The Life of Herman Melville
by Joe Martens
Herman Melville was born on August 1, 1819, in New York City. His father was a merchant in New York, and his mother
was from a socially prominent family. Herman remained in the city until the time of his father’s death, eleven years later. At this
time Melville tried his hand in many odd jobs to support himself. He helped an uncle on a farm in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was
a clerk in his brother’s hat store, worked as a bank clerk, and even taught school at three different locations. It was his next
job, though, in which Herman seemed to “find his calling.” In 1837 he was a cabin boy on a merchant ship which sailed to
Liverpool, England.
This voyage was the first of many excursions at sea for Melville. He enjoyed being aboard the ships, and he eventually enjoyed
writing about them. In fact, many of the experiences he encountered on these trips can directly, as well as indirectly, be seen in
many of his novels and short stories, including Billy Budd, Sailor. His time spent on the way to Liverpool was described in the
novel Redburn.
On January 3, 1841, Melville signed on as a tar on the Acushnet, a whaling ship set to sail the Pacific Ocean. This event was
probably the most influential on his writing career, because experiences from this trip were recounted in a number of his works,
including his most famous, Moby Dick. This novel is based on the hunt for Moby Dick, a white whale which was supposedly
known to the whalers of the time period.
On one of his voyages, Melville and a shipmate deserted their ship and voyaged to the valley of the Typees. This Polynesian
tribe was greatly feared with a reputation of cannibalism. Melville found that the people he encountered were actually very
friendly, and they became the topic of the novel Typee. After a month living with the Typees, he set sail again.
His next trip brought him to Tahiti. This was another important part of his literary career because two of his major works are
represented. Melville traveled extensively while on the island, and his life at this time is described in the novel Omoo. Billy
Budd, Sailor also has representation in this trip. While in Tahiti he was put injail for several days as an accused mutineer. In this
sense, Melville was Billy Budd.
On August 17, 1843, Melville enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an “ordinary seaman” with the purpose of sailing back to the east
coast. He was stationed on the warship United States and finally returned to Boston in October 1844. His long voyage around
South America is recounted in the novel White-Jacket.
There were aspects of Melville’s life in Billy Budd, Sailor which did not deal with his travels on the sea. The most important
would have to involve his son. On September 11, 1867, Melville’s son, Malcom, committed suicide. Melville thought that this
was partly due to the fact that he was not a good father. In Billy Budd, Sailor Billy Budd looked up to Captain Vere as a
father figure. In this story Melville is attempting to make a connection that he could not make in his own life.
Melville’s popularity was very unstable during his lifetime. Early in his career he was considered one of the best writers of his
time. It was books such as Typee and Omoo which satisfied his readers. Ironically, the work which he is most famous for now,
Moby Dick, is the one which brought him the most criticism during his time, and his reputation actually declined. He followed
his great work with the novel, Pierre. This pessimistic novel caused many of his followers to desert him. They were used to his
adventures described in his previous work, and many thought that he had simply gone mad with the publication of this tragedy.
Melville died on September 28, 1891. It was not until 1924, though, that Billy Budd, Sailor, was published. Since that time it
has often been thought of as Melville’s second greatest novel, next to Moby Dick.
Hillway, Tyrus. Herman Melville Revised Edition. Twayne Publishers. 1979.
Howard, Leon. Herman Melville. A Biography. University of California Press. 1951.
Parker, Hershel. Reading Billy Budd. Northwestern University Press. 1990.
A Peek Into the Life of Herman Melville and the Historical Relevance to Billy Budd
written by Cheyenne E. Batista
As with many great works of literature, it is important to become familiar with the author’s life and time period in which he or
she lived. This understanding helps to clarify the significance and meaning of his or her work. In many ways, Billy Budd depicts
issues of importance to Herman Melville with both direct and indirect parallels to the time of the Civil War and to particular
individuals of Melville’s life. Important to the creation of Billy Budd were the war, current politics, slavery, and even the
assassination of President Lincoln. This paper intends to identify the analogous relationship between these incidences and the
particular individuals of Melville’s life that inspired him to write Billy Budd.
Melville seems to have lived a life that was inevitably centered around war and politics. His grandparents were fighters during
the Revolutionary War and Melville was of age 42 when the Civil War erupted. Melville also spent a large part of his life as a
sailor. Although he never participated in the war in any official capacity, we see evidence of how the Civil War was of glaring
significance in his life by examining Billy Budd and most of his other works.
