"Billy Budd" by Herman Melville, comparison essay

One symbolic representation of Billy Budd is Captain Vere's death from a musket ball shot from a porthole. Captain Vere chooses law over emotion in the sentencing of Billy. The musket ball doesn't decide and doesn't favor whom it's going to kill. It's symbolic that the justice which killed Billy is the same justice which killed Vere. After Billy kills Claggart, Vere is faced with a cross-road. He thinks of Billy like a son. Though …

…over law. Irony shows within the story when the French's ship is interpreted as the "Atheist." Perhaps when Vere murmurs Billy's name, he's regretting his decision. The symbolic interpretation of Captain Vere's death from a musket ball shot from a porthole is the similarity of justice being served. His justice is blind as is the musket ball's. It is blind justice that kills him slowly while he is regretting choice he made about Billy Budd.