For example Melville protrays the main character in Billy Budd, Sailor to be a Christ-figure. What is the point of doing this? Why does he use the allusion when he was in no way religous? Thanks ahead!
Mary Shelly wasn't a greek pagan, yet she referenced prometheus.
Religions are often well known and deal with a lot of the big questions, thus it is easily to refer, allude, and borrow from them in a literary piece, adding a bit more depth to the writing, for people who are acquainted with that culture. It doesn't matter if the author believes it, just that his audience is steeped in it.
