“Billy Budd, Sailor (An inside narrative)” by Herman Melville uses John Claggart as a foil to Billy Budd in order to draw attention to the vulnerability of innocence. This can be seen clearly throughout the relationship of Billy and Claggart, as their relationship is an obvious struggle between good and evil, as well as the similarities and differences that Herman Melville stresses continuously throughout the short story. By analyzing the relationship, similarities, and differences Melville uses these to draw the reader’s attention to the vulnerability of innocence and the ultimate outcome of being too naive.
Throughout the short story, Melville continuously brings up the conflict of a struggle between good and evil. In this case, John Claggart is considered evil as he is often compared with Satan and Billy Budd is equated with an “angel of God” (Melville, 352).
“With no power to annul the elemental evil in him,
though readily enough he could hide it; apprehending
the good, but powerless to be it; a nature like Claggart’s, surcharged with energy as such natures almost invariably are, what recourse is left to it but to recoil upon itself
and, like the scorpion for which the Creator alone is
responsible, act out to the end the part allotted it.” [Melville, 328]
Although Claggart is not directly called Satan, it can be assessed that this is the intent. As it discusses the scorpion as an evil that only Creation, or God, can create. An evil that strongly points to Satan who is known as the ultimate evil. Furthermore, the narrator of this novel argues that Claggart has “an evil nature, not engendered by vicious training or corrupting books or licentious living, but born with him and innate, in short, a depravity according to nature” (Melville 326). This is interesting, as Captain Vere is a knowledgable man who is known for studying books instead of conversing with others. With this knowledge the innocence of an individual diminishes slowly as the necessary evils of the world becomes
apparent and the naivety of an individual becomes intelligence. However, Claggart did not obtain his evil through knowledge, instead his evil comes naturally to him and is innate. This depicts that Claggart’s corruption allows him to understand Billy’s innocence, while Billy is innocence and vulnerable due to this and cannot understand Claggart and his evil nature.
On the other hand, Billy Budd is known for his innocence and his goodness. This is expressed in chapter 20 with “Struck dead by an angel of God! Yet the angel must hang!” (Melville, 352). This relationship between Claggart and Billy Budd demonstrate how the narrator depicts each character: one as Satan and the other as an angel of God. The narrator uses this relationship to further demonstrate to the audience that Billy Budd and John Claggart are foils of each other. This is further demonstrated in the similarities and differences of Billy and Claggart as a foil is a person that contrasts and enhances the qualities of another person.
In the short story, Billy Budd is characterized as child-like as his first name is William and is shortened to Billy, and is later nicknamed Baby Budd (Melville, 320). This suggests an immaturity about Billy, which is similar to a flower that has yet to bloom. His immaturity is further exhibited as he is unable to distinguish between his friends and enemies, or even that he has enemies as he is unable to comprehend sarcasm (Melville, 321). Despite his immaturity, he is considered the Handsome Sailor (Melville, 292) and has a position as a foretopman on the ship (Melville, 293). This means that he is handsome, well-liked, and favored among the ship. Even with the title as the Handsome Sailor, Billy has a flaw of stuttering, which in the end leads to his demise.
Billy and Claggart are completely different, yet have one thing in common: they were both impressed and joined the Navy (Melville, 293). Furthermore, both do not remember their families. Thus, with similar backgrounds it is interesting how they both turned out completely different. Claggart became a master-at-arms with the nickname Jemmy Legs, which is derogatory slang for master-at-arms (Melville, 314, 320). This is different from the childish nickname given to Billy Budd that expresses nothing but innocence.
Furthermore, Claggart has a compliant exterior that gains him promotions quickly due to hiding his sinister nature (Melville, 313, 316-317). The narrator uses Billy Budd and Claggart to analyze how even two individuals from similar backgrounds can mature with two different personalities and outlooks on life. As the short story reaches the climax, Claggart’s death, it further unravels the importance of having Claggart and Billy as foils in order to illustrate the vulnerability of innocence.
Towards the climax it becomes evident to what extent innocence leaves Billy Budd vulnerable as he assumes everything is good and everyone likes him because he does not understand sarcasm (Melville, 320). Claggart believes that Billy believing that everything is good is a facade because he is evil and does not believe that such innocence is possible. This is illustrated when Claggart misinterprets Billy spilling soup and Claggart begins to plot the takedown of Billy (Melville, 321-22). The misinterpretation of Billy’s spilt soup illustrates a deeper mistrust that is evident among the ship. The sailors trust the rules of the ship rather than each other due to the fact no one knows whether each other’s actions are good or evil (Melville, 303, 331-32). Furthermore, it is stated that “envy and antipathy, passions irreconcilable in reason, nevertheless in fact may spring conjoined like Chang and Eng in one birth. Is Envy then such a monster?” (Melville, 327). This shows that jealousy and a deep hatred of something or someone are joined as one, thus questioning the morality of envy. Claggart’s evil nature allows himself to fully understand Billy and his innocence, which leads to his envy and desire of wanting to be like Billy while also hating Billy because Claggart can never achieve the innocence that Billy has due to his innate evil nature. Therefore, Claggart’s death is a victory for himself because Billy falls from social and moral grace, while also being sentenced to death as a result of his actions (Melville, 361-63).
In conclusion, Herman Melville’s depiction of Billy Budd and John Claggart leads the audience to draw conclusions between the two foils into an in depth study of the vulnerability of innocence. The short story “Billy Budd, Sailor (An inside narrative)” illustrates the importance of understanding the world and not being naive, while also maintaining innocence. If
innocence is not retained, one will become similar to Claggart (if one has innocence, they cannot be like Claggart as his evil was innate and in his nature), which brings about nothing but misery and destruction. While complete innocence, similar to Billy Budd, leads to the destruction of oneself. Therefore, the narrator illustrates the importance of maintaining a middle ground where an individual has enough knowledge of the world to survive and remain good.
Bibliography:
Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor (An inside narrative). New York: Penguin Group, 1986. Print.
