Claggart: The Guilty Of Crime In Billy Budd

“Had the foretopman been conscious of having done or said anything to provoke the ill will of the official, it would have been different with him, and his sight might have been purged if not sharpened. As it was, innocence was his blinder.” (17.4)

This passage can make the reader realize that Billy was indeed not guilty of this crime. A person so kind and happy committing this kind of crime could not be possible. Billy did not have any intentions on hurting anyone, he was provoked by Claggart. Claggart was the type of person to start problems and since he did not like Billy, he would try to pick on him the most and one day at Vere’s cabin, Billy had enough of Claggart telling people lies about him. After building up rage for so long, he felt the need to let everything out by hitting Claggart. Billy had no intend of killing him with that punch, he
This builds up the dilemma between the law and conscience. Laws is what keeps the society from falling apart and most people think of the law as something good for the society and that law is only used for good reasons. However, in some cases the law is unjust and could indeed affect someone's life. During the trial Vere uses many arguments that apply during the time of war. Billy's life was something very important and it was sacrificed for nothing. In many courts of law, there are many things that can carry the weight in the consideration of the action like motivation and intention. In this case the jury knows that Billy did not commit this crime on purpose, but they have to conform to Vere’s reliance on the military justice and they not take into account intention or motivation in this case. Not only did Billy's silence during the case made it worst, but the jury makes the decision on condemning an innocent person without even taking his situation into