Why Voltaire and his Ideas are Critical to the Development of Major Themes in Billy Budd In describing Billy Budd's transfer to the Indomitable from the Rights of Man, Melville writes in regards to the latter vessel: That was the merchant ship's name; tho' by her master and crew abbreviated in sailor fashion into The Rights. ... (Foley, p. 163) Thus, what is of significance in Billy Budd is not so much the work of Voltaire the thinker as the role which that work had in unleashing events to which Voltaire would personally have been opposed. Voltaire in this regard could ...

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