Billy Budd: A catharsis of the feelings of pity and fear
Billy’s fate certainly arouses our pity. The feeling of fear in our mind is aroused by Claggart when he shamelessly makes a complaint against Billy to Captain Vere. The feeling of fear is again aroused in our hearts when is Billy is put on trial. We await the outcome of the trial with trembling hearts. Then comes the verdict of the court-marshal, and this moves us to the deepest pity. Our pity for Billy reaches its climax with his hanging. Similarly, our hearts are moved to pity for Captain Vere when we are told of the suffering that he undergoes after the sentence of death has been pronounced against Billy.
Now, a catharsis or purgation of pity, fear, and the kindred emotions is also effected by this novel. The description of Billy’s hanging contains imagery, which is clearly symbolic. The imagery here suggests the Crucifixion and also the Ascension. When the noose round Billy’s neck is tightened, Billy’s body gives no shudder and Billy doesn’t gasp for breath. The complete absence of any spasmodic movement in Billy’s body at this time shows that Billy is no ordinary being. Billy must be a heavenly angel who had come to earth to accomplish a mission and after completion of the mission the celestial home. The birds, which flock to the spot where Billy’s body had been immersed and which circle the spot screaming, seem to represent nature’s lamentation over premature death of Billy. All more details, most of which represent Billy as a Christ-figure, produce in our minds a feeling of elation and exhilaration in which our distress and anguish are completely dissolved. In the final chapter we read an account of the glorification and deification of Billy; and we also learned that Billy has been immortalized in a ballad written by one of the sailors. This account also serves the same purpose as the symbolic description of Billy’s hanging and burial. The fate of Billy has thus an elevating and uplifting effect upon us.
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