Herman Melvilles Billy Budd - Essay Example

Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd” Introduction “Billy Budd”, the unfinished novella by Herman Melville was started in the month of November in 1888 andwas continued till his death in the year of 1891. The book was not published till the year 1924. The novella, “Billy Budd” is regarded as the pivotal text in the career of Melville and contains a humiliating history pertaining to the editing of the novel which often exposes the misinterpretation of the notes forwarded by Melville under the poor transcription of the text.

The plot of the novel revolves round the adventure and life of its protagonist Billy Budd, who is an orphan and illicit child and full of innocence, posses a liberated soul and is bestowed with the bliss of huge potential and natural charisma. He sets off into HMS Bellipotent in the year 1797. Conflict bears the seed of progression and in drama it is an inevitable central part of the text that pushes the plot forward and builds its climax. There are also myriad conflicts and contrasts imbibed in the plot of the novel which is instrumental in the successful plot development of the novel.

Thesis Statement Melville employs symbolism, ironic device and characterisation to portray and construct the development of dramatic contrast to support the central conflict of the novel between good and evil. Among these three devices employed by Herman Melville, the device of symbolism is most pertinent and the essay intends to explore the conflict of good and evil depicted through implicit symbols which transports the text to a greater realm. Use of Symbolism to Depict the Contrast between Good and Evil Symbols are rhetorical devices that enable the manifestation of myriad conflicts and contrasts implicitly that not only express the thought process in an implied way but also enrich the aesthetic faculty of the text and the readers as well.

Symbols are instrumental in depicting the contrast between the good and the evil from the very outset of the novel and are inflicted directly into the scheme of the novel’s plot development. Billy is portrayed as the archetypal Christ like figure and the serene white robe which he puts before his final predicament with the flow of natural white light at ease symbolises him as pure as Christ and his death noble for the cause of mankind and its betterment, “through the rose-tan of his complexion no pallor could have shown” (Melville, “Billy Budd”, Pg - 96).

This was the line used to depict Billy’s appearance in the night before his hanging which quite pertinently indicates and relates Billy’s death with the crucifixion of Christ. Claggort symbolises the serpent who manipulated Adam. Here, he influences Billy Budd. And his description in the novel is quite symbolic to it. Claggort is the symbol of serpent that tempts and manipulates Adam to act against God’s will. The symbol of Claggort as serpent larks large in the novel, specially his description of his physical appearance is indication of the dark traits which is symbolic of evil.

The novel draws an explicit symbol of Billy as Adam and Claggort as serpent. Also, at the symbolic plane evil is always antagonistic to the good and Claggort throughout the entire novel plays the role of an antagonist of Billy. The death of both the characters Billy and Claggort symbolising good and evil respectively are decked up with images exposed to myriad interpretations. The death of Claggort is very short in the novel which is very worthy and appropriate according to his grade in the navy.

Very contrastingly, Billy’s demise takes place in the novel at the wake of the dawn which is very contrasting to the final hours of Claggort. Death of Billy is more serene and pure. His death is depicted as the quest of the good which is contrastingly depicted as a complete antagonistic phenomenon to that of Claggort’s death, “Billy ascended; and ascending took the full rose of the dawn” (Melville, “Billy Budd”, Pg-102) Conclusion The novel “Billy Budd” embraces at the central to the text of the eternal battle of good over evil.

Through the implicit symbols manifested through characters, images and language of the novel explicitly portray that good and evil are two sides of the same plane and are decapitated on the basis of a very thin line. Billy was a martyr; he was innocent and crossed the line at one occasion in the novel which resulted in his death. Herman Melville, through the help of symbols, gave an inherent and comprehending knowledge to his readers regarding the inevitable triumph of good over evil. Reference Melville, Herman, Billy Budd.

Macmillan, 1992. Bibliography Franlin, H. B., “Billy Budd and Capital Punishment: A Tale of Three Centuries” August 16, 2011. RUTGERS. 1997. Parker, Hershell. “Billy Budd, Foretopman and the Dynamics of Canonization” August 16, 2011. JSTOR. 1990.