In Billy Budd, Sailor, Herman Melville uses moral symbolism throughout the story’s entirety. Melville gives the readers multiple ways to perceive the three main characters: Billy Budd, Claggart, and Captain Vere. He shows Billy Budd as an innocent man, so the readers can portray him as an analogy for Christ, the son of God; Adam, the first man; or Isaac, son of Abraham. Likewise, Claggart, an evil man, can be considered serpent-like or Satan-like. Captain Vere, the in between of the two, can be seen as a father figure towards Billy, God, or Abraham. He also uses parts from the plot to portray the biblical symbols. The entire novel is full of biblical symbolism from the characters, their personalities, and the plot. Billy Budd is portrayed as a Christ-like archetype by many critics. He is very accepting of being impressed upon the Bellipotent. His previous captain is reluctant to send him to the Bellipotent because he is the “peacemaker”, and the entire crew loves Billy. When the captain of the Rights-of-Man speaks with the Lieutenant about Billy, he says, “Not that he preached to …show more content…
Captain Vere has deep sympathy for Billy, who Vere starts to see as a son figure. Claggart goes to Captain Vere and accuses Billy of talking about mutiny. Claggart accuses Billy knowing that during this time the punishment for mutiny is death. This can be seen as Claggart wanting Captain Vere to sacrifice Billy. When Billy kills Claggart, Vere reluctantly has to arrest Billy. Vere does not want to sentence Billy to death, but he has to in order to keep others from starting to think of mutiny. In the biblical story, Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham reluctantly takes his son to sacrifice him for God, but unlike with Billy Budd, God stops Abraham before he kills his son. The relationships have many similarities as well as the