Portrayed through the characters of his novella Billy Budd, Herman Melville reveals his feelings on society; he believes justice should prevail over evil, however, evil overcomes goodness and innocence. Each character defines a specific characteristic of society. Billy Budd represents goodness and innocence, Dansker represents wisdom, knowledge and understanding, Claggart represents evil, and finally Captain Vere, who portrays order and society as a whole. Each character significantly attributes one aspect of the unjust society, which …showed first 75 words of 942 total…

…showed last 75 words of 942 total…despite personal feelings. Vere’s job was to keep order within their society, just as order must be kept in any society. Herman Melville creates four, very unique characters which each portray a different aspect of society. Billy Budd is a portrayal of the injustice as a whole that lies within our society. It is evident in this short story that evil prevails over goodness, a point which Melville believes is true in our real