Melville's Billy Budd

Captain Vere finds himself in an extremely difficult position in Herman Melville's Billy Budd. He does not believe that Billy is guilty of anything and understands that the death of the evil Claggart was an accident--and an accident that he largely brought on himself. But the fear of mutiny throughout the British Navy meant that a ship's captain had to be especially cautious in dealing with any infractions of the rules. Therefore Vere had to hear Claggart's charges, even though he knew they were false and ridiculous. And when Billy killed Claggart he had to respond as if that, too, had the kind of meaning that other people might read into it. In other words, Captain Vere had to treat everything seriously--even if he did not believe it was serious--because he was in the position of ultimate authority on the Bellipotent.

Thus it seems that there was no other way that Captain Vere could have acted. The quick trial and the condemnation of Billy to hanging seem terribly brutal but this was the way that things were being done at the time and Vere was not in any

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