This leaves the reader in an uncertainty with him not knowing whether the true background of the story has been revealed or not. He is left with the question of what would have happened if the Deposition has not served as the key to fit into the lock of complications. As the reader, one has to ask himself whom to trust, and it underlines that nothing is certain. Another example for this is the use of the word “plot” (1173); looking at the meaning of “plot”, one can identify two meanings: the first meaning is an intrigue, the second describes the causality of a story. This leads to the conclusion that everyone tells his sown tory, and that there is only a subjective truth.
Realizing this leads directly to the next important romantic concept used by Melville in “Benito Cereno”: Individualism. Reading “Benito Cereno”, one can onserve that there is only one individual truth that is being transported through the text. Furthermore, truth and reality is constructed in the imagination of the individual.
Another important romantic feature that is to be found in “Benito Cereno” is the concept of nature. Right at the beginning of “Benito Cereno”, Melville uses this concept to give an outlook on the story itself:
“Shadows present, foreshadowing deeper shadows to come.” (1118)
The last obvious romantic element in “Benito Cereno” is nationalism. Reading the story while keeping in mind the current situation in America at that time, it becomes obvious that Melville picks up the situation in America and provides a statement towards it. Therefore, one could argue that in “Benito Cereno”, Melville takes a rather anti-American side in arguing against slavery.
Conflicts in Benito Cereno - “What conflicts can be found in “Benito Cereno?”
In “Benito Cereno”, several conflicts occur: White Vs. Black, Truth Vs. Reality, Old World Vs. New World, Focalizer Vs. Narrator, and Male Vs. Female.
The first obvious one is the conflict between black and white people. Blacks and Whites are described in racial and cultural stereotypes where black people are rather stupid while white people:
“But if the whites had dark secrets concerning Don Benito, could then Don Benito be any way in complicity with the blacks? But they were too stupid. Besides, who ever heard of a white so far a renegade as to apostatize from his very species almost, by leaguing in against it with negroes?” (1141)
The second conflict to be found in “Benito Cereno” could be headed “Truth Vs. Reality”. The question one as a reader has to ask himself is if Melville's “Benito Cereno” is rather subjective or objective. Because “Benito Cereno”, on the level of the story, includes hasty conclusions and superficial judgements, one can argue that it is rather subjective than objective. This is underlined by the fact that “Benito Cereno” is written from an individual point of view, in this case Captain Amasa Delano, which culminates in subjectivity and unreliability. Therefore, as mentioned earlier, it is of utter importance that the reader is aware of this fact while reading the story. This conflict is emphasized by another one, the conflict between focalizer and narrator where the narrative perspective in all three parts of “Benito Cereno” differ from each other.
Another important conflict that comes up is the one between male and female characters:
“One, from about eighteen to nineteen years, named José, and this was the man that waited upon his master, Don Alexandro, and who speaks well the Spanish, having served him four or five years; … a mulatto, named Francisco, the cabin steward, of a good person and voice, having sung in the Valparaiso churches, native of the province of Buenos Ayres, aged about thirty-five years.... […] ;... and thirty-nine women and children of all ages.” (1164)
It is remarkable that while all male characters are described in detail including their name, age, occupation, and characteristics, the female characters are not described at all, only mentioned in one sentence while the male characters are featured in a whole paragraph.
