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Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno is a fictionalized account of a revolt on a Spanish slave ship captained by a man named Don Benito Cereno. Benito Cereno is one of Melville's most hotly debated short stories and it owes much of its popularity among literary critics to its subject matter: slavery. Benito Cereno is, first and foremost, a story about race. Therefore, it is bothersome to Melville scholars that the story is so maddeningly enigmatic. Figuring out Melville's attitude is nearly impossible—one could fairly argue that his attitude is forgiving, patronizing, or contemptuous of Black people and/or the institution of slavery. Like much of Melville's work, the popular interpretations of Benito Cereno have changed depending on the political and academic atmosphere of each critic.
The inciting incident of Benito Cereno occurs when American whaling captain Amasa Delano notices an unknown ship entering the bay off the coast of Chile. His confusion is heightened when he notices that the ship is flying without colors. The lack of flags and the ship’s curious movements cause Delano to surmise that it is a ship in distress. He decides to leave his ship, the Bachelor’s Delight, and board the mystery ship to see if he can offer any assistance. This brief introductory section sets the mood for the rest of the novella. The foreign ship appears almost like a ghostly apparition which both foreshadows the San Dominick’s connection with death and causes the reader to be instantly suspicious, a feeling enhanced by Delano’s general bewilderment throughout the remainder of the novella. It’s clear something strange and possibly sinister is happening, and the reader is aware of it even if Delano insists on brushing his suspicions aside.
The rising action portion of the narrative is by far the longest section of the text, allowing Melville to draw out the mystery. Delano arrives aboard the San Dominick, a Spanish slaving ship, where he is greeted by Benito Cereno, the ship’s captain and Babo, Cereno’s slave. Cereno informs Delano that his ship had left Buenos Aires six months earlier but they struck heavy winds while rounding Cape Horn and had to throw much of their supplies overboard. He continues to say that many aboard the ship have since died from scurvy but that a disproportionate number of white sailors died compared to the slaves. Delano sends his men back to the Bachelor’s Delight for supplies, but decides to stay aboard the San Dominick.
The rest of the rising action portion of the novella is dedicated to Delano’s observations as he takes in the curious behavior aboard Cereno’s ship. Some examples include a young slave hitting a white sailor without any reprimand from Cereno, the Spanish sailors seeming to motion to him, the whispering between Cereno and Babo, two slaves knocking down a white sailor, Cereno’s sickly and nervous disposition, and Babo’s refusal to ever leave Cereno’s side. The strange incidents begin to pile up, yet each time, Delano's trusting nature forces him to dismiss his suspicions, and it never occurs to him that Babo is really the one in charge of the whole ship. To anyone who knows the secret of Benito Cereno—and even to those that do not—the unfolding of its mystery may seem painfully slow. Benito Cereno is paced rather methodically and it is filled with lengthy and detailed descriptions of Delano’s observations. However, this was likely done intentionally because Melville’s meandering prose matches Delano's thought process as he attempts to make sense of his surroundings.
Some readers may become frustrated with Delano as he repeatedly witnesses strange events, then dismisses them time and again. Literary critic Warner Berthoff has likened Benito Cereno to the telling of a riddle: it must be told once, so the listener has a chance to figure it out; and once figured out, the listener goes over the riddle again, to make sure their answer fits all the parts of the riddle. The strange incidents that Delano witnesses are the clues to the riddle and the answer is so surprising to him that he never really figures it out, as symbolized by the knot-tying scene in which Delano, nonplussed by the large, complex knot he receives, ultimately has it taken away from him by a slave. That he never untangles it himself foreshadows the notion that Delano doesn’t solve the mystery until it is solved for him at the end of the story. Delano’s inability to do so points to the limits of his perspective; as a nineteenth-century white man, he accepts the state of affairs presented to him largely without question because what he sees aligns with stereotypes he considers fact. He believes Black men and women to be naturally obedient and inferior, and so the idea that they may not be either of those things is initially inconceivable.
Delano remains oblivious to the true situation aboard the San Dominick until, in the novella’s climax, Cereno leaps into Delano's ship and Delano finally realizes that the slaves are actually in control of the ship. Cereno’s leap for freedom results in a battle between the San Dominick and the Bachelor’s Delight, in which Delano and his men are ultimately able to overpower the revolting slaves.
The falling action portion of the text takes the form of a testimony in which Cereno gives an account of the San Dominick’s revolt, the killing of Alexandro Aranda (the owner of the slaves), the manner in which Babo seized control of the ship, and the complex ruse that Babo concocted for Delano’s arrival. This deposition offers readers a broader view of events and marks the first moment the reader has access to a viewpoint besides Delano’s. However, Cereno’s description is no less biased; the slaves are depicted as manipulative, blood-thirsty killers. Notably absent is their perspective, and this absence creates a vacuum, forcing the reader to confront the idea that their violent revolt was justifiable. While it is impossible to know Melville’s own stance and what he intended with this resolution, it cannot be ignored that the novella’s end sounds a solemn note, with Babo’s lifeless eyes gazing out over his oppressors, and that Cereno ultimately “follow[s] his leader,” implied by the level of detail to be Babo.
