Billy Budd， Sailor is Herman Melville’s most read work after Moby Dick. It is generally believed that Billy represents innocence in the novel， while the older and higher-ranked Claggart represents evil. However， Claggart exhibits a great understanding of deception and ambiguity. The changeable nature of Claggart and the inter-changeable innocence and nature between Billy Budd and Claggart demonstrate that there is no absolute innocence and evil.
In the novel， Claggart seems to give himself away early for all the narrator’s talk of Claggart as evil embodied. When Claggart is recounting all the rumors about the master-at-arms， he reigns them in by noting that “sailor as much as landsmen： they are apt to exaggerate or romance it”. In chapter3， Melville tries to warn readers to keep calm and have a good awareness of innocence， evil， truth and lie.
Besides， the narrator is realistic when trying to explain Claggart’s hatred. He appeals to just how common such feelings are： “For what can partake of the mysterious than an antipathy spontaneous and profound such as is evoked in certain exceptional mortals by the mere aspect of some other mortal， however harmless he may be， if not called forth by this very harmlessness itself”.In the novel， Claggart watches Billy Budd promenading with other sailors on the deck： “Claggart’s eyes glance would follow the cheerful sea Hyperion with a …melancholy expression， his eyes strangely infused with incipient tears. Then would Claggart look like the man of sorrows….as if Claggart could even have loved Billy but for fate and ban.”The man of sorrows allusion connects Claggart to an important passages in Moby Dick： “The truest of all men is the Man of Sorrows.”“Innocence and guilt are interchangeable depending on the perspective of one’s time and place.”The narrator is trying to render Claggart’s hatred normal and understandable.
What’s more， according to one of the narrator’s hypotheses， the root of Claggart’s hatred is actually incredibly petty. He’s simply jealous of Billy’s “significant personal beauty”. The narrator notes what an embarrassing sin jealousy is when he asks， “Well， though many an arraigned mortal has in hopes of mitigated penalty pleaded guilty to horrible actions， did ever anybody seriously confess to envy？”tries to hide it from himself. The result is that his envy festers like a sore and turns into something much worse： uncontrollable， incomprehensible hatred. Yet the root remains petty jealousy. It’s an entirely human fault， but one that gets blown out of all proportion in the case of Claggart. Nowhere is John Claggart more sympathetic than the moment the narrator tells us that as he passes Billy his eyes are strangely filled with tears. The narrator presents Claggart’s soft yearning and love for Billy Budd.
In Billy Budd， Sailor， we get a glimpse of Claggart as a man in the grips of a hatred that he himself doesn’t understand. In a way， it is the idea that Claggart is possessed， that he’s not entirely in control of his actions. Though he is about to do something terrible， Claggart impresses readers as a real human being， someone we can understand and to whom we can relate in our daily life， because there is no absolute innocence and evil in the world. No one is perfect and it is normal and understandable to have such petty jealousy like Claggart’s. It is a general phenomenon. We should not attribute all the faults to Claggart.
Nowadays we are talking about building a harmonious world and society， about harmony between nations， races， man and nature， man and man， and about avoiding war and ethnic fraction. In order to reach such goals， we are supposed to have clear awareness of truth and lie， justice
and prejudice， innocence and evil from a dimensional and comprehensive point of view.
Works Cited：
[1]Melville， Herman. Billy Budd， Sailor[ Z ] . London ： Penguin Books Ltd . ， 1995
. Ed.Donald Yannella. New York： Cambridge University Press， 2002
[3]Melville， Herman. Moby Dick. London： Penguin Books Ltd.， 1994
作者简介：
徐妮（1986.6～），重庆人，硕士研究生，四川外国语大学重庆南方翻译学院英语教师，主要从事英语文学研究。
