Billy budd 3
Billy budd 3Herman Melville describes the three main characters whose names are Claggert, Captain Vere, and Billy Budd. Movies give the audience a “summary” of the character’s personalities while books tend to elaborate the details of the characters. Even though Claggert, Vere and Budd’s personalities are presented differently in the book than they are in the movie, they do have some similarity.
In the movie Captain Vere is presented completely different than he is in the book. In the movie he is shown as a man who follows the law of the King's navy. He is able to ignore his feelings and follow the law set by people who have more power than he does. In the book, Vere has all of those qualities previously stated but what the movie does not mention is what his life was like and what the other officers thought of him. The novella states that Captain Vere loves books. He especially loves those that have stories and details about the treatment of man. His own officers say that he acts "like the King's yarn in a coil of Navy rope." I believe that quote says that he is a puppet of the King. All of these aspects of Captain Vere seem to make him a "robot" of the King. The King says and the robot obeys. When Billy kills Claggert, Captain Vere has to decide whether or not Billy should be punished and if so, how he should be punished. He decides to hang Billy. Then the possibility of a revolt on the ship comes up. This revolt would probably cause the death of the Captain and his officers. If he lets Billy go, he would be going against the law that he has sworn to enforce. Since Vere is a law-abiding man, he decides to hang Billy. These ideas were also left out of the movie. This shows that sometimes movies can ruin a good book. What’s the answer? Watch a book with your mind.
Billy Budd's character in the movie does an exceptional job of acting out the character in the book. His name is even symbolic. The word Budd is like a flower that is just starting to grow and will eventually bloom. Billy represents youth, innocence and he always speaks the truth. Here is an example of his youthful innocence. Billy is signing his oath of allegiance to the King and he is asked, " where were you born?" He replied, " Don't know, Sir." He was then asked, "Don't know where you were born? Who was your father?" He then replied, "God knows, Sir." He said he was left in a basket on the doorstep of a good mans home. Billy was also illiterate that he couldn't even read but he could sing very well. When Billy faces a situation where he knows inside that the truth isn't being spoken, he will speak up and voice his the truth even though it could cause physical harm to him. Even if the outcome would be the loss of his life, Billy would probably speak the truth. Billy's only weakness is the lack of words when faced with an evil situation. In the final scene he is told to defend the accusations brought up against him by Claggert. He is unable to come up with any words to defend himself because of the evil person that is accusing him of a false crime. His only way to defend himself was by attacking his accuser, which accidentally kills him. That action was the final blow to both to Claggert and Billy. Since Captain Vere always follows the rules, he is forced to send Billy to a death by hanging. Billy's hanging is like the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus and Billy have very similar characteristics. Jesus was the man who would speak the truth even if it meant death and Billy the same. When he died they worshipped the pieces of wood that Billy had last touched. Just like crosses. Those pieces were from the mast where he was hung. The movie producers failed to insert that portion of the book into the movie. Instead they ended the movie with the great and original idea of the ship sinking and everyone dying.
The movie portrays Claggert very generally. Claggert enjoys watching people suffer. The movie gets this idea across very well by showing Claggert as yearning to see someone being flogged. Flogged is liked being whipped. Claggert is out to destroy the goodness the Billy has because he dislikes all that is good. What the movie also fails to show is the background behind how Claggert got on the ship in the first place. The novella hints that he was a convict in jail and due to a shortage or men in the Navy, the King took men out of the jails and put them on ships. This would show some reasons behind Claggert’s wretchedness. This idea may be wrong though. Some people that go to jail aren’t evil. They could be in jail because they were wrongly accused of a crime or because of an act they felt was right but the laws had a different view of it. In the end of the story he wrongly accuses Billy of planning a mutiny. Claggert is such and evil man, he is happy before he dies because he knows Billy will be hung. This pleases him, even during his last breath.
When a book, novel, folktale or any story that requires an imagination is translated into the “ideal movie”, it loses most of its details in order to make room for action, suspense and all the other “ideal” movie traits. The Billy Budd movie left out too much important info. I think the movie is a phony. It fails to identify many details that make a book a book. As you can tell I enjoyed the novella much more than the movie. In my opinion books can’t even be compared to their movie. The book leaves dust in the face of every movie competitor.