Literary Analysis Billy Budd

Billy Budd Literary Essay The death of Billy Budd brings a sense of the theme of the novel written by Herman Melville. Billy Budd is caught in the trap created by John Claggart, the man who has been out to get him from day one. Unfortunately, he succumbs to the evil and accidentally takes his life with a fatal punch to the face. This leads to the Captain playing the role of the judge and executioner, sentencing Budd to death. The author conveys the meaning of the main character’s naïveté to illustrate how his innocence caused his death.
Billy Budd, because of his own actions, brings forward a central meaning that the author conveyed about death in the novel. There were instances of the main character’s innocence that allowed for the other crewmembers
By repeating his words, they immortalize Budd in the transcript of life. Not only do they agree with his words, they accept his punishment as well. Budd is fearless in his final words on the planet which is mostly due to his naïveté towards death and what lies ahead. The majority of the novel gives an underlying Christian tone with many references to the Bible, indicating that the author purposefully included religion as one of the subject matters. An important distinction is made for Billy as he ascends to heaven in that he is to go onward and leave his past behind. He is leaving Captain Vere for his long life as well as the other sailors he truly loved. The quote anecdotally gives a sense of how Billy Budd grew as a person from when he began aboard the H.M.S. Indomitable. This, however, does not save his life because of how he tragically is hanged near the ending of the novel. Melville achieves his goal of demonstrating how Billy Budd’s death is symbolic of a greater theme, surrounded by the actions of the people left in his legacy aboard the ship he used to