Working the Waters

From the time of Billy Budd’s hanging to the time the narrator sets forth his story, there was massive revolution in societal structure. After years of oppression the French peasants finally rebelled and overthrew the entrenched aristocratic government. A couple of years before Billy Budd the colonial Americans would no longer pay taxes to a government long absent from the land. Darwin had put forth his Theory of Evolution, and at the time of the narration people were leaving the church and turning to science. The story of Billy Budd is the story of the common man. Melville uses his character as a metaphor for the ignorant innocent masses and how they are manipulated by the powers at be.

Billy Budd is a perfect metaphor for the innocent ignorant masses. Always eager to work hard and please without questioning authority. Billy Budd is innocent in all aspects of his character. He works hard, he loves his job, he serves his country without objection, and he would never dare to challenge a superiors order. It is because of innocence that Billy Budd, and the common proletariat (prol), is vulnerable. He is taken advantage of and in the end he pays with his life. Billy Budd’s acceptance of authority is apparent in the very beginning of the story “To the surprise of the ship’s company, though much to lieutenant’s satisfaction, Billy made no demur” (pg.8). Already Billy is all too ready to comply with official orders and as he is being rowed away from the symbolic Rights of Man he waves goodbye with little apprehension.

When describing Billy Budd Melville states that “Billy in many respects was little more than a sort of upright barbarian, much such perhaps as Adam presumably might have been ere the urbane Serpent wriggled himself into his company” (pg15), in this statement Melville tells us that Billy Budd is completely unadulterated. Billy is pure in every sense. Billy is given little to no background history making him a sort of everyman. He is complete and perfect in everyway except that he stutters when under pressure. This stuttering under pressure is akin to the common man’s inability to speak up and defend himself when being oppressed by government or any other institution. While the prol may be able to talk amongst one another about the injustices of the time, when called upon to take action is all too often that the voice is suddenly falls mute.

As Billy is brought into the Captain’s quarters is said that Billy was surprised, but “it was a surprise unaccompanied by apprehension or distrust. To an immature nature essentially honest and humane, forewarning intimations of subtler danger from one’s kind come tardily if at all” (80). Billy in his innocent ignorance is unaware of the fact that fellow man can sometimes be evil personified, and it is because of this naïveté that Billy is blindsided by the awaiting accusations. A quick digression, Claggart is in my opinion the embodiment of evil that corrupts otherwise just institutions. It is said of Claggart’s innate evil nature early in the book that “what recourse is left to it but to recoil upon itself and, like the scorpion for which the Creator alone is responsible, act out to the end the part allotted it” (pg.52). Billy’s killing of Claggart was that evilness finally recoiling upon itself. Billy then goes silent because of his inability to speak under pressure and in the end he punches and kills Claggart. Billy’s killing of Claggart is much like the common man rebelling in blood after being pushed too far and too hard by an institution.

After Billy is sentenced to death for killing Claggart the reader finds himself in a front row seat for his execution. After the solemn proceedings of preparing Billy for his hanging he is given the chance to say his last words “God bless Captain Vere!” are the final utterances. Billy after being impressed without choice, serving without complaint, being unjustly accused of starting mutiny, and finally convicted of murder is still loyal the institution. While the way it is told by Melville is beautiful, it also comes across as somewhat pathetic. Never once does Billy see that what has happened to him is wrong. He pays the price for nothing.