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Melville’s Testament of Resistance in Billy Budd, Sailor

Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor is about the necessity for law and order and

deciding whether to follow your personal beliefs versus following the laws that have been set by

your society. In the novella, there is a situation where Billy Budd strikes Claggart. Captain Vere

is trapped with the predicament in dealing with Billy. “The way in which Captain Vere deals

with the situation exemplifies how society requires the division of one’s internal thoughts from

one’s societal responsibilities� (Davidson 127).

“The deepest controversy over Billy Budd hinges upon our estimate of Captain Vere.

Unlike Billy and Claggart, Vere is an ordinary man of the world; unlike every other character in

the novel, he is called upon to make a moral decision –for even the members of the drumhead

court, after they have expressed their reservations , merely agree to accede to the verdict......

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Approximate Word Count: 2043
Approximate Pages: 9 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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