Billy Budd (novel)

Herman Melville wrote a sad tale about the Handsome Sailor - which also inspired a movie (directed by Peter Ustinov), as well as an opera by Benjamin Britten.

And it's full of tropes.

Unfinished as of Melville's death in 1891, the novel was not published until 1924 - and it wasn't until 1962 that a critical edition of the novel was published.


 * A Father to His Men: Vere.
 * Angrish: Budd is very prone to stammer under stress, and that is why he cannot defend himself in front of Captain Vere and resort to violence.
 * The Bad Guy Wins:
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: Billy
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Claggart apparently doesn't know this rule.
 * Bishonen: Billy.
 * The Captain: Vere.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: It's enough to see Claggart to know he's The Epic Bad Guy.
 * The Chessmaster: Claggart.
 * Crucified Hero Shot:
 * Downer Ending
 * Driven by Envy
 * Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Claggart is descibed "His brow was of the sort phrenologically associated with more than average intellect; silken jet curls partly clustering over it, making a foil to the pallor below, a pallor tinged with a faint shade of amber akin to the hue of time-tinted marbles of old. This complexion, singularly contrasting with the red or deeply bronzed visages of the sailors, and in part the result of his official seclusion from the sunlight, tho' it was not exactly displeasing, nevertheless seemed to hint of something defective or abnormal in the constitution and blood." And he also has Violet Eyes. Super evil.
 * Eldritch Abomination: "Meanwhile the accuser's eyes removing not as yet from the blue dilated ones, underwent a phenomenal change, their wonted rich violet color blurring into a muddy purple. Those lights of human intelligence losing human expression, gelidly protruding like the alien eyes of certain uncatalogued creatures of the deep. The first mesmeric glance was one of serpent fascination; the last was as the hungry lurch of the torpedo-fish." Wonder why poor Billy couldn't speak under this glance...
 * Emotions vs. Stoicism: Vere and the court-martial.
 * Fatal Flaw: Billy's stammer.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Claggart
 * Hair of Gold: Billy
 * Hello, Sailor! - um, have I mentioned it's placed on a man-of-war filled with sailors?
 * He's Dead, Jim:
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Keep saying that to yourself, Captain.
 * I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Actually, I just
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Billy is tempted several times, but he's hopeless to corrupt. So Claggart has to come up with the whole accusation thing. But even after  Billy is STILL innocent.
 * Karmic Death:
 * Kill'Em All
 * Officer and a Gentleman: Vere.
 * Passion Play: Sort of.
 * Poor Communication Kills: When Billy cannot communicate with words, he communicates with lethal blows...
 * Purple Prose I know it's a classic, but...
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Claggart is likened to a snake for a reason.
 * Rule of Symbolism: It's filled with biblical, mythological and historical symbols.
 * Satan - Claggart. It's made even clearer with a Milton quote in the chapter title "Pale Ire, Envy and Despair", which is what Satan felt when seeing Paradise.
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth
 * Warrior Poet: Vere.
 * Wooden Ships and Iron Men