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Billy Budd

During the Age of the Enlightenment, Gay (1993) maintains that ôthe men of the Enlightenment united on a vastly ambitious program, a program of secularism, humanity, cosmopolitanism, and freedomö (3). From a growing reliance on science and reason over faith and emotion to formation of political philosophies that asserted a balance between individual and State rights, many of the ideas associated with the Enlightenment can be found in a reading of Herman MelvilleÆs Billy Budd. In Billy Budd we discover a young and innocent soldier condemned to death by the State for the inadvertent homicide of master-at-arms, John Claggart. Echoing RousseauÆs ideas put forth in his theory of the social contract, MelvilleÆs plot revolves around the need of the State to maintain law and order to prevent chaos and disorder, even if this means individual rights must be undermined to a certain degree. By discussing the themes, conflicts, characters and symbolism in Billy Budd, this analysis will demonstrate how ideas of the historical movement known as the Enlightenment are embedded within the work.

The plot of Billy Budd (1962) revolves around the experiences of a young sailor named Billy Budd. Billy is described as having a ôvirtueö that can ôsugar the sour onesö and he is viewed as the shipÆs ôblessed peacemakerö (Melville 1962, 47-48). Billy is symbolized as the embodiment of the ôgoodö in the novel as is Captain Vere, the man who condemns him to die for inadvertently killing John Claggart. Billy is an ideal symbol of good, one that cannot actually work in a universe where evil like Claggart exists. As Melville (1962) tells us, Billy BuddÆs tragedy ômainly proceeds from a generous heartÆs virgin experience of the diabolical incarnate and effective in some menö (119). The Enlightenment thinkers tried to extol the virtues of knowledge as the only means of being prepared for a reality in which both good and evil exist. As Ferg...

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Billy Budd. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 20:55, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1710562.html