Struck dead by an angel of God! Yet the angel must hang!'
It is the end of the eighteenth century, and the navy recruits the eponymous hero ? the 'Handsome Sailor' ? to its fleet. Accused of mutinous behaviour, Billy Budd is forced to defend himself, but his fearful, silent response soon gives way to a terrible act of violence. The consequences are disastrous, and nothing can prevent the force of judgment and eventual justice upon him. Discovered among Melville's papers after his death and ...