Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Billy Budd - College Essays

Billy Budd


Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were perfect. They were innocent and
ignorant, yet perfect, so they were allowed to abide in the presence of God.
Once they partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,
however, they immediately became unclean as well as mortal. In Billy Budd,
the author, Herman Melville, presents a question that stems directly from
this original sin of our first parents: Is it better to be innocent and
ignorant, but good and righteous, or is it better to be experienced and
knowledgeable? I believe that through this book, Melville is telling us
that we need to strike some kind of balance between these two ideas; we
need to have morality and virtue; we ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

recited. Ashore he [is] the champion, afloat
the spokesman; on every suitable occasion always foremost"(9).
Despite his popularity among the crew and his hardworking attitude,
Billy is transferred to another British ship, the Indomitable. And while
he is accepted for his looks and happy personality, "…hardly here [is] he
that cynosure he had previously been among those minor ship's companies of
the merchant marine"(14). It is here, on the Indomitable that Billy says
good-bye to his rights. It is here, also, that Billy meets John Claggart,
the master-at-arms. A man "in whom was the mania of an evil nature, not
engendered by vicious training or corrupting books or licentious living but
born with him and innate, in short ‘a depravity according to nature'"(38).
Here then, is presented a man with a personality and character to
contrast and conflict with Billy's. Sweet, innocent Billy immediately
realizes that this man is someone he does not wish to cross and so after
seeing ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login

Through this situation Billy now finds himself in,
Melville has us ask ourselves a question: Would it be right for Billy to
heed the advice of experience and wisdom and tell the captain about
Claggart's conspiracy? Or should he instead keep his mouth shut and try to
work things out himself?
Being the good person that he is, Billy tries to forget about it
and hopes that it will pass, but it does not. And that is where the fourth
of these few characters comes in. Captain Vere, with his love for
knowledge and books, and "… his settled convictions [which stood] as a dike
against those invading waters of novel opinion, social, political, and
otherwise, which carried away as in a torrent ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.


CITE THIS PAGE:

Billy Budd. (2006, February 14). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Billy-Budd/41241
"Billy Budd." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 14 Feb. 2006. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Billy-Budd/41241>
"Billy Budd." Essayworld.com. February 14, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Billy-Budd/41241.
"Billy Budd." Essayworld.com. February 14, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Billy-Budd/41241.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 2/14/2006 12:37:08 PM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1336
Pages: 5

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» Antigone Vs. Billy Budd
» Billy Budd Religious Symbolism
» Billy Budd 2
» Billy Budd 2
» Billy Budd
» Billy Budd: Perfect Character I...
» Billy Budd
» The Relationship Between Billy ...
» Billy Budd
» Billy Budd - Criminal Without
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved