How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Indeed, except as toned by the former, the comeliness and power, always attractive in masculine conjunction, hardly could have drawn the sort of honest homage the Handsome Sailor in some examples received from his less gifted associates. (1.4)
Here is the first of many passages that praises Billy largely based upon his looks. What is the narrator's obsession with Billy's physical appearance? Do you detect homoerotic overtones in this and similar passages? What might that mean for the overall narration?
Quote #2
Not that he preached to them or said or did anything in particular; but a virtue went out of him, sugaring the sour ones. (1.10)
What exactly does the narrator mean by the phrase "a virtue went out of him"? Is this just an instance of a man leading by example, a case of actions speaking louder than words? Or is there something more complex going on? Would Billy even be capable of articulating the virtuous message that he seems to be delivering to the men via his behavior? If not, what do you make of this?
Quote #3
But they were not so young as our foretopman, and now few of them must have known a hearth of some sort, others may have had wives and children left, too probably, in uncertain circumstances, and hardly any but must have had acknowledged kith and kin, while for Billy, as will shortly be seen, his entire family was practically invested in himself. (1.17)
How does the fact that Billy's "entire family was practically invested in himself" give the reader a sense of why he appears so good and confident? Why would being well-raised prepare Billy to be so well respected by a bunch of sailors? Why wouldn't jealousy be more common on board the Bellipotent?
Quote #4
Personal prudence, even when dictated by quite other than selfish considerations, surely is no special virtue in a military man; while an excessive love of glory, impassioning a less burning impulse, the honest sense of duty, is the first. (4.6)
The narrator here makes clear that he respects "an excessive love of glory" over "personal prudence." Are there any characters in the novel that you admire? If so, do you admire them for the same reasons that the narrator does? In what ways is "an excessive love of glory" revealed to be an admirable trait in the story? In what ways is it revealed to be less than an admirable trait?
Quote #5
One instance of such apprehension: In the same year with this story, Nelson, then Rear Admiral Sir Horatio, being with the fleet off the Spanish coast, was directed by the admiral in command to shift his pennant from the Captain to the Theseus; and for this reason: that the latter ship having newly arrived on the station from home, where it had taken part in the Great Mutiny, danger was apprehended from the temper of the men; and it was thought that an officer like Nelson was the one, not indeed to terrorize the crew into base subjection, but to win them, by force of his mere presence and heroic personality, back to an allegiance if not as enthusiastic as his own yet as true. (5.2)
In the description of Nelson offered above, does the military seem to exploiting natural admiration? What is the relationship between admiration and loyalty? Between admiration and a sense of duty and respect?
Quote #6
Yes, and sometimes the melancholy expression would have in it a touch of soft yearning, as if Claggart could even have loved Billy but for fate and ban. (17.2)
With lines like these, in general, be very wary of the fact that the narrator is reading quite a lot into a very simple expression of Claggart's. He thus is not actually describing what is there, but rather what he perceives to be there. That said, how might the possibility of love for Billy only fuel Claggart's hatred of him?
Quote #7
Loyal lieges, plain and practical, though at bottom they dissented from some points Captain Vere had put to them, they were without the faculty, hardly had the inclination, to gainsay one whom they felt to be an earnest man, one too not less their superior in mind than in naval rank. (21.39)
The narrator here explains why the members of the drumhead court fail to argue with Captain Vere. Namely, because they feel him to be "an earnest man," and because they recognize that he is "their superior in mind." Might such attitudes be called admiration? Is it possible to recognize that a person is earnest and not to admire them for it? How about recognizing that they're superior in mind?
Quote #8
Stooping over, he kissed on the fair cheek his fellow man, a felon in martial law, one whom though on the confines of death he felt he could never convert to a dogma; nor for all that did he fear for his future. (24.8)
What is it about Billy that inspires the chaplain's admiration? By eschewing (deliberately avoiding or refuting) dogma, is Billy an example of a man with a higher spiritual understanding or a lower one?
Quote #9
"God bless Captain Vere!" (25.2)
Here are Billy's last words before being hanged. Do you think that he utters these words out of admiration or out of pity? Does he utter them because he respects the decision that Captain Vere has made or because he realizes that Captain Vere is about to go half-mad with guilt?
Quote #10
Everything is for a term venerated in navies. Any tangible object associated with some striking incident of the service is converted into a monument. (30.1)
As often happens in the novel, the narrator seems to reserve a condescending tone for speaking of average sailors. Do you perceive this condescension? If so, what do you make of it? Can you admire men like Captain Vere if you don't admire the men that they rule over and serve? What about the naval life makes sailors particularly susceptible to idol worship?