“BENITO CERENO” BY HERMAN MELVILLE

“Benito Cereno” by Herman Melville

Benito Cereno” by Herman Melville

The novella Benito Cereno casts the slaves as the main antagonists. The harsh words Melville uses to describe the slaves could be used on any mutineers. But the fact that Melville casts the slave in the roles of mutineers shows that he is making a statement on slavery. The way Herman Melville portrays the malevolence of the slaves depicts the institution of slavery as the primary evil rather than the actions of the slaves themselves.

One may think that the slaves acted evil because they rebelled even though their master ...