The Image of Captain Delano in The Book 'Benito Cereno'

Benito Cereno is a story written by Herman Melville that follows the events of Captain Delano. While his trading ship is anchored, he sees a mysterious flagless ship that seems in peril and decides to offer his aid. He discovers this mysterious ship is a Spanish slave ship under the command of Captain Cereno. They are in a dire state as they experienced an epidemic of scurvy, then a storm, that led them to lose food and water rations, and crew members. The plot twist at the end of the story is that the slaves on the ship revolted and killed most of the crew, taking command of the ship. Captain Delano’s perception of the unnatural situation was influenced by the false illusions the slave Babo created to hide the truth, displaying how eager the mind is to satisfy social constructs to avoid cognitive conflict.

Throughout the story, Captain Delano judges everything and everyone according to his perception of a normal standard. He believes black people lack intelligence, so he constantly overlooks the abnormalities of the slave ship. He has his own idea of what a captain should be and even blames Captain for the sorry state of the ship. “In nature herself—nothing more relaxes good order than misery. Still, Captain Delano was not without the idea, that had Benito Cereno been a man of greater energy, misrule would hardly have come to the present pass”. If it were his own ship, he would have thought of better ideas to sustain the crew and not have to rely on slaves to man the ship. He recognizes Captain Cereno as a disappointment for letting hardship dismantle the hierarchy of authority.

Captain Delano’s focus on hierarchy and convention distracts him from understanding the true situation on the ship. He pays more attention to Captain Cereno’s mood swings and disposition rather than the warning signs of the danger at hand. He notices the whites on the slave boat are a bit suspicious when giving him hints and are mistreated by the slaves but brushes it off with any silly explanation. “It was Don Benito’s reserve which displeased him; but the same reserve was shown toward all but his personal attendant”. A captain should show concern over everything happening on his boat, but Babo was the only one receiving the captain’s attention. This too, Captain Delano interprets in his own way to fit his own moral perception of the situation.

Being caring and a natural optimist, Captain Delano lacks foresight and misjudges what he sees. “As master and man stood before him, the black upholding the white, Captain Delano could not but bethink him of the beauty of that relationship which could present such a spectacle of fidelity on the one hand and confidence on the other”. He is self-confident as a morally correct man and captain, thus analyzes Captain Cereno’s and Babo’s relationship in a friendly view. Despite the obvious indication that Captain Cereno was frightened and following Babo’s signals, it is viewed as kindness from a slave and compassion for his master. This slightly absolves Captain Delano’s suspicions of the conditions on the ship and delays him from understanding that Babo is the one truly in charge.

It took a dramatic episode for Captain Delano to finally open his eyes and see the reality for what it is rather than what he wants to believe. “That moment, across the long benighted mind of Captain Delano, a flash of revelation swept, illuminating in unanticipated clearness Benito Cereno’s whole mysterious demeanour, with every enigmatic event of the day”. He could now clearly see that Babo, and the slaves are the ones in charge of the ship. His criticism of Captain Cereno were now justified and his cognitive conflict restored.

In conclusion, being a leader who is used to having authority and not knowing much about being a slave ship, Captain Delano would overlook his cognitive conflicts. Things would seem amiss to him, but he would perceive them as he pleased to satisfy the social constructs. It is not easy to distinguish good and bad at first sight, but he ignored warning signs as he did not want to seem uncivil and question a fellow captain’s authority. His failures of perception almost prevented him from helping Captain Cereno and his crew be free from Babo.