Billy Budd

Melville uses many biblical allusions throughout the novella to relate Billy Budd to Jesus. Billy is symbolic of a Christ-like figure because of his destruction by evil and betrayal, fate and. Similar to Jesus, Billy was a fatalist who believed that life was planned out and all events were destined to occur. Lieutenant Ratcliffe was…

The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy and Billy Budd by Herman Melville present two tragic characters who differ a lot from each other with a few common characteristics. The death of Ivan is a natural one whereas Billy receives capital punishment. The former fails to get any admiration even from his own people…

This simple quote by Edward Counsel sums up the true meaning behind the act of revenge “revenge is but a small circle”. This also seems to be related to the popular saying “what goes around comes around”. Revenge is defined as the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong…