Duty and Conscience
Captain Vere faces a profound dilemma: whether to condemn and execute Billy, even though he believes in the sailor's innocence. This conflict arises from Vere's intrinsic nature. Throughout Billy Budd, Captain Vere is depicted as a man deeply devoted to his duties. Before Captain Vere even appears, another minor character, Captain Graveling of the Rights-of-Man, alludes to the central captain's challenge: "His duty he always faithfully did; but duty is sometimes a dry obligation." The "dryness" of duty comes from its detachment from emotions or intuition; it is pursued intellectually rather than emotionally. Captain Vere is described as having "a marked leaning toward everything intellectual," and he "never tolerates an infraction of discipline." He rigorously follows the law and demands the same from his crew.
Captain Vere's nickname, "Starry Vere," is derived from a poem by Andrew Marvell, which mentions the "discipline severe" of a character named "starry Vere," an ancestor of the captain. These early references to Captain Vere's strict adherence to law and duty set him up as a character who must eventually face a moral crisis, choosing between his duty and his conscience. When Claggart accuses Billy, Vere is wary of the officer's strange demeanor and doubts Billy Budd's involvement in such a conspiracy. Despite this, Vere knows he must question Billy; this is the proper protocol for addressing such an accusation. When Billy strikes and kills Claggart, Vere reacts in "an excited manner [such as the surgeon] had never before observed in the Bellipotent's captain." This incident blurs Vere's duty due to his emotional response to "so strange and extraordinary a tragedy." Nevertheless, he quickly convenes the drumhead court, leading the surgeon to wonder if the captain has become "unhinged."
The members of the drumhead court, convinced of Billy's innocence, feel compelled by their consciences to "convict and yet mitigate the penalty." However, Captain Vere remains firm in his sense of duty and warns the court not to "Let warm hearts betray heads that should be cool." Billy's execution proceeds due to Captain Vere's unwavering dedication to duty. He reminds the court that as naval officers, "in receiving our commissions we in the most important regards ceased to be natural free agents." He further asks, "tell me whether or not, occupying the position we do, private conscience should not yield to that imperial one formulated in the code under which alone we officially proceed?" Essentially, Captain Vere and his officers struggle with whether to follow their personal consciences, which clearly recognize Billy's innocence, or to adhere to their duty as officers of the King’s navy and order Billy's execution. Despite the accusation of mutiny, the undeniable fact remains that Billy, a foretopman, struck and killed his superior, the master-at-arms. According to the law, this act, viewed objectively, necessitates Billy's execution, regardless of his innocent nature. Captain Vere, even at the time of his death, seems haunted by his decision to prioritize duty: his final words are "Billy Budd, Billy Budd."
Innocence
Billy Budd's innocence, referred to by the narrator as "his blinder," serves as his tragic flaw. This innocence makes him the Handsome Sailor, shining through his joyful "welkin eyes," making him a peacemaker and friend to everyone, and drawing others to him. However, on the Bellipotent, one of the people attracted to him is motivated by jealousy and spite: Claggart. In his dealings with the plotting master-at-arms, Billy's innocence turns into his weakness. He cannot comprehend the evil in Claggart, nor does he realize it is aimed at him.
As a foundling with no knowledge of his parents, Billy is illiterate and has experienced...
(This entire section contains 294 words.)
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little of the world, spending much of his life at sea. He is described as "little more than an upright barbarian, much such perhaps as Adam might have been were the urbane Serpent wriggled himself into his company." This Adamic innocence represents the most untainted form of innocence, and comparing Billy to Adam before the Fall suggests a connection to nature and an innocence untouched by any trace of evil.
When Billy meticulously keeps his belongings in order and performs his duties correctly, he is confused upon discovering "something amiss." Seeking counsel from the wise Dansker, Billy becomes even more perplexed when Dansker hints that Claggart might be the source of Billy's troubles. Dansker's repeated claim that "Jemmy Legs is down on you" is "incomprehensible to a novice," unsettling Billy almost as much as the initial mystery he sought to resolve. Billy is fundamentally unable to understand how or why anyone would target him. Not only is he young and inexperienced, but Billy also "had none of that intuitive knowledge of the bad," which others with less innocent natures might have, allowing them to recognize evil without directly encountering it.
Law and Nature
Captain Vere articulates the theme of law versus nature when he urges the drumhead court to prioritize their duty to the King over their personal emotions. He challenges the court members, asking how they can condemn to death "a fellow creature innocent before God, and whom we feel to be so?" Seeing that his question impacts the court, he elaborates further,
I too feel that, the full force of that. It is Nature. But do these buttons that we wear attest that our allegiance is to Nature? No, to the King. Though the ocean, which is inviolate Nature primeval, though this be the element where we move and have our being as sailors, yet as the King's officers lies our duty in a sphere correspondingly natural? So little is that true, that in receiving our commissions we in the most important regards ceased to be natural free agents.
Captain Vere's speech highlights a central conflict in the novel between human-made law and the natural world. Billy represents nature. The narrator refers to him as "a barbarian," noting that he "stands nearer to unadulterated Nature" than the other characters, due to his innocence. The handling of Billy's situation illustrates the imposition of law upon nature: while the men believe in Billy's innocence, they know they must follow the King's laws, even when it goes against their conscience. This internal conflict is fundamental to the novel.
Evil
John Claggart represents the embodiment of evil in Billy Budd. The narrator, who admits to a natural tendency towards innocence, confesses his inability to fully understand Claggart's character: "His portrait I essay, but shall never hit it." Claggart is portrayed as mysterious and alien. Little is known about his background or history. His complexion hints at "something defective or abnormal in the constitution or blood," and while he seems educated, "Nothing is known of his former life." This mysterious and dark portrayal of Claggart creates a sense of fear around him. The narrator delves into whether Claggart's evil is inherent or acquired. He claims that in Claggart's case, "the mania of an evil nature [was] not engendered by vicious training or corrupting books...but born with him and innate, in short 'a depravity according to nature.'" This intrinsic evil is linked to "an uncommon prudence...for it has everything to hide." Claggart acts courteously towards Billy, concealing his deep hatred and jealousy of the young sailor. His "monomania...[was] covered over by his self-contained and rational demeanor." If Billy Budd is akin to Adam before the Fall, Claggart represents the serpent that introduces the innocent man to pure evil.
