Themes of Good and Evil in Billy BuddMany themes relating to the conflict between Good and Evil can be found in the short story Billy Budd by Herman Melville . Perhaps one of Billy Budd's most widely recognized themes is the corruption of innocence by society (Gilmore 18). Society in Billy Budd is represented by an 18th-century English warship, the HMS Bellipotent. Billy, who represents innocence, is a twenty-one-year-old sailor with physical strength, beauty, and good character (Voss 44). A crew member aboard the merchant ship Rights of Man, Billy was impressed by the English navy and was taken aboard HMS Bellipotent. As he boards HMS Bellipotent, he calmly says "Goodbye, Human Rights", a farewell to his ship and his crewmates. However, this farewell is not only about his ship, but also about his actual rights, rights that would have preserved him from his innocence until proven guilty in a normal society (Gilmore 18). The society represented by HMS Bellipotent is very different from that of the outside world, as the various laws and regulations in force during the war transform a civilized society into a more primitive state. The rights fought for in war were no longer held by the men aboard the Bellipotent in an effort to maintain order as best as possible (Gilmore 18). Billy was impressed by the English navy because of its need for good sailors. Human rights cannot survive in war-torn ocean waters without the protection of the bellipotents, and the bellipotents cannot protect human rights if they do not impress the sailors (Tucker 248). On the HMS Bellipotent, Billy faces destruction from a force he does not know... middle of paper ...... Classic Encyclopedia. 1994 ed. Bloom, Harold. The Chelsea House Literary Criticism Library. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Views of Herman Melville. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Foster, Edward, ed. Six 19th-century American novelists. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1968. Gilmore, Michael T., ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Billy Budd. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc., 1971. Tucker, Martin, ed. Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. 4 vol. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1966. Van Doren, Carl. The American novel. New York: The Macmillian Company, 1968. Voss, Author. The American News. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973.