Chapter 10 Summary

An occurrence at lunch the following day confirms Billy's conviction that the old sailor is wrong. The ship lurches and Billy spills his soup just as Claggart comes by. Claggart's response to the incident is "Handsomely done, my lad! And handsome is as handsome did it, too!" Everyone takes this as a joke and Billy feels that if he is referring to him as the "Handsome Sailor," he must not be down on him. However, the narrator notes that the expression on Claggart's face is not one of amusement, something that Billy and the others miss.

Chapter 10 Analysis

Melville goes to great lengths to show how inexperienced, gullible, and innocent Billy appears to be because it is important to the ultimate meaning of the story. Billy should have known that Claggart was not his friend, that he was not an admirer as many...