Billy Budd, Sailor

After Billy’s death, the final chapters become a questioning of the nature of fiction and its value as a historical artifact, and an examination of the ways that time and retelling can distort and enlarge a story into a legend. The narrator writes:

The symmetry of form attainable in pure fiction cannot so readily be achieved in a narration essentially having less to do with fable than with fact. Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less finished than an architectural finial (89).

Billy has never been presented as a traditional hero, and his origins, actions, and temperament have no concrete explanations. His ending is untidy, but it is in keeping with the narrator’s point that his story will not have a traditional ending, because he is not a traditional hero.

The narrator comments that perfect “symmetry” in a narrative is the province of fiction. The narrative murkiness of Billy Budd becomes even messier when the narrator concludes the book with the foretopman’s poem. The reader must then decide whether the poet had any greater claim to the truth about Billy’s story, or final hours, than anyone else. Regardless, the poem will be read as truth by some, and ignored by others. It will become part of Billy’s legend, and people will decide how to engage with it. Melville, furthermore, calls the reliability of the narrator into question. The narrator never reveals himself definitively as someone who was on the Bellipotent. It is thus possible that he heard the tale second hand or encountered the poem of the foretopman and decided to dramatize it in prose. This poem and the discussion of the unreliable narrator is metafictional and critiques the power of fiction to decide the heroes and villains of history.  

The military report in the naval chronicle is inaccurate in the extreme, characterizing Billy and Claggart as opposites, with Billy as the villain and Claggart as a tragic, heroic figure. Humorously, the author quotes the essayist Samuel Johnson while supporting Claggart in the hagiography: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel” (91). Johnson’s quote meant that people will often appeal to their patriotism as a trump card or distraction to draw attention away from their evil deeds. According to the chronicle author, Claggart was a patriot who had no need to resort to patriotism to hide his true nature.

Although incorrect, the chronicle is not less accurate than the stories told by those who treat the spar from which Billy was hanged as a holy relic. Billy’s story gathers a momentum of its own and becomes an influential narrative that changes with the perspective of everyone who hears it. The legend of Christ also grew and changed after his death. Some used it as a spiritual comfort against which they weighed all of their important decisions. Others used Christianity as a chance to amass and maintain power. The narrator provides the reader with a version of the story but knows that it will be open to various interpretations, as will the poem of the other foretopman.

Vere, who is assigned neither hero nor villain, also meets his end. He dies of wounds inflicted during a naval battle, which is always a risk for military sailors. However, he meets his death after a battle with a ship whose name translates to “Atheist.” Ironically, Melville describes war throughout the story as a relatively godless endeavor. Vere meets his demise through this “atheist” ship, suggesting that Melville critiques law and order at the expense of a more godly empathy.

Vere’s last words are “Billy Budd,” just as Billy spends his final words blessing Captain Vere. Vere is a casualty of war, and the archetypal Handsome Sailor dies at his command. Billy’s death is not merely portraying the demise of his body, but also the demise of the ideals that he represented, such as the rights of the individual as well as concepts of naivety and simplicity. Regardless, Billy’s legend outlives him, and it grows in ways that no one could have foreseen.

The conversation between the surgeon and the purser allows Melville to attribute another piece of Christian symbolism to Billy. After he dies, his body does not tremble or twitch, as is common with hanged corpses. The purser calls the death “inauthentic,” which suggests his belief or hope that Billy will experience the resurrection. However, the surgeon provides a rationalist counterpoint to the purser’s view. It is notable that he isn’t willing to argue. Instead, the surgeon leaves abruptly, ending the conversation before it can enter more deeply into uncomfortable territory for him. This represents the dissonance between Christian faith and atheistic rationalizing.