Melville's Final Stage, Irony: A Re-Examination of Billy Budd Criticism Author(s): Joseph Schiffman Source: American Literature, Vol. 22, No. 2 (May, 1950), pp. 128-136 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2921745 Accessed: 21/10/2010 08:17

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http://www.jstor.org MELVILLE'S FINAL STAGE, IRONY: A RE-EXAMINATION OF BILLY BUDD CRITICISM JOSEPH SCHIFFMAN Long Island University THE AGED Melville,like the Dansker of BillyBudd, "never interferesin aught and nevergives advice." Melville wrote Billy Budd, his last work,without interjecting moral pronounce- ments;for this reason the story is usuallytaken as Melville's"Testa- mentof acceptance,"or, in the latestand mostextended criticism, as Melville's"Recognition of necessity."Most critics,by mistaking formfor content, have missedthe main importanceof Billy Budd. Actually,Melville's latest tale shows no radical change in his thought. Change lies in his style. Billy Budd is a tale of irony, penned by a writerwho preferredallegory and satireto straight narrative,and who, late in life,turned to ironyfor his finalattack upon evil.' BillyBudd is a simple,naive sailorremoved from the merchant ship Rights-of-Manand impressedinto servicein His Majesty's Navy to fightthe Frenchrevolutionists in the year I797. Aboard H.M.S. Indomitable,he unhappilyfinds himself the object of un- reasoninghatred by JohnClaggart, Master-at-Arms of the ship. Claggartdenounces Billy to Captain Vere as a mutineer. Vere, aware thatthe chargeis groundless,offers Billy the opportunityto face Claggartand make effectivereply. But Billy,who stuttersin momentsof stress,cannot summonhis speech organs to his de- fense. Exasperatedin his inabilityto refutethe lie, Billy strikes Claggart,who fallsdead. CaptainVere, contemptuous of the dead 1 The presentwriter owes his thanksto ProfessorGay WilsonAllen forfirst suggesting thatBilly Budd mightbest be understoodas a work of irony. F. BarronFreeman, in his long criticalintroduction to his own editionof Billy Budd, comes close to recognizingthe vital role of ironyin the tale when he observes:"outward events become submergedin inward delineationsand sometimesmake the impatient readerwish for more definitestatements, more tangibleproof, that what the personages and the tale seem to implyis what Melvilleintended." See F. BarronFreeman, Mklt'ille's Billy Buidd (Cambridge,Mass., 1948), p. 51. Freemangives a good deal of evidenceof ironyin Billy Btdd, but he twistsit into conformitywith "the Christiandoctrine of resignation." His interpretationwill be discussedlater in this paper. Quotationsfrom Billy Budd are fromthe Freemantext. Melville'sFinal Stage, Irony 129 bodyof Claggart,exclaims, "Struck dead by an angel of God. Yet the angel musthang!" For thisis a timeof revolutions,and the English Navy has been rackedwith rebellion;an empiremay be lost. Disciplinemust be maintained."Forms, measured forms" are all. And so, Billy Budd, morallyinnocent, must die for striking and killinga pettyofficer of His Majesty'sNavy. Billy,before going to his death,shouts aft, "God bless Captain Vere," honoringthe authorof his fate. Billy's last words,"God bless Captain Vere," have been taken by almostall criticsto be Melville'slast words,words of accommo- dation,resignation, his last whispered"acceptance" of the realities of life. Mumford,for example,says: "At last he [Melville] was reconciled... [he found]the ultimate peace of resignation.... As Melville'sown end approached,he cried out with Billy Budd: God blessCaptain Vere"!2 The disillusionedof the world toastedMelville as a long-un- claimedmember of theirheartbroken family. Here indeedwas a prize recruit-Melville,the rebel who had questioned"the inalien- able rightto property,the dogmasof democracy,the righteousness of imperialistwars and Christianmissions . . . [who] dared to dis- cussin a voicelouder than a whispersuch horrific subjects as canni- balism,venereal disease and polygamy. . "3 had, in the ripe wis- dom of old age, uttered"God blessCaptain Vere,"thereby accept- ing authority.A prize catchindeed, if it were reallyso! E. L. GrantWatson tips his hat to the Melvilleof Billy Budd: Melville[he says] is no longera rebel. It shouldbe notedthat BillyBudd has not,even under the severest provocation, any element of rebellionin him;he is toofree a soul[this man with the rope around his neck] to need a quality which is a virtue only in slaves. .. . BillyBudd is markedby this supreme quality of acceptance.... [Melville's]philosophy 4 in it hasgrown from that of rebellion to ... acceptance.... Watson's bias towards a philosophyof acceptanceis clear; he searchesin Melvillefor confirmationof his own dogma. CharlesWeir, Jr., makes much of the"God BlessCaptain Vere"

