Penguin popular classics BILLY BUDD,SAILOR COMPLETE AND UNABRI The last great work of Melville's.H.M.S.Bellipotent.
When Billy,a handsome,unjpretentious,stuttering young able-seaman,is falsely accused of inciting mutiny,he lashes out,kills his accuser and is condemde to die.Written in allusive and beautiful prose,many-layered,resonant with ideans and meanings,Billy Budd has inspierd drama,films and opera and continues to elude interpretation.
The main theme of the novel,however is generally conidered to be the vulnerabillity of innocence in a fallen world.Billy,a victim of one man's unnatural hatred,is the embodiment of goodness destuoyed by evil,but as 'the criminap pays the penalty of his crime',a greater justice comes into play.