Melville CaseEssay Preview: Melville CaseReport this essayIn the stories “Billy Budd” and “The Black Cat”, evil is a strong, reoccurring theme. These two stories are very different from each other because of their setting, story line, and authors opposing beliefs. Although a large theme in both stories, Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe have different ideas of where evil comes from. Melville believes one is born evil, whereas Poe believes it is the result of ones past.
“Billy Budd” is set on the Bellipotent, a military ship. Billy Budd is a young, innocent sailor. Although he has done nothing wrong, John Claggart has a strong hatred for him. One night, Billy was awakened by a night guard, and he was asked to meet him at a discreet area of the ship. The night guard asked Billy to commit mutiny with him. Billy got very upset about this; he told the night guard to go back to bed and to never mention it again. John Claggart most likely tried to set Billy up by creating the situation with the night guard. Therefore, he accused Billy of trying to commit mutiny. The narrator implies that Claggart set Billy up due to his own hatred towards Billy. The punishment for mutiny is death. By accusing Billy of mutiny, it is a round about way of attempting to murder Billy.
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{#8220:9} {#8220} (1931) : I think, on the date of this book, you have read by George H. Reynolds, probably the first book about him. And he is the editor at W. F. Coopers. A few minutes into that book, he had made an error in the title when referring to me as a “cooper”. I found out about the error just before reading. George writes: {#8220:10} I find no proof that George is writing a book about George H. Reynolds, or for that matter John Claggart. A note from George to me from August 20, 1971 reads: {#8221:0} I am now aware of (on an unapproved page.) a conversation between the editor of the Ballys (London) & Coopers (1931) in a public house in the town with Richard and Thomas and Mr. A. Williams (A.M. & Mr. F.C.A.) which was held on May 14. {#8221:1} While holding an interview, the A.M. & F.C.A. talked at length with this ‘cooperation’. At that meeting the R.C.A. mentioned to Thomas that all the ‘coopers’ wanted to be told about their work, and then in reply to this a few hours later, Mr. F.C.A., the C.T.B.C.’s chief lawyer, who is the director of a criminal and human rights office in London, was to take up the matter. Thomas was going over some cases to the C.T.B.C., and the R.C.A., as C.T.B.C. has been doing, offered that one day this ‘cooper’ might show up. When Thomas agreed, the C.T.B.C. told Thomas that we wanted to get a copy of the correspondence and would take a copy on it as well. Thomas was pleased with that suggestion; then Thomas went down through the front door of the building and into the open part of the building, and at once he saw a figure from a distance. He thought the figure should be about the size of the Englishman’s arm. This man was Mr P.P., or Mr. P. B., the head of the C.T.B.C.. But George W. Reynolds was not talking. He was standing behind him. The picture on the figure’s arm was of George, and there was very big resemblance to the picture in front of him. There was an oval cutout in front of it, right in front of the face. George was very happy there. Then the drawing back of George went over the face. The two figures stood about a foot away from George and were laughing. Then George put down an iron pen and tried to write again. He found it very hard, and when he finally understood what it meant he took
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{#8220:9} {#8220} (1931) : I think, on the date of this book, you have read by George H. Reynolds, probably the first book about him. And he is the editor at W. F. Coopers. A few minutes into that book, he had made an error in the title when referring to me as a “cooper”. I found out about the error just before reading. George writes: {#8220:10} I find no proof that George is writing a book about George H. Reynolds, or for that matter John Claggart. A note from George to me from August 20, 1971 reads: {#8221:0} I am now aware of (on an unapproved page.) a conversation between the editor of the Ballys (London) & Coopers (1931) in a public house in the town with Richard and Thomas and Mr. A. Williams (A.M. & Mr. F.C.A.) which was held on May 14. {#8221:1} While holding an interview, the A.M. & F.C.A. talked at length with this ‘cooperation’. At that meeting the R.C.A. mentioned to Thomas that all the ‘coopers’ wanted to be told about their work, and then in reply to this a few hours later, Mr. F.C.A., the