individual, is representative of the days of rigging and handsome sailors who used their popularity and good-natured air to pull a ship’s crew together to form an efficient naval vessel. Melville laments the death of Billy Budd, and the days he represents.
I agree with your point that it seems confusing on what Melville is feeling at this point in his life. You would imagine that he would be content with his adventures and excited to write more exciting events from his life like Typee. But instead he chooses to go for this deep dark story of Billy Budd that balances innocence and evil, filled with Biblical references at every turn. Maybe Melville needed to convey some sort of important wrongness with the sea politics during his time (Rightly so).
I wrote about this in my own post. I think that Billy Budd being published as an unpublished work explains a lot of the inconsistencies. Melville probably wanted to talk about many themes and some of them showed up in later drafts. I think the religious aspects of Billy Budd were added in later because they show up pretty much half way through the story. In the inconsistencies is where I think Melville’s writing process and intentions can be seen.