The Nature of Man in "Benito Cereno"-A Double Standard
             Even though it is not the main issue of the story, the reader cannot help but think about the subject of slavery in Herman Melville's "Benito Cereno." Melville brings his ideas concerning the evil and good in man to life by using the social issue of slavery. The message Melville wishes to convey is associated with the hypocrisy of ideas of racial superiority in the post Civil War era. The story depicts the double-standard of the Spanish failing to recognize the brutality with which they are treated by Babo and the rebel slaves as strikingly similar to the brutality with which they themselves initially implemented over the African slaves. Melville's intention in writing this story is to make the audience contemplate the forces of good and evil, and decide which side these forces symbolize in Herman Melville's "Benito Cereno."
             The first character Melville introduces to the reader is Captain Amasa Delano. Delano is a respected captain, who is portrayed as "fair, honest in his dealings, pragmatic in his practices, and a man who moves immediately to correct problems" (Rohrberger, 1). For example, when Delano goes to the San Dominick and finds the remaining people on board in extreme need of water, food, and other supplies, he offers Benito Cereno and the men aid out of the good of his heart (Lauter, 2602-2603). However, in the story Delano's accepting and trusting personality is his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. Captain Delano is described as, "a person of singularly undistrustful good nature," who could not bring himself to recognize that men are evil (Lauter, 2598). When Delano is on the San Dominick, he runs into many problems, and at times, his suspicion gets to him. Suspicions of the secret conversations between Babo and Don Benito, the treatment the Spanish sailors received from the blacks...