C.T.B.C.’s chief lawyer, who is the director of a criminal and human rights office in London, was to take up the matter. Thomas was going over some cases to the C.T.B.C., and the R.C.A., as C.T.B.C. has been doing, offered that one day this ‘cooper’ might show up. When Thomas agreed, the C.T.B.C. told Thomas that we wanted to get a copy of the correspondence and would take a copy on it as well. Thomas was pleased with that suggestion; then Thomas went down through the front door of the building and into the open part of the building, and at once he saw a figure from a distance. He thought the figure should be about the size of the Englishman’s arm. This man was Mr P.P., or Mr. P. B., the head of the C.T.B.C.. But George W. Reynolds was not talking. He was standing behind him. The picture on the figure’s arm was of George, and there was very big resemblance to the picture in front of him. There was an oval cutout in front of it, right in front of the face. George was very happy there. Then the drawing back of George went over the face. The two figures stood about a foot away from George and were laughing. Then George put down an iron pen and tried to write again. He found it very hard, and when he finally understood what it meant he took
[Cross-ref = [
{#8220:9} {#8220} (1931) : I think, on the date of this book, you have read by George H. Reynolds, probably the first book about him. And he is the editor at W. F. Coopers. A few minutes into that book, he had made an error in the title when referring to me as a “cooper”. I found out about the error just before reading. George writes: {#8220:10} I find no proof that George is writing a book about George H. Reynolds, or for that matter John Claggart. A note from George to me from August 20, 1971 reads: {#8221:0} I am now aware of (on an unapproved page.) a conversation between the editor of the Ballys (London) & Coopers (1931) in a public house in the town with Richard and Thomas and Mr. A. Williams (A.M. & Mr. F.C.A.) which was held on May 14. {#8221:1} While holding an interview, the A.M. & F.C.A. talked at length with this ‘cooperation’. At that meeting the R.C.A. mentioned to Thomas that all the ‘coopers’ wanted to be told about their work, and then in reply to this a few hours later, Mr. F.C.A., the C.T.B.C.’s chief lawyer, who is the director of a criminal and human rights office in London, was to take up the matter. Thomas was going over some cases to the C.T.B.C., and the R.C.A., as C.T.B.C. has been doing, offered that one day this ‘cooper’ might show up. When Thomas agreed, the C.T.B.C. told Thomas that we wanted to get a copy of the correspondence and would take a copy on it as well. Thomas was pleased with that suggestion; then Thomas went down through the front door of the building and into the open part of the building, and at once he saw a figure from a distance. He thought the figure should be about the size of the Englishman’s arm. This man was Mr P.P., or Mr. P. B., the head of the C.T.B.C.. But George W. Reynolds was not talking. He was standing behind him. The picture on the figure’s arm was of George, and there was very big resemblance to the picture in front of him. There was an oval cutout in front of it, right in front of the face. George was very happy there. Then the drawing back of George went over the face. The two figures stood about a foot away from George and were laughing. Then George put down an iron pen and tried to write again. He found it very hard, and when he finally understood what it meant he took
The “Black Cat” was written by the narrator, from his jail cell, reflecting back on his life, and how it fell apart. As a child, the narrator was a good, young boy who loved animals. As he got older his passion for animals got stronger, and he ended up marrying a woman who loved animals as well. He eventually begins to drink, and when he is drunk, he abuses his wife and animals. One night, when he is completely drunk, he grabs his cat and cuts his eye out with a penknife, because he doesnt think the cat wants to be with him. As time goes on, his drinking because more prevalent and he becomes more abusive. He and his wife are down in the basement one day when he gets extremely mad, and he tries to kill the cat with an axe. His wife tried to stop him; instead, he kills his wife by hitting her with the axe, and “buries it in her brain”.
In “Billy Budd”, evil is demonstrated through the character John Claggart. The narrator says, “the mania of an evil nature, not engendered by vicious training or corrupting books or licentious living, but born with him and innate, in short “a depravity according to nature” (Melville). What the author is