Ambiguity in Melville

While Melville is traditionally considered quite dense and at times nigh unreadable by high school and college students, he is a respected author whose work has remained important after many years. This is not because dense works are simply assumed to hold value, but because Melville skillfully weaves together his tales while appearing to present no judgement. His characters are real, and three-dimensional, and there is not always an easy solution for the difficulties that a character faces. This freedom allows a reader to take away a much more personalized view of the story and of the world than is possible with authors who insist upon a moral, and only one moral, for a work.

Frequently in Melville, the narrator is not in reality the main or most important character. The character that holds the most interest and life is often one who is described to the reader by the narrator. In this way, the reader can accept the facts about who that particular character is, and how he behaves, while inventing their own reasons and justifications for this behavior. If this is to be the case, and if the reader is to successfully become the character in question, then Melville must prevent both the narrator and the character from divulging or supposing any information which might contradict the ideas formed by the reader.

Melville's works are alive, and do not exist well merely as letters on a page. Even in Moby Dick Melville presents stage directions for Ahab, bringing the work one step closer to the life of the reader. While Billy Budd's effect on those around him is presented in great detail, his past is left blurry, and his thoughts on internal matters are almost never revealed. Right up until his death, the reader must ascribe for themself the significance of Billy's last words "God bless Captain Vere."