Herman Melville Billy Budd

“What did Billy know of man, except what was typical of the simple sailor? And the old-fashioned sailor, the sea wolf, the man born and raised on board, while being of the same species as land men, is in some ways totally different. The seaman is sincere, straightforward, while the land man is cunning.” The warship Indomitable forcibly recruits sailors from a merchant ship. Among them is Billy Budd, a foretopman who quickly wins the favor of the officers and the captain. This arouses the envy of the wicked master-at-arms John Claggart, who ends up accusing the innocent Billy of mutiny. The “handsome sailor,” unable to defend himself with words, angrily takes action and kills his accuser with a punch. The “good captain” Vere, bound by the strict formal discipline, is then forced to condemn a man whose innocence he knows; this not without sparking an intense conflict between what is legally correct to do and what all men perceive as more just.