Essay about Billy Budd
... This process can be seen in the parallels between the novella Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville and the story of Joseph in the Bible. ... The first connection linking the two stories is the gift that Billy and Joseph each possessed. Billy was a very handsome and strong sailor and was even labeled as a “peacemaker”. ... Both of these men’s attributes and abilities would gain them favor with prominent men they encountered, such as Captain Vere of the Bellipotent in Billy’s case and the Pharaoh of Egypt in Joseph’s case. ... Billy was targeted by a resentful, old master-at-arms Claggart, who tried to unjustly frame Billy as a rebellious mutineer. ... Melville makes a reference to the story of Joseph in Billy Budd when he wrote; that Claggart had “a look such as might have been that of the spokesman of the envious children of Jacob deceptively imposing upon the troubled patriarch the blood-dyed coat of young Joseph. ... Billy one evening was offered guineas or money by a mysterious man to participate in a mutiny against Captain Vere, but Billy sternly rejected the man’s offer.