The captain chooses the law over his own feelings. He locks away all that his conscience is telling him and does what he would do to any other man. This suggests that there are two ways to carry out law, one by the captain and the other by the reader. The captain sees the law devout of any emotion, an order; this coming as a surprise considering that his very name implies he is a dreamer and wanderer, likely to veer off course.The reader sees it purely in context. The entirety of the story is a case made by a defense attorney for Billy and makes it clear how hard it must have been for the captain to separate his emotions from the
The captain chooses the law over his own feelings. He locks away all that his conscience is telling him and does what he would do to any other man. This suggests that there are two ways to carry out law, one by the captain and the other by the reader. The captain sees the law devout of any emotion, an order; this coming as a surprise considering that his very name implies he is a dreamer and wanderer, likely to veer off course.The reader sees it purely in context. The entirety of the story is a case made by a defense attorney for Billy and makes it clear how hard it must have been for the captain to separate his emotions from the