Benito Cereno Analysis

While the setting of "Benito Cereno" is not as sweet as the setting of The Little Mermaid,  this seascape doesn't seem like such a bad spot at the beginning. The harbor of St. Maria, whe...

Third Person (Limited Omniscient) Ever watched a horror movie? Half the fun is watching the plot unfold as the characters have no clue what's about to happen. You might not know what's going on, e...

Adventure; Drama; Tragedy Melville really loves a good rollicking adventure story. This is the guy who wrote Moby Dick, the epic story a whale hunt. Anyway, danger lurks at every turn in "Benito...

Although Melville occasionally seems to have a sense of humor about Captain Delano's obliviousness, the overall tone seems to be on the darker side. Think about the shaving scene, when Babo "ac...

Melville's a master of wordy sentences that quickly introduce surprising details—his sentences ain't highways; they're windy roads with lots of twists and turns. This is one of the hallmarks...

"Benito Cereno" seems to be a weird choice for the title, right? After all, it's not Benito himself who's running the show (that would be Babo) or even acting as the protagonist (that would be Dela...

We get one of those famously long and complex Melville sentences to end "Benito Cereno". And man, does he pack a lot into that sentence. Babo is executed and his head is mounted on a pole, where it...

The tricky parts of "Benito Cereno" are all about reading in between the lines. Sure, you could read straight through without questioning anything and get one heck of a surprise when Benito jumps...

Exposition (Initial Situation) Just a Bachelor, Doing Bachelor Things Amasa Delano has it all. He's got his own boat, the Bachelor's Delight, that's practically a man-cave, a sweet gig as a sea c...

Anticipation Stage and Call Let's be up-front here, Shmoopers. "Benito Cereno" is all about overcoming a monster, but that monster isn't really a distinct person. It's more about the monstrous p...

Captain Delano doesn't have a care in the world as he chills out on his boat, the Bachelor's Delight. When a ratty-looking ship pulls into his harbor, he goes over to check it out and finds a sta...

Wondering why Melville suddenly went all lawyer on you for the last bit of "Benito Cereno"? Turns out he had a tendency to do that. Another of his books, Billy Budd, is all about the law. (Source)M...

Literary and Philosophical References Samuel Johnson (73.213).Lord Byron (73.213). Guy Fawkes (68.182).John Ledyard (63.153).Abraham (85.303). Ezekiel's Valley of Dry Bones (39.10).