Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor

Chapter 1

Unnamed Narrator: he is an intellectual, educated in contemporary literature and the classic arts, it seems, a storyteller fully capable of allusion and cryptic reference in general. I will call this narrator Melville.

The opening is recollection, the narrator suggesting an extraordinary"type"' of a sailor, the center of his company of shipmates. The narrator plays tribute to this kind of man, a world traveler, naturally regal, completely foreign and adventurous. The narrator gives an example of a black sailor he saw in Liverpool a half century ago. The word "worldly" and universal come to mind, yet Melville may be giving us the prototype here from which later sailor-types evolve. The trend is to cast Billy Budd as an emblem of unusual strength and beauty, his prowess quite visible, a superb figure tossed up on the horns of Tarus. The cynosure of Billy Budd is his innocence, indication of a lineage in direct contradiction to his lot. The qualities of Nietzsche's "blond beast" in part apply: robust health, high animal spirits, primal rage but the analogy quickly breaks down for Budd has no rancor as Posner points out in his discussion of the novella in Literature and Law.

1. Billy is transferred off the merchant ship Rights of Man, actually procured by the military vessel, the Bellipotent / Indomitable, a British warship put to sea short her proper complement of men. What do the names of these vessels suggest?

The "cabin's proprietor" listens to Captain Graveling's story of Billy Budd's influence upon the men of the Rights of Man. " Aye, Lieutenant, you are going to take away the jewel of 'em'; you are going to take away my peacemaker!" Nonetheless Billy becomes the foretopman of this fighting warship without demure. The suggestion that Billy Budd is the "peacemaker" is certainly interesting and applicable to the results of the climatic military trial.

Chapter 2

Billy knows nothing of his parents; he is a foundling, innocent, even prelapsarian in manner and understanding (Adam before the Fall from grace), a singer of songs. He epitomizes masculine beauty. Yet he is frustratingly speechless when provoked--an impediment, a vocal defect. Under stress, he stutters. Natural Man/ Civilized Man.

Melville speaks directly to the reader at times, as if he offers a essay-like commentary on his story. For example, at the end of Chapter 2, he makes his intentions clear: "The avowal of such an imperfection in the Handsome Sailor should be evidence not alone that he is not presented as a conventional hero, but also that the story in which he is the main figure is no romance' (111).

Chapter 3 and 4: for some readers, this section demonstrates Melville's dense prose and tedious attention to detail.

Context: Historical setting. These men sail during difficult times in the British empire. The Great Mutiny or Nore Mutiny has recently been suppressed and some of the sailors are rectified by fighting with Nelson at Trafalgar. Melville says something interesting about history and the writing of it--the grand navel story naturally abridged. Nor are these readily to be found in libraries. The Great Mutiny was of such character that national pride along with views of policy would fain "shade" it off into historical background (112-113).

What is Melville saying about historians or the writing of history? Historical Thinking. "We discover that for any given historical period, even one as short as a day, millions of events take place, with the implication that no given written history contains anything more than a tiny percentage of the total events. . . . We learn that the specif questions that any given historical thinker asks depends on the specific agenda or gaol of that thinker." (Richard Paul and Linda Elder, How to Study and Learn a discipline.) Melville refers to William James, an American psychologist. We are all teleological creatures at base, James holds, each with his or her or own a priori values and categories. "The formula which proves to have the most massive destiny," he concludes, "will be the true one" (E, 17). Yet James wishes to defend his sense that any such formulation will be determined as much by a freely-acting human mind as by the world, a position he would later (in Pragmatism) call "humanism": "there belongs to mind, from its birth upward, a spontaneity, a vote. It is in the game, and not a mere looker-on; and its judgments of the should-be, its ideals, cannot be peeled off from the body of the cogitandum as if they were excrescences..."

At the beginning of chapter 4, Melville begins with what he calls a "literary sin." What is this sin?

