Benito Cereno

While reading Benito Cereno, I found it interesting that the author thought it so necessary to imbellish the good nature and character of Captain Delano. All throughout the novel the reader is met with comments from the narrrator about how nice Delano is and how unsuspecting a person he is because his charitable nature always gives people the benefit of the doubt. This is almost to the point of propaganda at times because Melville litterally goes on for pages it seems about the almost saint-like nature of Delano. What is interesting about this is why Melville does it. It's understandable that the author would want to make the hero of the story a very likable charachter. Melville would surely not want a character readers cannot sympathize with or have disdain for to happen to do a good thing. But the frequency and directness of the lauding of Delano's "excellent" character go beyond simply making him more affable to readers. It seems that Melville has a more than normal interest in making Delano appear to be such a "good" person.