Week 14: The Romantic Temper and the House Divided
Herman Melville
Study Guide 
(Return to the Week 14 Schedule)
 .
When Herman Melville died  in relative obscurity in 1891, his manuscript for Billy Budd, Foretopman, lay unfinished and remained unpublished until its discovery in the 20th century.  For the last decades of his life, Melville's most renowned works today had remained out of print; Moby Dick was no longer read, and his earliest works that had so entranced readers of the 1840's, Typee and Omoo, had been all but forgotten. 
. 
Today, Melville enjoys a place among the most important of the American nineteenth-century authors.  Like Hawthorne, Melville crafted complex allegorical tales that addressed universal moral and ethical dilemmas.  Billy Budd, Foretopman, explores the ethical justifications for sacrificiing the individual in support of the good of society. 
. 

Study Questions Over the Readings 
. 
Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd, Foretopman” 
1) Reconstruct the “Christ” symbolism in “Billy Budd, Foretopman.” 
2) What is the source of conflict in the story? 
3) What are Captain Vere’s options?  How does his decision reflect moral ambiguity? 
4) What would your verdict have been?  Why?  On what grounds would you sacrifice one “good” in deference to another “good”? 
5) What is the source of evil in “Billy Budd, Foretopman”? 

Basic Concepts Related to the Readings
.
Allegory 
American Literary Romanticism 
Contrasting Neo-Classical and Romantic Motifs 
Romantic Individualism 
 

. 

 
This page was last modified on August 27, 2004,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes.
.
.