“Let no man deceive you by any means”

Abstract

“‘Let no man deceive you by any means’: Billy Budd and interpretive tragedy” argues that although Vere's dreadful and necessarily tragic decision occupies the central position in the plot, the association of Claggart with the phrase mystery of iniquity – an allusion to 2 Thessalonians – is the culminating moment in the novel's obsession with the madness and tragedy of interpretation. More specifically, the idea of the mystery of iniquity is fundamental to Melville's tragic view of life. In Paul's letter, the mystery of iniquity refers to the radical deceit unleashed by God upon the world before the return of Christ, a force that makes humans particularly susceptible to delusion. Associating Claggart with the mystery of iniquity ironically seduces readers with its explanatory appeal, thereby diverting them from the phrase's implication that textuality, interpretation, and meaning necessarily participate in representational uncertainty.