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Herman Melville was a struggling writer in the mid- 1800 s, who spent a few years of his life as a sailor and crew member of whaling ships in the south seas. These experiences greatly influenced his writing, causing there to be many similarities among his novels. In two of his works, Moby-Dick, and Billy Budd, Melville seems to have created two characters, Captain Ahab from Moby-Dick, and John Claggart from Billy Budd, who both share some very comparable qualities and experiences. The most prevalent characteristic that links them together is that in their stories, they both possess an unrelenting and somewhat foolish hatred for another character. This is the hatred that drives the climax of both novels, and ultimately leads to both of their ends. The novel Moby-Dick is a tale of the voyage of the whaling ship the Pequod, where its captain, Ahab, begins his dangerous and relentless pursuit of the legendary whale, Moby-Dick.
The reason for Ahab's hatred for the white whale seems quite simple, in that the whale took his leg, but with the leg, it might have taken his peace of mind as well. The loss of Ahab's leg, which ordinarily might have caused only minor resentment toward the creature, seems to have stirred up some of the most dreadful hatred and abhorrence in Ahab that a human could possess. His obsession with killing this whale even convinces one of his crew members, Starbuck, that he has gone insane. However, to fully understand Captain Ahab's detestation of the whale, it is necessary to look deeper than the fact that it bit off his leg. Moby-Dick is described as a creature superior to all others, creating a reverence and mysterious beauty for it that Ahab wants to destroy. When describing this to his crew members he says, He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice singing it.
That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate (Melville 358). Ahab then uses this hatred to devote his life to killing Moby-Dick. Death to Moby-Dick! God hunt us all, if we do not hunt Moby-Dick to his death! (Melville 360).
It is with these enthusiastic words that Ahab tries to stir up in his crew members the passion in which he feels to take down the whale. However, what they realize, that Ahab does not, is the danger of that mission. The story of Billy Budd also takes place on a ship, as do many of Melville's novels. It is set during the end of the eighteenth century, when the British Empire was being threatened by France. During this time, the British navy was very short-handed, and relied on impressments to try maintain its roster. The main and title character, Billy Budd, is originally a sailor on the merchant ship, the Rights-of- Man, until he is forced into impressment on the naval ship, the Bellipotent.
Billy is very well-liked on his original ship, and when he begins his servitude on the Bellipotent, his friendliness and likeability carry on. However, there is one character aboard that ship who does not take kindly to Billy at all: the master-at-arms, John Claggart. Claggart's absolute hatred and animosity toward Billy is never explicitly explained, but many assumptions can be made about it. One of these ideas is that since Billy is so well-liked among the crew, and Claggart is not, Claggart feels a sort of envy toward Billy. Billy is also described as a beautiful man, and is also very physically powerful, which puts him in a position of reverence and awe toward the other crew members. It is probably because of Claggart's resentment of this impression he makes upon his crew, and the other wholesome qualities that Billy possesses, that he himself would never possess, that makes him hate Billy.
Nevertheless, whatever causes Claggart to dislike Billy, creates a desire in Claggart to ruin him. To carry this out, he then recruits another character, Squeak, to ruin Billy's work, and eventually goes to the captain of the Bellipotent, Captain Vere, accusing Billy of being behind a mutiny plot. However, falsely accusing Billy does not turn out to be the best way in which to avenge him. It is very easy to link Captain Ahab and Claggart together, by looking at the fact that they both devote their lives to ruining another, out of pure hatred toward that other being.
However, to be able to understand the meaning behind their hatred is the only way to see the deepest similarities in their nature. Captain Ahab and John Claggart, alike, are very simple people, leading rather simple lives. They live and work on a ship, do not seem to have a family life, or many friends. Therefore, when they come into contact with a being with magnificent and remarkable qualities, they develop a resentment toward that being. With Ahab, it is the large and powerful whale, and with Claggart, it is the handsome, affable sailor. It is then with the undertaking of their feelings of hatred, creating plots to destroy their despised character, that leads to the most dramatic and ironic similarity that Ahab and Claggart share.
It is that when both of them are in the position of finally taking down their enemy, it is their enemy who ends up receiving the final retribution. Just as Ahab stabs Moby-Dick with his harpoon, nearly claiming victory over the whale, he becomes entangled up in his own rope and is plunged to his death into the rapid waters below. Also, in Billy Budd, when Claggart finally puts Billy in a position that would surely ruin him, condemning him with lies to his face, Billy defends himself in the only way he knows how, and with one deadly blow, Claggart is slain. With both of them killed, it is plain to see what empty and meaningless lives they had created for themselves, and thus left behind, by hating another creature more magnificent than they could ever wish to be.
Two of Herman Melville's characters, Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick, and John Claggart in Billy Budd, live their lives hating another creature. This hatred becomes so intense, that they devote themselves to attempt to destroy that creature, at any cost. However, what they both do not realize, is that that cost will be their own peace of mind, and ultimately, their own lives. They end up nearly driving themselves to madness by the desire to ruin another, caused by a sort of envy they feel toward that individual. Their envy is rather complex, but can be simplified in that the reason for Ahab hating the whale Moby-Dick, and Claggart hating the sailor Billy Budd, is that Moby-Dick and Billy both exhibit qualities of magnificence and strength, that Ahab and Claggart do not. Then, in the end, the strength of the whale and Billy of which they both abhor, is ironically the cause of both of their deaths.
It is with these connections of spirit, personality, and experience in Captain Ahab and John Claggart, that best display the similarities between these Herman Melville characters.
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Research essay sample on Herman Melville Similarities In Claggart And Captain Ahab
