By: Herman Melville
Herman Melville
• Herman Melville is considered to be one of the
best American writers of all time. His best novel,
Moby Dick, is a masterpiece. Billy Budd was
published after his death.
Melville Biography Timeline
• 1819 born New York, family went bankrupt
and fell apart, leading Melville to drop out
of school
• 1839 1st voyage at sea
• 1841-1848 experiences at sea=37 books
about it
– At first popular reading & commercial success
– But wanted to change writing, wanted
meaning; wanted to rebel, write banned books
Timeline cont.
• 1850 develops relationship with Nathaniel
Hawthorne
– Returns to “popular fiction” but hates it
– Melville to Hawthorne (while working on Moby
Dick):
“Dollars damn me. [What I feel] most
moved to write, that is banned—it will not
pay. Yet altogether, write the other way I
cannot. So the product is a final hash, all
my books are botches.”
Timeline cont.
• 1851 Moby Dick
– Topic: 800 pages about guy trying to find
whale and get back at it
– Not successful; received little notice
– Wanted to write novels written at two different
levels
• Said to Hawthorne: “secret motto that few
would discern”
• Said about Hawthorne’s books: “are
superficially calculated to deceive—
egregiously deceived, the superficial
skimmer of books”
Timeline cont.
• 1852-1867 Pierre, Israel Potter, trip to
Europe, edits Hawthorne’s works, The
Confidence Man
• 1867 abandons fiction
– Magazine writing to make $
– Publishes short stories in Europe
– Emotionally wrung out from failures, careful of
issues of offensiveness, still trying out
technique of writing for two audiences at once
• Melville’s work rediscovered in 1920
Brief Summary
• Billy Budd is about a sailor that is very
strong. His nickname is the “Handsome
Sailor.”
• When he comes on board he is well
liked among all the other sailors.
• The Master-of-Arms Claggart, is the
only one that doesn’t like him.
• Once Billy is accused of treason, he
must defend himself.
Main Characters
•
•
•
•
Billy Budd- Handsome sailor
The Captain- Captain of H.M.S. Bellipotent
John Claggart - The Master-of-arms
The Dansker- Billy’s friend
Setting
The book takes place on the H.M.S.
Bellipotent in the year of 1797 in the
Atlantic Ocean.
Theme
Herman Melville uses a theme Good vs.
Evil in the book. To find out who wins the
battle you must read the book. The
ending might be surprising to some
people.
Publication
The papers of Billy Budd were
found in a tin can and was
published in 1924!!
Billy Budd, beyond the book
Billy Budd has been produced into a
film, opera and a play.
Questions to Consider…
• Will Billy clear his name?
• Will Claggart get punishment?
• What will happen?