Politics were an important factor in the life of Herman Melville. Although he was known to never vote, he held tenaciously to his
socio-political opinions. During that time, it was common for politics to be a big topic of family discussion as common political
beliefs were strengtheners of the American family. Around then, major dissension existed between the Democrats and the
Republicans. Also, families lived and behaved according to a particular faction’s ideals. The Melville family generally shared the
same political beliefs.
Melville was a private and secretive man, which makes it difficult for researchers to specifically define his own political
ideology. The majority of the personal letters he received were thrown away. If he ever kept a journal, its whereabouts is
unknown. It is known, however, that he and his family were Democrats and supported the Union. While he had a great respect
for Southerners, he disagreed with slavery and unjust treatment of others. He strongly opposed Republican views.
The Civil War affected more than just his political ideals. Religiously speaking, it appears as if Melville was suffering an internal
religious struggle of sorts. As could be expected with any religious person that lives through a war, he came to question God
and His existence. His religious beliefs were being put to a test. He grew to believe that God was cold and indifferent for
allowing the disparities of war to take place. We will see later how the struggle between the good and evil within him parallels
the struggle depicted throughout Billy Budd
Also significant to Melville’s thoughts on the Civil War were his views on the advancement of technology. He distrusted
progress and, in many ways, wanted to hold on to the past. He enjoyed the days of the sailors and attempted to recreate them
in his literary works. He tried to communicate these sentiments to a large audience through his writings with hopes that others
would grow to share his belief He knew that technological advancements would force those saiormen days to disappear and
lived to see his predictions come true.
One important influence on Melville during his life was General George Brinton McClellan. Melville was impressed by his
political character and his heroic acts during the war. McClellan exemplified outstanding leadership tactics during a crucial time
of battle. Most captivating to Melville was his charm and attractiveness that made people want to follow and listen to him. This
directly parallels Billy Budd the “Handsome Sailor” who the other sailors naturally loved. He was attractive and personable and
it is believed that this is representative of Melville’s perception of McClellan.
Another important political figure in Melville’s life that closely parallels a character in Billy Budd is General Morgan Dix. Similar
to the relationship between Billy Budd and Captain Vere, Melville had reason to both hate and love Dix. Showing two faces of
love
and betrayal, Dix used under-the-table influence to help Melville. It was that same influence, however, that required him to
make a harsh decision and act against him. Vere, who grew to love Billy was also responsible for calling the trial which led to
Billy’s execution.
The persecution suffered by a man named William E. Ormsby represents Billy’s execution. Ormsby, after being seduced by a
couple of women and becoming drunk. allowed himself to be captured, causing officials to question his allegiance to the Union
cause. He was tried and ordered to be executed in front of the entire brigade. Chaplain Charles A. Humphreys prayed beside
him and Ormsby was then shot to death as he sat on his coffin. This form of punishment had huge impact on the other men and
obviously impressed Melville. It is apparently a direct parallel to the trial and execution of Billy Budd.
One notable aspect of Billy Budd is the analogy between a major theme of the story and the impact that the Booth brothers
hnd on Melville. Edwin Booth, brother to John Wilkes Booth (convicted of murdering Abraham Lincoln) came to play in
Melville’s life whcn a painting that he did inspired the writing of a poem that was grieving the assassination of President Lincoin.
Melville found it fascinating that while one brother was contributing to paying respects to the late President, the other was being
convicted of murdering him.
This representation of good and evil stirred up thoughts in Melville’s imagination. We see evidence of this in his characters the
master-at-arms of the Rights-of-Man (who represents good) and the master-at-arms of the Beliipotent, his symbolic brother.
One of the major themes of Billy Budd was the ideological struggle between good and evil or Christ and Satan.
Here we have a multitude of evidence that says that Billy Budd, overall, deals with the struggle between good and evil and how
it relates to the war and politics of that time. There are several different things going on at once in this story, which makes it
difficult to truly recognize Melville’s intent. Melville was known for his ambiguous style of writing. This ambiguity, however, is
viewed more as a complex literary style than an intellectual shortcoming on Melville’s behalf.
It is interesting to note that Melville uses Satan as more than a mere symbol of evil. He personifies war through Billy Budd and
the spirit of evil that emerges during wartime also comes to life. The Civil War World of Herman Melville by Stanton Garner
suggests that even Billy’s speech impediment is symbolic of original sin. It is proof that Satan is within Billy, despite his aura of
perfection. His inability to express himself causes him to commit a deadly crime. Melville feels that virtuous people, when they
partake in war, are bringing evil upon themselves by advocating ungodly acts. By subjecting himself to the ordination of the
Bellipotent, Billy opened the door to evil, which, consequently, led to his persecution. In all of his writings, Melville correlates
political, moral, and religious philosophies.
