Which stuttering title character was executed for fatally punching his ship's master-at-arms, John Claggart?

• A. Billy Budd
• B. Captain Vere
• C. John Claggart
• D. The Admiral

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is recognizing the character who embodies innocence under pressure and meets a tragic end after fatally striking a superior officer. In Melville’s story, the stammering title character is a young sailor who is pressed onto a Royal Navy ship. He earns the ire of John Claggart, the ship’s master-at-arms, who falsely accuses him of mutiny. Because he cannot articulate a defense well due to his stutter, he strikes Claggart in a moment of self-defense, killing him. Captain Vere, bound by naval law, ultimately sentences the innocent-seeming youth to death by hanging under martial law. This combination of unintentional violence, rigid legality, and the character’s pure-hearted nature makes the stuttering title character the one who is executed. The other figures—Captain Vere who administers judgment, Claggart the accuser, and an Admiral who doesn’t figure in the tale—don’t fit the description of the character who is executed.