Billy Budd is a story full of irony. This literary aspect can be seen through the plot and characters of the work. As defined in the American Heritage Dictionary, irony is the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. After a casual reading of the story, the many ironic aspects may have been overlooked, but after analyzing the story it becomes clear that they are of great importance."...The fate of each character is exactly the opposite of what happened to him . expect from his nature" (Johnson, 185). The character of Billy Budd is portrayed as a peacemaker, a young, innocent, nice and sweet man. However, halfway through the story, he becomes a murderer. Billy Budd was first introduced to the reader as a good-looking, healthy, honest, and genuinely innocent young man. He doesn't think Claggart could dislike him, since he is so kind to his face. When Billy discovers Claggart's lies, he strikes and kills him. This is not an action that readers expected due to the character he exemplified in the first half of the story. Billions...