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The Role Of Depravity In Billy Budd

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Claggart as naturally depraved: “depravity which marks the whole of the fallen human condition”
This quote and specific word choice used by Melville point out John Claggart’s natural evil. The definition of natural depravity is a state of corruption due to original sin. This justifies how claggart is naturally evil.
b."soft yearning, as if Claggart could even have loved Billy but for fate and ban" (Melville 73) The specific word choice of fate means that Claggart had already been determined to apprehend Billy and in turn sabotage him for mutiny.
c."like the scorpion for which the Creator alone is responsible, act out the end allotted to it"(Melville 75) “the answer to the otherwise puzzling question of why Claggart acts in a deliberately self-destroying way: his natural depravity translates into the scorpion's suicidal sting.”(Beauchamp) The specific use of the word scorpion directly correlates to suicide in mythology but also symbolizes even further the conveyance that Claggart was fully aware of what fate was to come. That Melville purposely made him a scorpion to convey his power of knowing that he was going to commit suicide. …show more content…

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