One final aspect of Melville’s life we should discuss is his sentiments on slavery. Naturally, citizens of that time had distinct
opinions about the “peculiar institution” of the South. Melville sympathized with the slaves who were subject to the evils of this
institution and did not condemn them for insubordination whenever they rebelled against unjust treatment.
This is lightly depicted in Billy Budd when the sailors who mutinied at Spithead and the Nore were later praised by the British
nation. Consider, also, his decision to name one of the ships the Rights of Man. All of the names of the ships in Billy Budd bore
significance. Lastly, the sailors in his literary works are not portrayed as inferior. It is also important to understand that Captain
Vere reveals Melville’s resentment for those that observe and command their subordinates from a location too far away for
them to feel what the others are feeling.
Towards the end of Melville’s life, he began to see newer technology develop. These years marked the creation of electric
lights, telephones and elevated railways. Melville was slowly saying “goodbye” to his sailorman days. His hopes that the world
would view advancement in the destructive way he perceived it to be were shattered. As The Civil War World mentioned the
parallel, “like the death of Billy Budd in Herman’s last romance, it takes its significance from the mystery of life, from the
existential beauty of youth in its heedless and vigorous dreamlike march toward its starry end,” Melville died with his goal
unreached, despite his attempts to communicate to Americans through creative literature. Herman Melville’s Billy Budd offers
us insightful thoughts about the struggle between good vs. evil, Christ vs. Satan, subordination vs. insubordination, advancement
vs. stagnation and manages to correlate them all in one novel.
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Herman Melville
Herman Melville (1819 –1891) was an American novelist, essayist and poet. During his lifetime, his early novels were popular, but his popularity declined later in his life. By the time of his death he had nearly been forgotten, but his masterpiece, Moby-Dick (which during his life was largely considered a failure, and responsible for Melville's drop in popularity at the time), was "rediscovered" in the 20th century.
Moby-Dick is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville. It describes the ill-fated voyage of the whaling ship Pequod to find and destroy the eponymous white whale, driven by the obsessive Captain Ahab. The language is highly symbolic and many themes run throughout the work. The narrator's reflections, along with complex descriptions of the grueling work of whaling and personalities of his shipmates, are woven into a profound meditation on hubris, providence, nature, society, and the human struggle for meaning, happiness, and salvation. Moby-Dick is often considered the epitome of American Romanticism.
The novel was first published by Richard Bentley in London on 18 October 1851 as an expurgated three-volume edition entitled The Whale, then as a single volume by Harper and Brothers, as Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, in New York on 14 November 1851. Although the book initially received mostly negative reviews, Moby-Dick is now considered to be one of the greatest novels in the English language, and has secured Melville's reputation in the first rank of American writers. The first line of the book ("Call me Ishmael") may be one of the most famous in American literature. Interestingly, the titles of many of the chapters in the table of contents differ slightly from the chapter-titles as they appear in the text.
The novel is dedicated to Melville's friend and literary mentor, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Historical Background
There were two factual occurrences that almost certainly inspired Melville's tale. One was the sinking of the Nantucket whaling ship Essex, which foundered in 1820 after it was attacked by an 80-ton sperm whale 2,000 miles (3,700 km) from the western coast of South America. First mate Owen Chase, one of eight survivors, recorded the events as the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. There was also a real-life albino sperm whale, known as Mocha Dick, that lived near the island of Mocha off Chile's southern coast, several decades before Melville wrote his book. Jeremiah N. Reynolds had written an account of Mocha Dick's battle with a ship. Mocha Dick, like Moby Dick in Melville's story, escaped countless times from the attacks of whalers, whom he would often attack with premeditated ferocity, and consequently had dozens of harpoons in his back. Mocha Dick was eventually killed in the 1830s. Thus, it seems highly probable that Melville used Mocha Dick as the basis for his book. It's been suggested that Melville changed the name "Mocha" to "Moby" in 1846, four years before the novel was published, after meeting an old South Seas shipmate, Richard Tobias Green. A familiar version of Green's first names was probably Dick Toby, where Melville may have gotten Moby-Dick.
The third and perhaps most important element was Melville's experiences as a sailor, and in particular on his voyage on the whaler Acushnet in 1841–1842. Melville left no other account of his career as a whaler, so it is unclear how much of Moby-Dick was inspired by Melville's whaling cruise.
