<P> H. Bruce Franklin sees a direct connection between the hanging of Budd and the controversy around capital punishment . While Melville was writing Billy Budd between 1886 and 1891, the public's attention was focused on the issue . Other commentators have suggested that the story may have been based on events onboard USS Somers, an American naval vessel; Lt. Guert Gansevoort, a defendant in a later investigation, was a first cousin of Melville . </P> <P> Harold Schechter, a professor who has written a number of books on American serial killers, has said that the author's description of Claggart could be considered to be a definition of a sociopath . He acknowledges that Melville was writing at a time before the word "sociopath" was used . Dr. Robert Hare might classify Claggart as a psychopath, since his personality did not demonstrate the traits of a sociopath (rule - breaking) but of grandiosity, conning manipulation and a lack of empathy or remorse . </P> <P> The centrality of Billy Budd's extraordinary good looks in the novella, where he is described by Captain Vere as "the young fellow who seems so popular with the men--Billy, the Handsome Sailor", have led to interpretations of a homoerotic sensibility in the novel . Laura Mulvey added a theory of scopophilia and masculine and feminine subjectivity / objectivity . This version tends to inform interpretations of Britten's opera, perhaps owing to the composer's own homosexuality . </P> <Ul> <Li> In 1951, Louis O. Coxe and Robert Chapman's 1949 stage adaptation, Billy Budd, opened on Broadway, winning both the Donaldson Awards and Outer Critics Circle Awards for best play . </Li> <Li> The best - known adaptation is the opera, Billy Budd, with a score by Benjamin Britten and a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier . It follows the earlier text of 1924 . Since its premiere in December 1951, the opera has become a regular production at the Metropolitan Opera house in Manhattan, New York City . The libretto takes many creative liberties with elements of the novella's plot . </Li> <Li> Giorgio Ghedini also composed an operatic version of the novella, which premiered in 1949 . It has not been as widely performed as Britten's work . </Li> </Ul>

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