Bill Budd

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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 ate a piece of fruit off the Tree 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 story, Melville is telling us that we need to strike some kind of balance between these two ideas; we need to have morality and virtue.
To illustrate his theme, Melville uses a few characters who are all very different, the most important of which is Billy Budd. Billy is the focal point of the story and the single person whom we are meant to learn the most from. On the ship, the Rights-of-Man, Billy is the center of attention among his shipmates; a leader, not by authority, but by example. All the members of the crew look up to him and love him.
The first couple chapters introduced the main character and place him in the environment in which the story is to take place. Melville does not introduce Billy Budd until later on in the first chapter. He uses the first part of the chapter to set up a series of images of Billy, kinda to describe him instead of just coming out and telling who the character is. He used a couple words to describe Billy that is probably the most popular one, “Handsome Sailor.” By this stereotype he suggests a kind of natural strength, beauty, and cleanliness of himself internally and morally. The descriptions of Billy are also infused with Biblical symbolism that emphasizes his innocence and sinlessness. Billy is described as Adam before the Fall. It was the serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, promi...