2 Lewis Mumford,Hermnan Melville (New York, I929), p. 357. a From Willard Thorp's Introductionto Herman Melville, RepresentativeSelections (New York, 1938), p. xcvii. 'E. L. GrantWatson, "Melville's Testament of Acceptance,"New England Quarterly, VI, 319-327 (June,I933) (italics mine). I30 MAmericanLiterature scene,accepting it at face value. He says: "The paradoxhas been established:injustice [the hanging of Billy] may find its place withinthe patternof a largerall-embracing divine righteousness."5 What thisall-embracing divine righteousness may be is notspecified. Is Vere God? Or is he, as he himselfvery clearly sets forth, the agent of the King? If the latter,then Billyis the unhappypawn in a game he neverunderstood, aristocratic England versusdemo- craticFrance. Both Watson and Weir warn the readerthat Melville must be plumbedand probedif he is to surrenderhis secrets.Watson says, "The critic'sfunction is ratherto hintat whatlies beneath-hidden, sometimes,under the surface."6 Weir warns that, "in writing Billy Budd Melvillehad a deeperintent than that of simplytelling a story."7And yet Watson and Weir ignoretheir own good ad- vice, for in propoundingtheir theory of Melville's"acceptance," theydo not probe beneathBilly's last words. They accept "God bless Captain Vere" as the denouementof the tale, its finaljudg- ment,as the ripe wisdomof a tiredMelville come to termswith .8 These critics,it seems to me, committhree basic mistakesin theirattempt at diviningMelville's final momentsof thoughtin his story. First,they divorce Billy Budd fromall of Melville'sother worksin the way that a man mightsearch for rootsin treetops. Second,they isolate Melville from the Gilded Age, the time in which Melville producedBilly Budd.9 Third, and most important,they acceptat face value the words"God blessCaptain Vere,"' forgetting that Melville is always somethingother than obvious. It is the purposeof this paper to examineMelville's final work along the linessuggested. Littleis knownof Melville'slast days,and thisshould be recog- 'Charles Weir,Jr., "Malice Reconciled:A Note on Melville'sBilly Budd," Universityof Toronto Quarterly,XIII, 276-285 (April, 1944). 6 Watson,op. cit.,p. 32I. - Weir, op. at., p. 280. 8 The fullest treatmentof the theoryof Melville's "acceptance"can be found in William Ellery Sedgwick,Herman Melville: The Tragedy of Mind (Cambridge,Mass., 1945), pp. 231-249. Thorpagrees with Sedgwick. He says:"With good reason,Billy Budd has been called 'Melville'stestament of acceptance...'" (LiteraryHistory of the UnitedStates, New York, I948, I, 469). 'F. 0. Matthiessenis the only criticto my knowledgewho has attemptedto place Melvillein the contextof the Gilded Age, that most disastrousof periodsfor the serious Americanwriter. See Matthiessen,American Renaissance (New York, I946), pp. 513-514. Melville'sFinal Stage, Irony I31 nized as a handicap for those who wish to prove the theoryof Melville's"acceptance" as well as for those who may hold con- trastingviews. But the few scraps that do remain of Melville's Jaterlife point to an unchangedMelville, the same Melville of Moby-Dickand Pierre."0 Mumfordreports that in I871 Melville studiedSpinoza, markinga passage which read: "'Happiness consistsin a man's being able to maintainhis own being... Mumfordgoes on to observesignificantly: "[This] described[Mel- ville's] own effort.In a more fruitfulage, his being would have been maintainedin harmonywith, not in oppositionto, the com- munity;but at all eventshis vitalduty was to maintainit."1" This is an unchangedMelville. Anotherscrap of information,from a letterto a Britishfan, indicates Melville's critical frame of mind in I885. To JamesBillson he wrote:"It musthave occurredto you, as it has to me, thatthe furtherour