We get the story of the transformation of warfare: a firearm deemed as a base implement, second to crossing steel with steel in a frank fight. But alas, gallantry falls out of date. Yet the old ship manned by former mutineers ia a "poetic reproach." The older wooden ship is ancient and outdated technology; the refinements of cannons greatly affected the design of warships. Yet Nelson becomes as Tennyson writes: "The greatest sailor since our world began." A great sailor is duty-bound, a trained professional. The chapter provides an accolade to Nelson. Melville sets up a comparison between Captain Nelson and Captain Vere. According to Posner, Vere is no Nelson but Posner defends Vere actions as a "tough choice."

Chapter 5: Discontent lurks in the shadows. Everyone is on the lookout for a reoccurrence of mutiny. Melville tells the story of Nelson on the Theseus: his presence alone prevents a possible mutiny.

Chapter 6: On board the seventy-four. Seventy-four cannons.

We meet Captain Edward Fairfax Vere, a forty year bachelor sailor of distinction, rising in service by his ability and bravery. He is mindful of his men but intolerant of infraction. The most undemonstrative of men when no demands are upon his action. If you would have observed the Starry-eyed Vere on deck of the warship, you might consider him a civilian. Why is he called Starry Vere?

Chapter 7:

Captain Vere is an intellectual. Some find him dry and bookish even pedantic--like some migratory fowl that in flight never heeds when it crosses a frontier (24). He loves books and favors positive convictions that act as a "dike" against invading waters which carried minds away in a torrent. He is a believer in lasting institutions.

Chapter 8:

John Claggart--we know nothing of his former civilian life. It is suggested that many sailors are culled from jails. Melville says that whether this applies to Claggart is not knowable. Still an unfavorable surmise. Whatever the credence, it is agreed that no man holding his rank could be popular among the men. And sailors are apt to romanticize or exaggerate. Factually, however, it is known that Claggart entered the service in the lowest of ranks, the least honorable section of the man-of-war's crew and embracing the drudgery he did not long remain there.

Chapter 11:

"Hatred sustains itself very well without benefit of cause."

--Tobias Wolff

This quote above comes from Chapter two of In Pharaoh's Army. Wolff is undoubtedly alluding to Melville's Billy Budd?

Crossing the deadly space between: What is the matter with the master-of-arms? [John Claggart] In this chapter, Melville contemplates the nature of hatred. Philosophy yet nothing to do with knowing human behavior. The writing delays the dramatic action. (Is this a literary sin?)

Chapter 12:

The phenomenon of hatred--especially hatred that is disowned or concealed, gives us the prolonged contentions of lawyers and their fees. Melville asks why leave it to the lawyers. Subpoena the clerical proficients. Would they not be better at this than lawyers? Why would Melville suggest this?

Claggart is ironically the only one to perhaps appreciate the moral phenomenon presented in the person Billy Budd. What a gift--To be nothing more than innocent. Claggart may have shared this admiration of Billy Budd but despaired it so and has no power to annul the evil in him. Melville raises the question of fate or predetermination. The scorpion acts out the part allotted it.

Chapter 13:

Tales of Squeak, the rat in the cellar."The Pharisee is the Guy Fawkes prowling in the hid chambers underlying the Claggarts" (41). Guy Hawkes is the "villain" who tried unsuccessfully to blow up London's House of Parliament in 1605.

The master-of-arms never questions the veracity of Squeak's reports on Billy Budd. Why?

Chapter 14:

The incident. Billy is sleeping and an unidentified man whispers in his ear. Billy follows the man to a place where they can supposedly talk in private, an act that Melville suggests that some more discerning sailors might question. But Billy's character prevents him from doing so. The cryptic man suggests what? This is where we see the first of Billy's speech impediment.

