Preview

Captain Vere's Decisions In Billy Budd

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
446 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Captain Vere's Decisions In Billy Budd
Captain Vere’s Decision for Billy Budd’s Punishment In the novel Billy Budd, sailor, Captain Vere’s Sort decision focuses on Billy Budd's tendency to act his emotions. In one respect, Captain Vere made the right decision because Billy Budd killed Claggart, but in another Captain Vere made the wrong decision because Billy Budd did not mean to kill Claggart. Captain Vere makes the right decision to execute Billy because Captain Vere has to set an example. For example, when Billy Budd and Captain Vere are talking in Billy Budd's cell he came out with a nervous face. The narrator says, "[…] the face he beheld, for the moment one expressive of the agony of the strong "(103). This relates to Captain Vere having to make an example because

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Claggart is friendly toward Billy at first and Billy thinks he seems content with his performance. Billy is surprised later when he is judged by Claggart for small errors. One night, a guard wakes up Billy and takes him to a private area of the ship.…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After attempting to help Billy Bibbit retrieve his manhood by setting up and evening with a precious woman named, Candy Starr, his actions end up blowing back into McMurphy’s face. This is because the Big Nurse catches Billy and Candy in the morning. Through her manipulation, Billy ends up slitting his throat and committing suicide (much like Cheswick). The Big Nurse attempts to place all the blame on McMurphy and in blinded rage and affection for the patients, McMurphy attempts to choke the Nurse. This climatic fight between the Nurse and McMurphy ends up resulting in McMurphy’s…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This is because, until this point in the story, Vere has remained pretty close to the laws and made sure that he is that best captain he could possibly be. Now, in the quote, we see him demanding not to do his job. The way this is written makes it sound like Vere does want the job to be fulfilled however does not want to do it himself. This reinforce the idea that Captain Vere, although morally does not want to hurt Billy, knows that Billy must die for the good of the boat. Captain Vere is confident in his actions regarding the case; this is seen when the Narrator shares, “Not long before death…[Captain Vere] was heard to murmur words inexplicable to his attendant: ‘Billy Budd, Billy Budd.’ That these were not accents of remorse would seem clear” (129). The fact that Captain Vere is does not have “remorse,” meaning a deep and painful regret for a wrongdoing, is noteworthy because it shows that he does not regret the impact he had on drumhead court’s decision to condemn Billy Budd to death. The fact that Vere was thinking about Billy “not long before” his death could mean that he did not like the situation that Billy was in and didn’t like what happened to Billy. He did love…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Billy Bibbit is a patient he helped pretty tremendously. Randall smuggled in a women named Candy in to see Billy because it made him happy. He saw the joy Billy had being with Candy and brought her to him. This was not the wisest choice for Randall because Nurse Ratched soon found out and Billy. That resulted in his suicide. Although Randall only wanted to help, it killed Billy.…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first reason Billy Budd should not have been charged with murder is because he couldn't take up for himself. Claggart threatened him with mutiny, Billy had a speech impediment so the only way he knew how to defend himself was to suddenly hit Claggart.…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I have found always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” Abraham Lincoln. Captain Vere should not have sentenced Billy Budd to death for three reasons: it was involuntary manslaughter, Captain Vere was under too much pressure to make that kind of decision, and Claggart consistently harassed Billy.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Who Killed Claggart

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Should mercy ever trump justice? Can we ever set aside the letter of the law to extend grace? If so, then would Billy Budd’s predicament warrant such a drastic action as to defy the court in which he was found guilty and extend Billy some grace for his impulsive, yet unintentional actions resulting in Tom Claggart’s unfortunate end? Some people believe Captain Vere should not have put Billy to death, while others are of the opinion that it was only fair to do so. Captain Vere should not have put Billy to death for three reasons: Billy did not mean to kill Claggart, Billy was the best sailor Captain Vere ever had serve under him, and Tom Claggart had it out for Billy.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Captain Beatty knows the history of how we self-censored books, and how things came to be. This knowledge shapes his world view, and that is that the world has become too sensitive, and that if you read any type of literature it will ultimately lead to the demise of society. Beatty likes the way things are, and likes to burn books. knows that firemen, become curious about books, so he informs the firmen every now and then, so that they do not waste their time. and does not like them anymore.…

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heroes can be shaped by the environments they exist in. A hero must adapt to their surroundings and be resilient. This essay will be about The Captain (from “Shipwreck from the Bottom of the World” by Jennifer Armstrong) and Holling HoodHood (from “The Wednesday Wars” by Gary Schmidt). Please read along and enjoy this awesome essay.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important."…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This passage can make the reader realize that Billy was indeed not guilty of this crime. A person so kind and happy committing this kind of crime could not be possible. Billy did not have any intentions on hurting anyone, he was provoked by Claggart. Claggart was the type of person to start problems and since he did not like Billy, he would try to pick on him the most and one day at Vere’s cabin, Billy had enough of Claggart telling people lies about him. After building up rage for so long, he felt the need to let everything out by hitting Claggart. Billy had no intend of killing him with that punch, he…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Montag is confused of the fact that they are standing in front of his house, going to burn it, he understands why this is happening to him, but he doesn’t understand who told Captain Beatty about the books that Montag had in his possession, he thought about Mildred, and her friends that he had read the poem to, and he was correct.…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    He did the right thing because it was too late to prove John Coffey’s innocence and Mr. Coffey wanted to end his suffering. Yet, he figured out that John was innocent and that it was a misunderstanding that he got blamed for the murder of the two girls. He couldn't do anything but go through with it because he knew no one would believe him about what he saw. I would have done the same thing. Back then, there was no need for solid evidence other than John had the bodies of the two girls in his arms. This proved to be enough evidence for the people to convict him of murder and sent to the electric…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    three years, and one his last works before he died a year after it was…

    • 5921 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The therapist tries to make his murders insignificant, even though Billy seems to want to face the consequences and take responsibility as he keeps beating himself up (14). When the therapist solution is “to be the best person you can be," we can realize that he is trying to make this out as entertainment and is not truly trying to help Billy (15-17). However, something even more troubling is the audience appears to have been touched emotionally by this event (18-19). If this event makes the audience tearful, then they have no true thought of what a deep emotion is. This episode manipulates the audience into believing that consequence is not a reliable solution and that forgiveness is best answer to the problem (21-22). Ultimately, people would rather take the easy route than the hard…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics