The Confined Gender:Rereading Billy Budd, Sailor From The Perspective Of "Gender Performativity"

First published more than thirty years after his death,Billy Budd, Sailor, hailed as the best novella, is the posthumous work of American writer Herman Melville.The novella tells the story of a handsome sailor falsely accused to death.Since the publication, the novella has aroused keen interests in many critics.Under the guidance of Queer Theory, the thesis tries to use Judith Butler's concept of Gender Performativity to analyze the gender performances of the three main characters in the story. As one of the main representatives of Queer School, Judith Butler argues that gender is not inborn but constructed through repetitive performances of social norms on the individual.The process cannot be controlled by the individual. Gender construction of the three main characters in the story is just a reflection of the concept of Gender Performativity.The thesis is composed of five parts. The first part is an introduction to the studies on Melville and his novella Billy Budd, Sailor. Chapter One presents the main ideas of Queer theory and Judith Butler's concept of Gender Performativity. Chapter Two makes analyses on gender performances of the three main characters, Billy, Claggart, and Captain Vere, in the light of the concept of Gender Performativity and finds out that Billy grows from a foundling with unknown gender to a beauty with feminized gender; Claggart is forced to be a man with dual gender from a former uncertain gender; and Cpatain Vere, an authoritative and institutionalized person of the heterosexual society, processes an unspeakable inner desire for Billy. Chapter Three explains the three riddles: Claggart's irritation to Billy, Vere's Insistence of Executing Billy, and Billy's benediction to Vere before the execution; The conclusion is that Billy Budd, Sailor is a tragic story about the confinement of mutable gender in a heterosexual society, and Billy is a martyr seeking for gender freedom.This text denotes that the tragic story Billy Budd, Sailor is an excellent exemplification of gender performance in a heterosexual society and individuals' different reactions to it. The queer study on Billy Budd, Sailor may open up a new space for gender studies on this novella.