To explain Claggart’s malice toward Billy Budd, one would have to look for something innate, an inborn wickedness in Claggart. The point of the story turns on the hidden nature of the master-at-arms. Though given to dark moods and hidden animosities, Claggart recognizes the moral phenomenon embodied in Billy Budd. This insight intensifies Claggart’s envy of Billy.
Claggart apparently takes the spilling of the soup on the deck not as a simple accident, but as evidence of Billy’s dislike for him. Claggart’s prejudice is fed by Squeak, one of his corporals, who has sensed his envy of Billy. Squeak’s way of “ferreting” about the lower decks reminds the sailors “of a rat in a cellar.” He makes up derogatory epithets which he tells Claggart are the sort of things Billy is saying about him.
