1. Using Benito Cereno as an example, define the following literary terms: point of view, dramatic irony, paradox, dilemma, symbol, motif, detail, tragic flaw, rhetorical question, mood, and theme. 2. Name and evaluate ten different rhetorical devices which operate in Benito Cereno. 3. Discuss the elements and historical significance of […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsCritical Essays The Motif of the Imprisoning Microcosm
Bartleby, who loses his job at the Dead Letter Office, chooses a law firm as his next place of employment. A valuable low-level worker who at first seems “to gorge himself on [legal] documents,” he inexplicably begins to build an invisible prison about himself as he avoids fraternization with his […]
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Offsetting these white characters is the unassuming form of Babo, small, but quick to control a living tableau acted out for the benefit of Captain Delano, whom he hopes to depose from the Bachelor’s Delight. At Babo’s death, the most memorable part of him, his head, “that hive of subtlety,” […]
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The following are examples of some of Melville’s rich, meaningful rhetorical devices: Foreshadowing: Flights of troubled gray fowl, kith and kin with flights of troubled gray vapors among which they were mixed, skimmed low and fitfully over the waters, as swallows over meadows before storms. Repetition: And that silver-mounted sword, […]
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The Tryal, setting out in December from Valparaiso in southern Chile, to Callao, a coastal town west of Lima, Peru, was the scene of a violent rebellion of slaves, who murdered their owner and some crew members, then forced the captain, Don Benito Cereno, to pilot them to Senegal, a […]
Read more Critical Essays Source of Benito Cereno””Herman Melville Biography
He was a faithful letter writer and established a reputation as a mesmerizing teller of tales. He gave full range to his imagination, as demonstrated by his comment about the writing of Moby-Dick: “I have a sort of sea-feeling. My room seems a ship’s cabin; and at nights when I […]
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A deposition from Don Benito, taken on September 24, 1799, by the king’s notary, indicates that on May 20, 1799, on a voyage from Valparaiso to Callao, the ship sailed with thirty cases of hardware, 160 blacks, a crew of thirty-six, and some passengers. There follows a segment of a […]
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The Americans pick up the three swimming Spaniards, then fire six times at the San Dominick until it glides out of range. Planning an assault on the slave ship, the Americans pursue in whale-boat and yawl. Cereno assures them that there are no working firearms available, but pleads that they […]
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Captain Delano boards his boat. Before the crew drops their oars into the water, Cereno suddenly springs overboard into the stern at Delano’s feet. Three Spanish sailors leap overboard and swim toward Don Benito. Before Delano can fully comprehend the unexpected movement, Babo jumps into the Rover, dagger drawn as […]
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Francesco, a tall steward, announces lunch. Delano and Cereno sit down to fish, pumpkin, beef, and biscuit along with cider and wine; Babo stands behind Delano’s chair, in full sight of Cereno’s needs. Delano asks for a private conference, but Cereno replies that Babo, who has replaced the ship’s missing […]
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