Captain Veere Character Analysis

Captain Vere is the character that represents the way the society expects of the individual in dealing with issues that are past personal jurisdiction. Through this character, the author is able to portray the need for every individual in the society to put away personal perceptions, emotions, and feelings while dealing with social obligations. While prosecuting Billy, Vere literally decides to follow the letter of the law and fails to apply the sense that Billy is the personification of goodness and innocence. The pressure on his position as leaders makes Vere to totally disregard his feelings about Billy’s situation and as a result, emphasizes that the Mutiny Act be should be obeyed by all men in the society. He also goes ahead to urge the
The situation during Billy’s trial is actually contradicting to the readers. From the dramatic point of view, it is true that Vere Likes Billy but distrusts Claggart and thus never trusts Claggart’s accusations on Billy. At the point where Billy strikes Claggart, Vere sympathizes with Billy emotionally. Throughout the flow of the accusation against Billy, Vere, not at any single point does he come to believe that Billy has committed any terrible mistake. “….to argue would be insolence, and resistance would be mutiny.” (20.2) This is a very trying moment for Vere for he realizes that he must put away his emotions away. He realizes that he has to side with what the society expects and thus supports the Jurors to go on with the trial. The fact that he urges the jury to disregard their own feeling about Billy does not mean that his liking and sympathy have changed, but it is as a result of the pressures that the society has put on him to act independently of his inner emotions. He is the one who pushes the jurors to punish Billy according to the letter of the