In his novella, "Benito Cereno"," Herman Melville retraces the story of Amasa Delano, Captain of the Bachelor's Delight, and his encounter with a ship and her crew, both in poor condition. At this point of the story, Captain Delano does not know that the San Dominick, apparently led by Benito Cereno, has in fact undergone the rebellion of the black slaves on board, who now rule the ship. Everyone aboard has a part in the masquerade that Delano struggles to decipher, even though he senses that something is wrong. In this excerpt, he thus expresses his confusion after seeing several odd signs he cannot explain. How does Captain Delano, through the expression of his fears and suspicions, invite the reader in his exploration of the Unknown and his quest for meaning?.
First, I will try to show how the San Dominick could be seen as a haunted house reminiscent of Gothic fiction, then how Captain Delano's way of dealing with his suspicions invites the reader to investigate with him. In this excerpt, the reader plunges into Captain Delano's thoughts, which are quite confused. Indeed, his feeling of disorientation is highlighted l.12: "his mind revolved the point of the strange questions put to him " and reinforced by the metaphor l.20 of the ship "helplessly fallen into a current " which suggests Delano's loss of control and his progressive immersion into the dark waters of his mind. The San Dominick is depicted as an ominous boat through the simile "like a slumbering volcano" (l.58), and its crew seem no less threatening. In fact, there is a gradation from "a suspicious fellow and his captain"" (l.8) to "fiends in human form"" (l.46). The ship is thus the place where "suspicious things " (l.11) happen and seems even haunted: the narrator mentions his "ghostly dread of Don Benito " (l.25), "phantoms " (l.28) and a crew "alleged to have perished off to a remnant"" (l43/44.). It is even more dreadful since everything seem to be playing hide and seek with the American Captain: "lurking in the hold " (l.