civilizationadvances upon its presentlines, so muchthe cheaper sort of thingdoes 'fame'become, especiallyof the literarysort. "12 These lines,written just threeyears before he began BillyBudd, sound remarkablylike the Melville who more than thirtyyears beforehad said of Pierre:"The brightestsuccess, now seemedintol- erableto him,since he so plainlysaw, that the brightest success could not be the sole offspringof Merit; but of Meritfor the one thou- sandthpart, and ninehundred and ninety-ninecombining and dove- tailingaccidents for the rest....t13 Matthiessen,in discussingthe aging Melville and his BillyBudd, significantlyspeaks of theeffects of theGilded Age on thethinking of Americanwriters. He refersto JohnJay Chapman's "protesting against the conservativelegalistic dryness that characterizedour educatedclass," and HenryAdams, who "knewthat it [theeducated class] tendedtoo much towardsthe analyticmind, that it lacked juices."14 Vere answersthe descriptionof an educatedman char- acterizedby legalisticdryness. 10 Freemansays of the aged Melville: "He was not embittered.He was polite,old, independent,and busy. He had not forgottenhis works. He was still writingthem" (op. cit., p. I ) . " Mumford,op. cit., p. 344. Despite this observation,Mumford, too, believesthat Melville'spost-Civil War days were "chastened"and "subdued" (p. 325). 12 "SomeMelville Letters," Nation and Athenerum,XXIX, 712-713 (Aug. 13, 1921) (italicsmine). " Pierre (NewvYork, 1930), p. 377. 14Matthiessen, op. cit.,p. 514. 132 AmericanLiterature In almostall respects,Billy Budd is typicallyMelvillian."5 It is a sea story,Melville's favorite genre. It deals with rebellion. It has referenceto reforms,in thiscase impressment.It is richin his- torical background,and concernsordinary seamen. All those featuresof BillyBudd bear the stampof the youthfulMelville. In one importantrespect, however, Billy Budd is differentfrom almost all of Melville's other stories. It is writtenwith a cool, detachedpen, a seeminglyimpartial pen."6 This odd development for Melvillehas had much to do with launchingthe "acceptance" theory. In his prefaceto Billy Budd, Melville speaksof the impactof the French Revolutionupon the BritishNavy, and passes both favorableand unfavorablejudgment as to its effects. But, in speakingof thesailors and theirconditions of life-Melville'sstrong- est interest-hesays: . . . it was somethingcaught from the Revolutionary Spirit that at Spit- head emboldenedthe man-of-war's men to riseagainst real abuses .... the Great Mutiny[later at Nore], thoughby Englishmennaturally deemedmonstrous at thetime, doubtless gave the first latent prompting to mostimportant reforms in theBritish Navy. Thus the sceneis set,and thoughMelville uses a cool pen,he is the Melvilleof old; his heartstill beats quickly for the men in the heat and sweatof the hold."7 The main characterof the piece,Billy Budd, is regardedjudi- ciouslyby Melville. He is "at leastin aspect"the "Handsome Sailor . . . a superiorfigure of [his] own class [accepting]the spontaneous homage of his shipmates . . . a nautical Murat" perhaps. He could be "Ashore . . . the champion; afloat the spokesman; on every suit- able occasionalways foremost." Billy Budd couldbe all thesethings, but he failsactually to becomethem. Physicallyhe is well suited for the role,but he is foundwanting mentally. Unperceptive,in fear of authority,extremely naive, sufferingthe tragicfault of a " Mumford,op. cit., p. 338, says: "Billy Budd contain[s] the earlierthemes of . . . [Melville's] life, now transformedand resolved." " Melvillehad once beforeused a seeminglyimpartial pen. "BenitoCereno" is a tale of irony. 