Skewed Appearences of Reality in Herman Melville’s Benito...

Both Herman Melville’s â€Å"Benito Cereno† and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† contain matters of skewed appearances and reality. Though both texts have themes of hidden truths, both have different outcomes when characters of their respective texts have their â€Å"veil† lifted: Goodman Brown is forever changed by his new perspective whereas Delano remains unperturbed by what he learns. In addition to this theme of appearance versus reality, both texts explore the consequences of this â€Å"unveiling† and, in connection, explore ideas of good versus evil and innocence turned into corruption. In Melville’s â€Å"Benito Cereno,† Captain Delano’s perspective of the happenings on the San Dominick ship is skewed through the deceptive actions of Babo and his captive Don Benito. Delano’s belief that every human being is inherently innocent and honest causes him to misread the situation and leaves him unaware of the impending danger that he and Don Benito are in. Filled â€Å"†¦with a qualmish sort of emotion,† rather than investigating or confronting Don Benito when faced with compromising, unsettling facts, Delano chooses to continue his stay on the ship â€Å"†¦as one feeling incipient sea-sickness, he [strives], by ignoring the symptoms†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Melville 64). It is this quality of Delano’s, choosing to ignore what is a blatant issue and opting to believe that everyone is a decent person at heart, which ultimately causes this veil to cloud the reality of the situation to him. Though his suspicions that