... Cirulnick
American Literature Honors
October 24, 2002
A Comparison of Cereno, Delano, and Vere
“The world wants to be deceived” (Sebastian Brant). ... Melville’s Benito Cereno and Billy Budd both demonstrate how Cereno, Delano, and Vere are either physically controlled or deceived by their subordinates, which causes the failure of their morality.
Benito Cereno loses the power of the ship to his slaves, which causes him and the other white sailors to be physically controlled by Babo and the other black slaves; therefore, Cereno feels that he has morally failed. Benito Cereno is a poor Captain. ... “One of the black boys, enraged at a word dropped by one of his white companions, seized the knife, and, though called to forbear by one of the oakum-pickers, struck the lad over the head, inflicting a gash from which blood flowed”(Benito Cereno 179). Furthermore, Cereno was under constant surveillance by Babo, the leader of the slaves. Babo controls what Cereno says and does. Cereno responds to Delano’s questions through practiced dialogue. Cereno must stick to the story that Babo instructs him to say. These events cause Cereno to morally fail. ... Cereno is unsuccessful. ... He “follows his leader”(Benito Cereno 258). Although Babo was killed for overpowering a Captain of a ship, Cereno is stripped of his morality, which causes him to internally suffer and eventually die. Cereno follows Babo to his death.
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