17 It is instructiveto observe how Melville reworkedhis backgroundsource, The Naval Historyof Great Britain,by the Britishnaval historian,William James,into a de- fenseof the mutinyingsailors at Spitheadand Nore (Freeman,op. cit., pp. 39-40). Melville'sFinal Stage, Irony I33 stammerin momentsof stress,Billy Budd cannot qualify as a spokesman.Melville lets us know thisearly in thestory, and keeps remindingus that"welkin-eyed" Billy is nicknamed"Baby Budd," and is "youngand tender"with a "lingeringadolescent expression." He is "a novice in the complexitiesof factiouslife," so simple- mindedthat when asked by an officerabout his place of birth,he replies, "Please, Sir, I don't know. . . . But I have heard that I was foundin a prettysilk-lined basket hanging one morningfrom the knockerof a good man's door in Bristol." Melville warnsus that Billy Budd "is not presentedas a conventionalhero." Melvilleregards Billy fondly, admiringly in manyrespects, but critically. He remindsus of Billy's limitationsthroughout the tale,so when Billyutters those famous words, "God bless Captain Vere,"the reader should be qualifiedto evaluatethose words in the mouthof the speaker. Billyis an ironicfigure, as is CaptainVere. Scholarly,retiring, ill at ease with people,"Starry" Vere is in commandof a ship at war. Painfullyaware of the evil in Claggart,and pronouncing Billy'skilling of him the blow of an "angel," Vere nevertheless forcesthrough the death sentenceagainst Billy. A studentof philosophy,he ironicallyrules out all inquiryinto the motivesfor Billy's act and insiststhat he be triedfor strikingand killinga pettyofficer, an approachthat can only resultin Billy's hanging underthe naval code. At hearta kind man, Vere, strangeto say, makes possiblethe depravedClaggart's wish-the destructionof Billy. "God bless CaptainVere!" Is thisnot piercingirony? As innocentBilly utters these words, does not thereader gag? The in- justiceof Billy'shanging is heightenedby his ironicblessing of the ironicVere. Herein lies the literaryimportance of the tale. The aged Mel- ville had developed a new weapon in his lifelongfight against injustice. CharlesR. Andersonput it verywell: The earlierMelville would have railedagainst the "evil" of sucha system[the hanging of Billy],and the"inhumanity" ofVere being will- ing to serveas a vehicleof it.... This is the wonder,the thingthat makesBilly Bitdd significant,since Melville discovered so littlealong 134 AmericanLiterature thisline-that irony is a subtlerand finerdevice for the fiction writer thanheadlong attack on socialabuses.'8 BillyBudd givesus added proofof Melville'sgreat capacity for growthas a writer. However,his developmentof a new tool had its ironic counterpartin Melville criticism;many criticsmistook Melville'sirony for a change in his thinking,rather than a richer developmentin his craft. F. Barron Freeman,rejecting the "Testamentof acceptance" theory,has substitutedthe "Recognitionof necessity"theory. In an intensivestudy of the aged Melville'sthought, Freeman finds "a calm acceptanceof thenecessity of earthlyimperfection and original sin." In Billy,Freeman sees a "Christianhero" practicingresigna- tion and achievingfinal, heavenly reward. To Freemanthe "im- portance. . . in the tale of BillyBudd lies in the optimisticway in whichit suggestsan acceptanceof Fate."'9 Thus it becomesclear that Freeman's "Recognition of necessity" theoryis not greatlydifferent from the older "Testamentof accept- ance" theory. In both cases the rebelliousMelville ends his days "chastenedand subdued." Gone are the mad tossingsof the Pequod, mooredare the homesicksoliloquies of Starbuck,in ashes are the beautifulwild firesof the "hot old man,"Ahab. The aged Melville became reconciled. To Watson,Weir, Mumford,Sedg- wick,and Thorp,it was achievedin bitterness.To Freemanit came happilyin a rediscoveryof traditionalreligious faith. In finallyap- proving"the religious concept of earthlyimperfection and heavenly goodness"the old sea dog had foundhis comfortableniche at the ancestralhearth. But Melville'scomplex tale offersa quitedifferent themefor analysis as well.20 "From his criticalcomments upon readingthis paper. ProfessorAnderson had begun approachingthe ironyin Billy Buiddin his article,"The Genesisof Billy Btudd,"Amneri- can Literatture,XII, 329-346 (Nov., 1940). 19 Freeman, op. Cit., pp. II5-I24. 