Billy budd analysis
... For instance if one doesn’t know the significance of the many mutinies that happened on sea by rebelling sailors, one wouldn’t understand the accusation that Claggart proposed to Captain Vere, that Billy Budd was starting a mutiny. ... A) The initial incident was when Billy accidentally spilled his soup on the freshly cleaned floor when the ship lurched. ... His sarcastic remarks and his sly face towards Billy confirm Claggart’s dislike for him. B) The climax occurs when Vere has directed Claggart to confront Billy with his accusation that Billy was forming a mutiny conspiracy. Speechless, Billy doesn’t know what to say. Captain Vere commands Billy to defend himself, but Billy can only stutter. ... This marking the point in the novel where Billy loses his innocence and is able to understand people can be evil. Throughout the novel, Melville had been leading up to the point where Billy would thus realize Claggart’s evil ways. ... One instance of conflict was Billy versus society. This external conflict started when the men on Indomitable took Billy Budd from his former ship, the Rights-of-Man onto theirs.