ocean without the protection of the Bellipotent, and the Bellipotent cannot .
protect the Rights of Man if it does not impress sailors (Tucker 248). On the .
H.M.S. Bellipotent, Billy faces destruction from a force which he does not and .
cannot comprehend (Gilmore 18). Billy was snatched from a safe berth .
aboard the Rights of Man so that he could be made into an example, which .
would hopefully suppress the primitive instinct to rebel in the other crew .
members (Tucker 248). He lacks the sophistication and experience to "roll .
with the punches", forcing him to succumb to this hostile society. Unlike the .
shifting keel of the ship, he cannot lean both ways, one way toward his .
natural innocence and trustfulness and the other toward the evil and conspiracy .
in society, causing him to break apart and sink (Gilmore 18). It can also be .
interpreted that Billy is the true civilizer, for while the war in which the .
H.M.S. Bellipotent fights is a product of what passes for civilization, Billy is .
the maker of peace (Gilmore 65). .
Another theme that critics feel is present in Billy Budd is that of the .
impersonality and brutality of the modern state. Billy was taken from a safe .
and protected environment on the Rights of Man and placed in a new, hostile .
setting, one which he was not prepared for and could not conform to. Once .
one of the strongest and most respected crew members on the Rights of Man, .
he was no longer regarded as such on the H.M.S. Bellipotent (Bloom, Critical .
Views 211). However, his innocence and trustfulness remained with him, .
causing the crew to regard him as being more of a noble man, rather than the .
powerful man that he was on the Rights of Man. .
While most of the crew admired Billy for these qualities, John .
Claggart, Master-at-Arms for the H.M.S. Bellipotent, regards Billy with .
jealousy and malice (Gilmore 24). Critics have described Claggart as "the .
epitome of evil," residing on the periphery of order, and serving as both .