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Why Was Billy Budd Be Punished

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Billy Budd was to be sentenced to death by hanging for killing Claggart by punching him in the face. Billy was also to be sentenced due to Claggart's suspicion of Billy trying to cause a mutiny. The fate of Billy Budd’s life was put into the hands of Captain Vere on whether Billy should be convicted and hanged. Captain Vere thought that Billy should be convicted for a numerous amount of reasons. One reason is Claggart came personally to Captain Vere to discuss an issue about Billy trying to cause a mutiny. Claggart’s main point was that is Billy really that innocent as everyone thinks. Another reason is Billy punches Claggart during a face to face meeting with Captain Vere with all of em. Claggart later dies and death is punishable by law. …show more content…
The punishment was not correct by any means. Billy Budd did not mean to kill Claggart but felt threatened by him during the confrontation. If anything, Claggart should have been the one punished in the first place because Claggart did not like Billy and wanted him gone. Being clueless, Billy is not aware that Claggart has hatred and envy towards him. Claggart did not like Billy due to his looks and the fact that everyone seemed to like Billy. However, there should have been an alternative course of action for Billy that would be not as cruel but more just. Killing Billy because he accidently killed Claggart is not right. Instead to have Billy learn from his mistake, his punishment should have been to sit in a cell for a whole month on the ship with little food in water to insure that the incident won't happen to anyone else. This punishment would help Billy in the end because he would become more aware of what is going on around him. Another alternative would have been to send him back to England to face a trial since know one there has any feelings towards Billy since they do not know him. In conclusion, Captain Vere’s reasoning led Billy to be prosecuted and hanged through a quick and speedy trial so that things would not get out of

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