Benito Cereno by Herman Melville (1855)

Benito Cereno is the only play that Melville wrote about slavery. It was a very popular
story in its time. The public of 1855 were not aware of the underlying question of slavery. It
was regarded as a mystery story.

Benito Cereno is a story of slavery. At the end of the story we do not know what the
position of Melville is. There is no clear attitude from the author about slavery. Benito Cereno
was ambiguous.

Benito Cereno depicts the story of two ships. Benito Cereno is the captain of the
second ship. The slaves are not kept in chains in the ship as they are usually are when they
are transported from Africa. That is an unusual thing that the reader notes when reading the
book.

Slaves are objects to be sold. In St. Dominik, slaves seem to be free. Babo is always
close to Benito Cereno. Babo is not actually helping captain Delano, he is actually controlling
him. The shadow of the Negro: Babo follows captain Delano everywhere. Babo has such an
importance. Many times Babo speaks for the captain. Babo is a complement to his master.
He sometimes finishes its captain sentences. When Benito Cereno is tired, Babo speaks for
him. We cannot really say what is happening. Readers do not have more information than
Delano. The only people who know what has happened are the slaves and Benito Cereno.

There has been a revolt among the slaves, they control the ship now. They are in
control of the life of the captain. Benito Cereno tries to jump to the other ship. This is when
Delano realizes that the slaves took control of the ship.

Babo is executed for provoking this revolt among the slaves. The hierarchy is
restored. Benito Cereno is again the captain of his ship. Allan Poe also has mystery in his
story.

Mystery in social order: The use of mystery is only a reversal between the natural
order of society. The shock of a situation that is socially illogical. There is nothing
supernatural. Slaves are not working, they are not chained. This image is contradictory. How
slaves are portrayed. Babo and his followers are cruel. The representation of slaves is not
very human and benevolent. They are people who do not understand reason.

Babo is executed. At the end of the story the accepted vision is restored. Slaves are
brought to America to be sold. The mutiny is never justified; it is actually punished at the
end. The author does not justify it. We cannot really know what Melville tries to say in this
story. Melville was not in favour of slavery. We know this from his autobiography.

Slaves controlling the ship: This unusual situation is corrected at the end. Melville
refuses to be very opened against slavery. The story is written to provoke discussion
because of this mystery. The story is objective, is ambiguous. Edgar Allan Poe was in favour
of slavery.

The story of Benito Cereno was politically conservative1. Slaves are restored to
their position. The same happened with the captain. Slaves are the bad ones because they
are in control of the ship. A reflection about what slavery is. This mystery is supposed to
attract people´s attention.

Notes:

1: Conservative: opposed to great or sudden social change; showing that you prefer
traditional styles and values