The novel contains large portions that have nothing to do with the plot but are descriptive chapters on aspects of the whaling business. Melville believed that no book up to that time had portrayed the whaling business as he had first-handedly experienced it, or had done so in dry and uninspired encyclopedic prose. Melville had been greatly influenced from an early age by Romantic writers such as Sir Walter Scott, Washington Irving, Lord Byron and others. His intention was to write a book that was compelling, emotionally and poetically vivid in the style of Romanticism, but also educational and "true of the thing"—indeed it was believed among Romanticists of this period that fiction was the ultimate vehicle for describing and recording history, such as many see film or photos today.
Characters
Ishmael
Ishmael is the name the narrator of Moby-Dick gives for himself (the novel famously begins with the sentence, "Call me Ishmael."). It is unclear whether or not this is his actual name, though it is implied that it is an alias. A seasoned sailor but a newcomer to whaling, Ishmael is, at the end of the novel, the only survivor of the destruction of the Pequod.
As a narrator, Ishmael's role varies widely. Initially, his is the only narrative, but after the Pequod leaves port, he variously fades and comes back to full prominence, an oscillation that occurs several times before the epilogue.
The name Ishmael stems from that of the first son of Abraham in the Old Testament. The biblical Ishmael was born to Abraham's wife Sarah's slave Hagar and Abraham because he believed his wife, Sarah, to be infertile; when she was granted a son (Isaac) by God, Ishmael and his mother were turned out of Abraham's household. The name has come to symbolize orphans, exiles, and social outcasts—in the opening paragraph of Moby-Dick, Ishmael tells the reader that he has turned to the sea out of a feeling of alienation from human society. Ishmael has a rich literary background (he has previously been a schoolteacher), which he brings to bear on his shipmates and events that occur while at sea.
Ishmael resembles Melville in several ways (as well as the narrator of Melville's White-Jacket). They are well-educated and reflective; Ishmael sees his shipmates as avatars of human nature and society, and tells his story by couching it in a wealth of philosophical observation, (largely occurring during sections in which Ishmael takes an almost-omniscient viewpoint, conflating himself with his author).
Ahab
Ahab is the tyrannical captain of the Pequod who is driven by a monomaniacal desire to kill Moby Dick, the whale to whom he lost his leg. Ahab believes he is fated to kill Moby Dick and lives for this purpose alone. Ahab's name may be inspired by the biblical King Ahab, who was tempted by his wealthy wife Jezebel to stray from worshipping God alone, just as Ahab was lured by the material world into a quest which ultimately deprived him of his humanity.
Moby Dick
Moby Dick is a white sperm whale of extraordinary ferocity, but also possessed of ineffable strength, mystery, and power. The color white is explored in the chapter "The Whiteness of the Whale". It calls into question the meaning of the chapters on cetology. The whale clearly represents many things, perhaps including nature, providence, fate, and God himself.
Melville spelled the whale's name without a hyphen, but used a hyphen in the title of the book.
Symbolism
All of the members of the Pequod's crew have biblical-sounding, improbable or descriptive names, and the narrator deliberately avoids specifying the exact time of the events and some other similar details. These together suggest that perhaps we should understand the narrator — and not just Melville — to be deliberately casting his tale in an epic and allegorical mode.
Ahab's desire to pursue Moby Dick is contrasted with Starbuck's desire to run a normal commercial whaling ship. It can be seen as the clash of idealism and pragmatism. The white whale itself, for example, has been read as symbolically representative of good and evil, as has Ahab. The white whale has also been seen as a metaphor for the elements of life that are out of our control, or God.
The Pequod's quest to hunt down Moby Dick itself is also widely viewed as allegorical. To Ahab, killing the whale becomes the ultimate goal in his life, and this observation can also be expanded allegorically so that the whale represents everyone's goals. Furthermore, his vengeance against the whale is analogous to man's struggle against fate. The only escape from Ahab's vision is seen through the Pequod's occasional encounters with other ships, called gams. Readers could consider what exactly Ahab will do if he, in fact, succeeds in his quest: having accomplished his ultimate goal, what else is there left for him to do? Thus, the outcome of the quest is irrelevant, and actually completing the journey is not the goal; the "thrill of the chase" is what is important to Ahab. Similarly, Melville may be implying that people in general need something to reach for in life, or contrariwise that such a goal can destroy one if allowed to overtake all other concerns.
Ahab's pipe is widely looked upon as the riddance of happiness in Ahab's life. By throwing the pipe overboard, Ahab signifies that he no longer can enjoy simple pleasures in life; instead, he dedicates his entire life to the pursuit of his obsession, the killing of the white whale, Moby Dick.
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Herman Melville: 1819-1891
Works Cited
Baym, Nina, editor. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Volume B. NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003.
Lauter, Paul, Editor. The Heath Anthology of American Literature: Volume B. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company., 2006.
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