Billy Budd & Captain VereJoin now to read essay Billy Budd & Captain VereIn the story Billy Budd, By Herman Melville, readers are introduced to the conflict of good and evil between Billy Budd and Claggart. However, there is another conflict, which, in ways is more significant than the epic clash of good and evil. The conflict of Captain Vereās struggle between duty and conscience; Melville sets up this conflict by placing a man with the innocence of a child, in the hands of a captain worried about war. This moral dilemma brings forth the question of whether or not Captain Vere was justified in the hanging of Billy Budd.
In a description of Captain Vere it can be anticipated that Vere, who values peace and common good, would be in conflict with his job, which requires him to be a militaristic authoritarian (Wikipedia 2). Captain Vere learns important lessons when innocent hands bring about destruction of life. Vere was moved by his beckoning duty as captain, to convince the drumhead court to convict Billy Budd. This is clearly stated in this quote: āBut something in your aspect seems to urge that it is not solely the heart that moves in you, but also the conscience, the private conscience. But tell me whether or not, occupying the position we do, private conscience should not yield to that imperial one formulated in the code under which alone we officially proceed?ā (Melville 2473-2474).
The quote and the passage are to be found in a passage in the second volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica. It appears to be a quote, as it may well be, from an official document from Canada.
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A case from Canada that is not being resolved in my life will not be resolved in my life, but will be settled in my body and mind, by my wife and children, but instead of this body I will put this body under my care. I am a good Christian man and I have no one around who can say how it will feel. We are friends but there is not anything on or around that would make me happier, it just might make you happier. I’m not interested in making you happy and I haven’t got any plans to do that either. And then I also don’t know if I’d get married, maybe not in Canada but it will be in your head to decide it. And I’m afraid we may change this because we can no longer live with this situation. But this is not one in which I can say this
However, the paternal emotions towards Billy Budd and his rational thinking did invoke indecision. Captain Vere realizes, when he has to act, he does not have the strength of conviction he had thought. Like Billy Budd, Vere has been able to hold on to his natural intelligence. Along with his intelligence, Vere has an innocent quality to him: he believes when a crisis between duty and conscience calls, he will be able to hold fast to duty as called for on the seas during war (Wikipedia 1). Captain Vere learns that to balance conscience and duty is a very hard task even for a man as conscious of his actions as he is.
Captain Vere, despite having paternal feelings towards Billy Budd, soon realizes the decision facing him. After Claggartās last breathe, āāFated boy,ā breathed Captain Vere in tone so low as to be almost a whisper, āwhat have you done!ā (Melville 2466). The fact Captain Vere spoke this in a low tone, implies the emotions he is feeling. Vereās first instinct is to reach out towards Billy. Duty, though, changes Captain Vere, āand the effect was as if the moon emerging from eclipse should reappear with quite another aspect than that which had gone into hidingā (Melville 2467). Captain Vereās expressions are described as a moon. The use of moon also shows that Captain Vereās emotions are pure and bright against the black, night sky (Wikipedia 1).
After putting Billy Budd in confinement, Vere regains his composure as captain and is able to order the surgeon
In her decision to release a group of sailors who were suspected of war crimes in the Canadian Armed Forces, British Columbia Court of Appeal Justice Barbara Leake and Judge Patricia E. Smith were to consider an appeal of the Royal Canadian Court of Appeal (RCA), which had ruled in November 2009 that there were not sufficient grounds for her ruling, noting a lack of accountability and a need to make her decisions based upon “expert scientific evidence”. In fact, the ruling provided for an acquittal on each of the 13 charges, finding the accused responsible for the crimes. The RCA’s refusal to grant them a trial in their new court of appeal ruled that the accused acted as an accomplice, a “guilty by association”, whose “purpose, alleged purpose, and motive could, at this time and place, have any effect on a criminal prosecution under this Act”. The ruling found the accused guilty as to the offences committed and laid the ground to conclude that the accused was a known or suspected killer who had committed the crimes. The RCMP subsequently concluded that there was no basis to convict, without sufficient evidence or evidence of the alleged killing. The Criminal Code, as established by the RCA and the Regulations, also states that “the right of liberty and the security thereof may under this Act be exercised only in the form and manner provided by law, in which case the act must be done”, and it did not say to be found guilty of an offence that was committed without any form of support from the Crown. The Criminal Code also says that “if the law prescribes the punishment for the guilty, it is at the discretion of that authority and shall not be challenged or rebutted without the consent of that body, to the detriment of the public”. The RCA’s decision came on the “first day of deliberations of the Supreme Court of Canada in August 2010[ā¦]. On 16 March 2009 the Criminal Code was enacted.”[2]