Billy Budd by Herman Melville | Summary & Analysis

Описание: Billy Budd, Sailor (written 1888–91, published posthumously in 1924) is Herman Melville’s final and most morally complex work. It reads like a sea tale, but beneath the naval setting lies a meditation on innocence, authority, and the tragic tension between moral law and institutional duty.

Billy Budd, a young and handsome sailor, is impressed into service on the warship Indomitable (sometimes Bellipotent). He’s naturally good-hearted, innocent to a fault, and beloved by most of the crew. His goodness, however, provokes envy in John Claggart, the ship’s master-at-arms — a figure of cold malice and distorted intellect. Claggart falsely accuses Billy of mutiny before Captain Vere. When confronted, Billy, struck speechless by the accusation, impulsively strikes Claggart and kills him.

Captain Vere, recognizing Billy’s moral innocence but bound by naval law, convenes a quick court-martial. Though he sympathizes with Billy, he convinces the officers to sentence him to death to preserve order and discipline. Billy faces execution calmly, blessing Captain Vere with his final words: “God bless Captain Vere!”

Innocence vs. Evil: Billy’s purity stands against Claggart’s corruption; their conflict feels almost biblical.
Law vs. Conscience: Vere embodies the tragic conflict between human compassion and duty to law.
Authority and Justice: The story questions whether justice can survive within rigid systems of power.
Speech and Silence: Billy’s stammer — his inability to speak when it matters most — mirrors the failure of moral truth in bureaucratic structures.
Christ-like symbolism: Billy’s death carries overt parallels to martyrdom and redemption.

Form and style:
Melville’s narration is dense, meditative, and self-questioning — part legal brief, part moral allegory. It often breaks from the story to comment on history, morality, and human nature.

Critical context:
Early readers saw Billy Budd as a tragic parable of innocence destroyed by evil. Later critics (especially post-WWII) read it politically — as an allegory of authoritarianism, the failure of liberal conscience, or the clash between individual ethics and institutional control. Some modern readings highlight homoerotic undertones in the relationships among the men aboard ship, especially between Billy, Claggart, and Vere.