Chapter 15:

Billy is sorely puzzled by this incident. Melville tells us that this is the first time he has ever been approached in an underhanded way. In this chapter, Billy recognizes the man as the after-guardsman. This man is congenial to Billy which puts Billy even more at a loss than before. And it never occurs to Billy to mention this incident to the proper quarter. He does ask Dankster but Dankster remains elusive, merely repeating the notion that "jimmy legs" is out to get Billy. What is Melville suggesting about innocence? What is the significance of "a cat's paw?"

Chapter 16:

Billy seems "not" to see Claggart at the bottom of all this strangeness. Why?

Melville gives us an interesting commentary on sailors and landsmen's(from Billy's perspective) which in fact swings away from what Melville says earlier in Chapter 8, where sailors are described as individuals apt to romanticize and embellish. The sailor here represents frankness while the landsman is all about finesse. Sailors tend to avoid intricate games of chess. All of this contributes to Billy Budd's inability to read the situation. The ancient definition of a hero is at play here as well. Odysseus of course was a sailor at times and an landsman as well. He represents as a western heroic icon the use of the mind as a weapon, including the use of trickery and the art of finesse. He came up with the Trojan horse. This heroic quality was later challenged by the Romans who emphasized the duty-bound sailor and soldier. Odysseus becomes a scoundrel. It is useful to view Claggart and Vere in this context. During the Trojan war, Odysseus made artful use of bearing false witness and thus did so to his own advantage. The British Empire (and in the portrayal of Captain Vere and the naval doctrines) is certainly more Roman than Greek.

Chapter 17:

Consequently Billy doesn't understand the implications of the smiles and the fact that the annoying tension over the condition of his hammock has ceased. Does innocence make one blind to the designs of others? Melville tells us that "Something decisive must come of it."

Chapter 18:

The main event: the Indomitable is employed to the furthest remove from the rest of the British fleet. They encounter an enemy French frigate and being out-matched and outgunned the French frigate flees on the high seas and eventually, after a long chase, escapes. This of course places the British ship even more remotely away from the main fleet. The isolation undoubtedly prompts Claggart and thus immediately after the encounter, he seeks an audience with Captain Vere. And to his credit Captain Vere is annoyed and suspicious of Claggart's story about the disloyalty of Billy Budd. Vere sets up a face to face confrontation in his cabin between Budd and Claggart.

Chapter 18:

Billy is closeted in the cabin with Vere and Claggart. He is not at all suspicious of fowl play. Claggart recapitulates the accusation. Captain Vere demands that Billy respond. Billy of course is tongue-tied and goes through a violent effort to utter some defense. "Quick as a flame from a discharged cannon" Billy strikes Claggart dead. The man falls like a heavy plank. A gasp or two and he lay motionless.

Chapter 20:

This is where students should read closely. The trial will begin but first we see some dissension from the Captain's view of how this should proceed. The lieutenants and the mariners think that this should be referred to the admiral.

Chapter 21:

The trial begins, but first Melville gives us the context or circumstances. This could not have happen at a worse time, close on the heel of the suppressed insurrections. Melville also describes the difficulty in drawing lines between sanity and insanity. If this is a drumhead court, it proceeds with Captain Vere as the witness and judge. And Vere believes that a sea commander is "not authorized" to determine guilt or innocence or justice on a "primitive basis (64). He is perhaps offering these words in response to his officers. What does he mean?

It is a case practical and under martial law practically to be dealt with? The key question: Is Claggart's false witness relevant? Captain Vere says earlier that the punishment for false witness is death. Will this false witness--as a fact in this situation--play a role? Or should it? Everyone believes that Billy Budd is innocent of the accusations Claggart has voiced. Claggart's lack of character is not disputed. Billy is asked if he knows of any plans of mutiny. Why doesn't Billy tell the officers about the incident with the after-guardsman?

The most significant question involves dramatic irony. We know the answer to the officer of marines' question. And it is relevant in complex ways.

"One question more," said the officer of marines, now first speaking and with a troubled earnestness. "You tell us that what the master-of-arms said against you was a lie. Now why should he have so lied, since you declare there was no malice between you?"

