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Works of Herman Melville: Character Analyses and Critical Commentary

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From: Monarch Notes
Date: 19630101
Author:Melville, Herman

Melville, Herman
Monarch Notes
01-01-1963
Character Analyses and Critical Commentary

Character Analyses

Billy Budd: A handsome, carefree, innocent foretopman aboard H.M.S.
Indomitable. Recently impressed into the King's service from the merchantman,
Rights of Man, where he had been the favorite of the crew and Captain
Graveling's "Jewel," twenty-one year old Billy is a superb specimen of
Anglo-Saxon manhood, tanned, healthy, and freehearted. He is, we are told, as
innocent of evil as Adam before the fall, and is compared to Hercules, Apollo,
and Alexander the Great. Billy is, however, cursed ...

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