Jack Chase in Budd and Vere
Hardeman
assume what is meant is "duty" which is contrasted to heart. I wonder
if you would tackle Claggart in the light of Melville's theory on
consistent characters.
Phil's musings about why the narrator is not telling us a part of the
inside narrative might be considered as a consequence of Melville's
evolution from the original poem to what was found unfinished in the
box. He had not yet decided or could not.
The inconsistency of the narrator is not bothersome to me because
Melville had not completed his text and as the narrator can be
considered as his own perspective, "in real life, a consistent
character is a <rara avis>."
We should remember that Melville dedicated Billy Budd to Jack Chase who
exhibited the idealized qualities of both Budd and Vere. One can make a
case that the Billy Budd text is a reduction of the man Jack Chase into
his constituent character "sections." If you consider the following,
you may possibly see an inside story here too.
In White Jacket Jack was so glorified that he is the only character on
the frigate who Melville addresses using his real name. In Chapters 4
and 5 he is described as loved by crew and officers like Budd and well
read in classic literature like Vere. Even more importantly as relates
to Budd, "[Chase] Though bowing to naval discipline afloat; yet ashore,
he was a stickler for the Rights of Man"
In Chapter 5 Jack deserts the Neversink and joins the Peruvian Navy as
an officer and is recaptured. Amazingly he is welcomed back without
punishment and reinstated in his old position with the captains good
will. You may remember that Captain employed flogging often yet with
this well respected sailor he did not. Now that reality from
Melville's formative period strikes me as the significant image in
Melville's mind as he sat developing his characters from a poem about
a sailor who accepts his fate and is immortalized.
Melville's personal relationship with his ideal man seems a much more
powerful force than abstract political or religious perspectives he may
have been attracted to. Melville understood Vere's sense of duty as
well as Chase's but for his own reason he made Vere take the extreme
position (like the captain on the Somers which was also on his mind).
He was well aware that at the Mutiny at the Nore many of the captains
chose not to punish anyone on their ship because the leaders of the
mutiny were their best men. Other captains, who had less confidence
perhaps, punished large numbers of their crew. So Melville had a
choice as to how he modeled Vere.
Taking Parker's cautions into account and considering John Winke's
demonstration in the evolution of the text, Melville contrasted Budd
with Claggart before he even developed Vere as a character. It appears
he was exploring why he himself contrasted with his idealized Jack. If
you reread White Jacket's Jack Chase chapters, perhaps you too will
see the linkage.
It is my understanding that Melville's dedications are often a key to
understanding what follows. This is much like how Shakespeare opens his
plays with a hint of what is coming.
Hardeman