"Billy Budd" is an allegory of a young seaman who strikes and kills a superior officer when the officer’s cruelty and treachery become unbearable. The focus of the story is the debate over whether to execute the seaman (Billy Budd) for his crime. 

         With passionate and terrifying logic, Melville (through the voice of Captain Vere) demonstrates that human perfection is impossible – not because we humans are weak, but because perfection simply does not and cannot exist in this world. To make decisions based on our notion of "divine justice" is not only impractical and foolhardy, according to Melville, but even immoral.

CONTENTS:
Billy Budd
The Piazza Tales
     The Piazza
     Bartleby
     Benito Cereno
     The Lightning-Rod Man
     The Encantadas, or Enchanted Islands
     The Bell-Tower
The Town-Ho’s Story from Moby Dick