Billy, vulnerable and mystified by the courtroom subtleties, depends of Captain Vere to render justice. Captain Vere will say in effect, that the point the officer makes is hardly material. Why? What is the full significance of this claim? A significance that Billy "was not at all likely" to take in.

When the officer of marines asks Billy why Claggart should lie if there was no malice between Billy and the master-of-arms, Vere discounts the question and says, that it is hardly material, and then adds" "Quite aside from the conceivable motive actuating the master-of-arms, irrespective of the provocation to the blow, a martial court must needs in the present case confine its attention to the blow's consequence, which consequence is justly to be not otherwise than as the striker's deed."

Are we right to conclude that both crimes, under the law of the Mutiny Act, are punishable by death? I initially assumed it was a murder trial, but in processing this, it seems perhaps even more significantly a trial of" infraction" as well, made more serious by the situation of the time and the ongoing quest to maintain authority. The crew of the ship has no information and thus sees only the result. Melville seems to suggest that in part at least the death of Billy Budd is about the maintenance of military discipline rather than the consequence of murder.

The significance then of Vere's comment (which Melville tells us that Billy missed) is that Vere's men appear to want to conduct a trial in a different way--the officer presses for other testimony that might shed light on Claggart's motives--but Vere will not allow it. Mitigating circumstances in this case are not to be considered. It would be "primitive basis" as Vere has called it to demonstrate one's personal esteem and compassion for Billy, which would interfere with the single-minded devotion to duty. Martial law is not he same as "feminine of man," which in this case according to Vere dangerously evokes a human side to justice rather then the letter of wartime law. The mutinies have badly shaken the military. The wartime situation (and Captain Vere in particular) prevent the officers from advancing the inquiry; they could have pressed Billy and perhaps even producing corroborating testimony--say from Dankster and even the rat Squeak--that would have placed Billy in a better light. At this moment then in the trial Vere argues that this kind of inquiry should never happen.

"To this, and particularly the closing reiteration, the marine soldier, knowing not how aptly to reply, sadly abstained from saying aught."

Captain Vere's speech behind closed doors (after Billy is removed) is key to understanding the difficulties that Melville underscores with "justice." Vere pushes for the death sentence in compliance with the Mutiny Act.

What influence does the historical context--the spirit of the times--have on the concept and the implementing of justice? Do the pressures of war mitigate the court's verdict? As a reader, what questions does Melville raise? What is the main problem?

Chapter 22 and 23:

Late in the afternoon, Captain Vere informs Billy in private of his conviction: to be hanged early in the morning.

Claggart's body is buried at sea.

Chapter 24:

This chapter establishes a religious motif in the novel. We have the light overhead and a scenario reminiscent of Christ's suffering. Is the imagery here in this chapter sufficient to invite us to merge this story with the story of Christ? Why would doing so--which it seems from reading critiques of Melville's novella, is still common--be useful?

Look closely at the imagery in this chapter and comment t on the legitimacy of merging Billy Budd and Christ as representatives of some essential aspect of human experience.

Chapter 25:

Billy says, "God Bless Captain Vere." Why would he say this?

Chapter 26:

A digression. Explain the significance of this "digression."

Chapter 27:

The burial. The drumbeat. The Story of Orpheus. What are the implications?

Chapters 29-30:

Melville gives us some philosophy and identifies three parts of the narrative in three brief chapters, the"coda" or concluding commentary.

1. Captain Vere's last words are perhaps offered in response to "God Bless Captain Vere." This can be seen as similar to the chorus response in Greek tragedy. Vere's last words are indeed interesting. What is the significance of his last words?

2. Melville comments on the press. John Claggart it seems becomes a hero of the British empire. What are the implications?

3. Billy Budd becomes a legend to the sailors. The story ends with a poem that pays tribute to the memory of Billy Budd. Among these British sailors, what does Billy Budd come to symbolize?