Benito Cereno (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Herman Melville
- First Published: 1855
- Type of Work: Novella
- Type of Plot: Adventure
- Time of Work: 1799
- Setting: Harbor of St. Maria, off the coast of Chile, and Lima, Peru
- Principal Characters: Amasa Delano, Don Benito Cereno, Babo
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Murder or homicide
- Locales: Lima, Peru
The Story:
Captain Amasa Delano was commander of an American ship called Bachelor’s Delight, which was anchored in the harbor of St. Maria, on an island off the coast of southern Chile. While there, he saw a ship apparently in distress, and thinking it carried a party of monks, he set out in a whaleboat to board the vessel and supply it with food and water. When he came aboard, he found that the ship, the San Dominick, was a Spanish merchant ship carrying slaves. The crew was parched and moaning; the ship itself was filthy; the sails were rotten. Most...
[The entire page is 2734 words long]
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