20 Since this paper was begun,one critichas attackedthe "Testamentof acceptance" theory,while anotherhas attackedFreeman's "Recognition of necessity"theory. Richard Chase says: ". . . it is my impressionthat Melville made his definitivemoral statement in Moby Dick, The ConfidenceMan, and Clarel, and that the moral situationin Billy Budd is deeply equivocal." Sce his article,"Dissent on Billy Budd," PartisanReview, XV, I212-I2T8 (Nov., I948). Alfred Kazin, discussingFreeman's interpretation,says: "F. BarronFreeman . . . tries to blunt Melville's sharp edge. . . . did Melville make throughBilly's rapturousdeath an affirmationof Christianbelief? . . . In 'Billy Budd,' he [Melville] had obviouslyagreed to accept the whole mysteriouscreation at last, with the wearinessof an old man for whom all questionsof justiceend in death. . . . But it does not follow from this that he forgaveGod for just possiblynot existing." See his review,"Ishmael in His AcademicHeaven," New Yorker,Feb. 12, I949, 84-89. Melville'sFinal Stage, Irony 135 Freemansees in "the calm descriptionof Billy'sascension" Mel- ville'sconsidered judgment of "hope and triumphin death.... )21 Again, style,tone, and formare mistakenfor content. For Billy's triumphis not personal;it is social,and so of thisworld. As Billystands on deck withthe rope aroundhis neck,"A meek shylight appeared in the East, wherestretched a diaphanousfleece of whitefurrowed vapor. That lightslowly waxed... ." Aboutto die, Billy,who could not conceiveof malice or ill will, offershis humblebenediction to Vere. And herethe main point of Melville's ironictale is revealed. The sailors,brought on deck to witnessthe hanging,echo Billy'swords. "Withoutvolition as it were, as if indeedthe ship'spopulace were the vehiclesof some vocal current electric,with one voice fromalow to aloft,came a resonantsym- patheticecho-'God blessCaptain Vere.'" But thisis not intended forVere, for: "yet at thatinstant Billy alone musthave been in their hearts,even as he was in theireyes." The men blessedBilly, not Vere,with the words "God blessCaptain Vere." Though hangedas a criminal,Billy is lovinglyremembered for his martyrdom.The bluejacketskeep trackof the spar fromwhich Billy was suspended. "Knowledge followedit fromship to dock-yardand again from dock-yardto ship,still pursuing it even when at last reducedto a meredock-yard boom. To thema chip of it was as a piece of the Cross." Billy dies in helplessdefeat only to becomeironically re- incarnatedas a livingsymbol for all sailors. And finallyBilly is immortalizedin a ballad composedby his shipmates. It is a tenderballad, mournfuland affectionate,and singsof identificationof all sailorswith Billy. . . . Throughthe port comes the moon-shine astray! ... But 'twilldie in thedawning of Billy'slast day. A jewel-blockthey'll make of me to-mnorrowv, ... Likethe ear-drop I gave to BristolMolly- ... Sure,a messmatewill reachme thelast parting cup; Heavenknows who willhave the running of me up! ButDonald he has promisedto standby the plank; So I'll shakea friendlyhand ere I sink. ... Sentry,are you there? Justease thesedarbies at thewrist, And rollme overfair. I am sleepy,and theoozy weeds about me twist. 21 Freeman,op. Cit., pp. 125-126. 136 AmericanLiterature Thus Billybecomes-under Melville's ironic pen-something he neverintended becoming: a symbolto all bluejacketsof theirhard- ship and camaraderie. He stammeredin life,but spoke clearlyin death. So ends Melville'slast book, with the sailorssinging "Billie in theDarbies," honoring him as one of theirown. In thissong Mel- ville sings to bewilderedWellingsborough of Redburn; to Jack Chase, the GreatHeart of White-jacket;to Steelkiltof Moby-Dick, to all the breathing,bleeding charactershe ever put on paper. In BillyBudd, Melvillepresents a pictureof depravitysubduing virtue,but not silencingit. Billyis sacrificed,but his ballad-singing mates seize upon this as a symbolof theirlives. They neverac- ceptednatural depravity as victor,and. they lived to see the end of impressment. Melvilleknew that. He wrotethe story of mutiniesin the Brit- ish Navy almosta full centuryafter they took place. He had the tremendousadvantage of historicalperspective, a fact almost all criticshave overlooked. By i888 one could correctlyevaluate the eventsof i797. Melville could appreciatethe legacy of the im- pressedBilly Budds and theirmates: "the Great Mutiny,though by Englishmennaturally deemed monstrousat the time,doubtless gave the firstlatent prompting to most importantreforms in the BritishNavy." Billy Budd, forciblyremoved from the ship Rights-of-Man, helped bring the rightsof man to the seamen of His Majesty's Navy. His shipmatesaboard H.M.S. In2domitablemade thispossible, along with the generationsof seafaringmen who followed.