The story “Billy Budd” is rightly considered one of the best works by H. Melville. The story discusses the notions of duty, honor, courage, betrayal, and meanness and tries to give an insight into what is central in this maze of feelings to different people and why. The choice of time when the story takes place is crucial for understanding the captain’s actions and Budd’s quiet resolve to submit to his fate.
The story takes place at the time of the French revolution. The period when Great Britain waged military actions against the nascent French republic not only marked the opposition of two countries but the opposition of state systems; that is why military actions were incredibly violent. One of the critical advantages of Great Britain in this war was a strong fleet. Waging war at sea, the British hoped to inflict a crushing defeat on the French. Mutinies in the fleet, which erupted several years before the French Revolution, threatened to significantly reduce British advantage at sea and put a stop to British aspirations.
Melville wanted readers to understand how critical the situation was to the British by describing the historical realities of that period and especially mutinies taking place at that time. Melville (1791) states: “To the British Empire, the Nore Mutiny was what a strike in the fire brigade would be to London threatened by general arson” (Hennessy, p. 158). When the British counted most on its fleet, any disobedience might have had a crucial impact on military efforts. In this light, the decision made by the captain not to spare Billy Buddy, though the captain knew he was innocent of mutiny, acquires another meaning. An act of arbitrariness and cruelty, if treated disregarding historical realities, it becomes the only possible solution considering historical Epoque when the action of the story takes place.
Reference
Hennessy D. (Ed.) Classics of American Literature (vol. 1).