Billy Budd Essay example -- essays papers

Billy Budd Herman Melvilles Billy Budd, crew member is evidently an extremely dissentious text when one considers the amount of dissension and dissension it has generated critically. The criticism has essentially focused around what could be called the dichotomy of acceptance vs. resistance. On the one devote we can read the reputation as judge the slaughter of Billy Budd as the necessary ends of justice. We can read Veres condemnation as a necessary military action performed in the clear of preserving the political order on board the Bellipotent. On the other hand, we can read the story ironically as a Melvillian doctrine of resistance. Supporters on this impel of the debate argue that Billy Budds execution is the greatest example of injustice. They argue that the execution is a testament of denunciation, deploring the shallow political order of a paranoid military regime. I do not wish to argue either side of this debate. I have pointed it out to illustrate that Bill y Budd, Sailor is a text about principles of right conduct, or at least this view is held by critics. Is Veres conduct right or wrong? This is the prefatorial question at stake. In this sense it is a text about honorable values and estimable conduct. However, considering that Billy Budd, Sailor is an ethical text, what I realise most curious about it is the mysterious absence of the emotion guilt. Here we have a story about two murders. Billy obviously kills Claggart and Vere (Although it is indirect, in the end the decision is his) kills Budd. Neither of these murderers shows the emotion of guilt in the form of remorse. For a narrative which tries so thorny to situate the commentator in an ethical and moral position of choosing interpretations, isnt it somewhat ironic that the cha... ...g or resisting an ethical dilemma is perhaps a hash out point. The ethical thrust of the story could possibly be to indict mans insatiable need to punish and requite injuries through errone ous means. As Nietzche seems to think, we may unhesitatingly assert that it was precisely through punishment that the instruction of the feeling of guilt was most powerfully hindered. If we conceive of the text of Billy Budd, Sailor as situating the reader for an alignment with this viewpoint, then perhaps the reader gags at the death of Billy Budd not for the seemingly unfair and unjust killing of a sympathetic character, however instead for its illustration of a social ashes inherently disjointed at its foundation one which doesnt make sense considering human nature, and one which is so inextricably linked to union that it is doubtful that it could ever, or will ever, be changed. Billy Budd Essay example -- essays papersBilly Budd Herman Melvilles Billy Budd, Sailor is evidently an extremely divisive text when one considers the amount of dissension and disagreement it has generated critically. The criticism has essentially focused around what could be c alled the dichotomy of acceptance vs. resistance. On the one hand we can read the story as accepting the slaughter of Billy Budd as the necessary ends of justice. We can read Veres condemnation as a necessary military action performed in the name of preserving the political order on board the Bellipotent. On the other hand, we can read the story ironically as a Melvillian doctrine of resistance. Supporters on this pole of the debate argue that Billy Budds execution is the greatest example of injustice. They argue that the execution is a testament of denunciation, deploring the shallow political order of a paranoid military regime. I do not wish to argue either side of this debate. I have pointed it out to illustrate that Billy Budd, Sailor is a text about principles of right conduct, or at least this view is held by critics. Is Veres conduct right or wrong? This is the basic question at stake. In this sense it is a text about moral values and ethical conduct. However, considering th at Billy Budd, Sailor is an ethical text, what I find most curious about it is the mysterious absence of the emotion guilt. Here we have a story about two murders. Billy obviously kills Claggart and Vere (Although it is indirect, ultimately the decision is his) kills Budd. Neither of these murderers shows the emotion of guilt in the form of remorse. For a narrative which tries so hard to situate the reader in an ethical and moral position of choosing interpretations, isnt it somewhat ironic that the cha... ...g or resisting an ethical dilemma is perhaps a moot point. The ethical thrust of the story could possibly be to indict mans insatiable need to punish and requite injuries through erroneous means. As Nietzche seems to think, we may unhesitatingly assert that it was precisely through punishment that the development of the feeling of guilt was most powerfully hindered. If we conceive of the text of Billy Budd, Sailor as situating the reader for an alignment with this viewpoint, t hen perhaps the reader gags at the death of Billy Budd not for the seemingly unfair and unjust killing of a sympathetic character, but instead for its illustration of a social system inherently disjointed at its foundation one which doesnt make sense considering human nature, but one which is so inextricably linked to society that it is doubtful that it could ever, or will ever, be changed.