Power Under The Mask Of Justice-A Foucauldian Interpretation Of Billy Budd

One discovers in the most mainstream Melville criticism a more or less either"the testament of acceptance" or "the testament of resistance". Some focus on thelegal approach to the interpretation of the novel. Some discuss the judgment, behavior,and motives of Captain Vere. Still others employ the deeonstruetion approach andargue that Billy Budd is a parable of "reading", or interpreting the problematicrelationship between the signifier and the signified. Most of the above debates aim atfinding an answer to the question: Is Caption Vere's decision to execute Billy Buddjustifiable or not?This thesis intends to make a contribution to our understanding of Billy Budd byanalyzing the power exercise, power relationships, power techniques and therelationships between power, truth and justice. My research and analysis have led meto the following answers: On the isolated, enclosed man-of-war, Bellipotent, whichresembles a panopticon, omnipresent power is exercised with the help of surveillance,control, training and discipline. Billy's tragedy results from the similarities betweenhim and Claggart who are both the abnormal. The fear that Billy will take Claggart'splace and authority upset Claggart very much because power can be exercised byanyone. The fact that Billy is sentenced to death and hanged shows that Bellipotent,though has most signs of a disciplinary power society, is not a mature, completepower society. The report of the authorized publication indicates that there is notdefinite truth and justice. Truth and justice are produced in accordance with someprocedures and rules.