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In the novella "Billy Budd" by Herman Melville, Captain Vere is the “tragic hero”. he is neither good nor evil, but rather a man whose concept of order, discipline, and legality forces him to obey the codes of an authority higher than himself ....

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... For example, he never used nautical terms in his everyday conversations. Even aboard ship, if one did not know that he was the captain, he could easily be taken for some royal of the king's that is being transported from one place to another. As Melville points out, “He had seen much service, been in various engagements, always acquitting himself as an office mindful of the welfare of his men, but never tolerating an infraction of discipline; thoroughly versed in the science of his profession, and intrepid to the verge of temerity, though never injudiciously so.” In fact, his downfall is directly caused by his never tolerating an i ...