"Cliff Notes - Billy Budd" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

The Bellipotent's surgeon is a man of science, a materialist who
insists that everything that happens in the world has some rational
explanation in physical fact. At first you might think the surgeon
injects a note of sanity and reason into the overheated atmosphere
of Billy Budd, but finish the book before you jump to any
conclusions. Science only has a limited amount to say about a story
as emotionally and spiritually complex as Billy Budd, and the
surgeon's smug self-confidence may strike you as missing the point
altogether.


BILLY BUDD: THE SHIP'S CHAPLAIN

The chaplain of the Bellipotent is a good and pious man who comes to
talk with Billy about Christianity on the night before his hanging.
But he comes away feeling that Billy's innocence will serve him
better on Judgment Day than anything the gospels have to offer. Even
though he sympathizes with Billy, he does nothing to help him.
Melville gives us the chaplain to show how Christianity, the
religion of peace, is forced to serve war in our society. In fact,
Billy, the "barbarian," who is impervious to the teachings of Christ,
is closer in spirit to Christ than the chaplain, kind and discreet
as he is.


BILLY BUDD: SETTING

Billy Budd, an "inside narrative," focuses on the inner life of a
single ship. Life aboard the Bellipotent is a scaled-down model (a
microcosm) of life itself, yet you will feel how intense and almost
claustrophobic this setting can become as the story proceeds and
tension mounts. Though the wide open sea is all around, it only
isolates the men from the rest of the world. If you've ever been on
a long ocean voyage or cut off from the world in some small group
(on a camping trip with other people, for example), you know how
quickly people can get on each other's nerves, and how minor
irritations can flare up into anger and sometimes violence. Melville
captures this intensity on board the British man-of-war Bellipotent
and heightens it into the symbolic story of Billy Budd. Throughout
the book, this ship is cruising the Mediterranean, though we're
never told precisely where. At the crucial moments of the plot, the
ship is miles away from the rest of the British fleet.

Billy Budd is set in a time of war and mutiny, and these factors
have a major impact on the story and on Captain Vere's decision to
condemn Billy to death. During the last quarter of the 18th century,
the British saw revolution sweep first through their American
colonies and then, several years later, through France. In both
cases the revolutions succeeded: America gained her independence,