The novel's overall mood is tense, contemplative, and tragic. A pervasive mood of tension permeates the novella; from the very beginning, the narrator hints at the impending conflict that takes place between Billy Budd and John Claggart. Because Billy Budd is an allegory for Jesus Christ's fall and redemption, it is also tragic in mood. Billy's fate is depicted as unjust, and his death at the end of the novel represents a loss of innocence.
The below passage from Chapter 25, when the chaplain embraces Billy Budd, exemplifies the novel's intense mood:
In his emotion not without first performing an act strange enough in an Englishman, and under the circumstances yet more so in any regular priest. Stooping over, he kissed on the fair cheek his fellow man, a felon in martial law, one whom though on the confines of death he felt he could never.
Note how the passage conveys a sense of emotional intensity. The chaplain's act of kissing Billy's cheek reflects the gravity of the situation, as Billy has been condemned to death. The chaplain's gesture evokes a sense of empathy and compassion, as it humanizes both the chaplain and Billy, whom the narrator refers to as a "felon." All in all, the passage's mood is melancholy and intense, a reflection of the novella's tragic events.
