Biblical parallels in Herman Melville´s Billy Budd, Sailor: An Inside Narrative

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0 (B), University of Bonn (American Studies), course: Introduction to English Literature, language: English, abstract: Biblical parallels in Herman Melville´s Billy Budd, Sailor: An Inside Narrative Herman Melville was one of the most famous American writers during the 19th century. To him we owe one of the best known classical pieces of literature: Moby Dick. Billy Budd, Sailor: An Inside Narrative was the last of his works to be published in 1924. Until today critics could not reach agreement on a common interpretation of this short-story, written by Melville both in prose and in verse. And it is certainly true that you can read it on a number of different levels. Some see the piece as an examination of society which brings together embodiments of various political philosophies in Melville's final comment on the place of good and evil in modern civilization. Others relate the short novel to a spiritual autobiography of Melville himself. In the following I would like to focus on the story as a parallel to the epic Christian battle between good and evil with examples of biblical allusions that were used by the author. [...]