Before the truth of Benito Cereno's strange fate becomes apparent, Herman Melville creates an intriguing juxtaposition between Don Benito and Babo while that the latter adheres to the toilet of his “master”. Captain Delano, while watching this charade of owner and slave, praises the slave for his mastery of razor, brush, and comb without realizing Babo's deadly control over the weakened captain. Melville describes the scene of the barber in the cuddy with great care and illustrates Babo's role as an impromptu valet in intricate detail. Although Melville reaches a climax in the story with the slave revolt, the reader is not yet privy to a mutinous plot or dangerous threat while Babo attends to the needs of Don Benito. In this passage, however, Melville foreshadows the traitor by offering Babo free will and leaving the fragile Don Benito in a realm of dependence and fear. Without divulging the premises of the climax, the hegemonic relationship between Babo and his pretended master is openly demonstrated by Melville's dramatic details, but left unexplained until the actual rendering of the slave revolt. By placing the master and slave in traditional roles while reversing the master's actual control over the slave, Melville shrouds the scene in unease by placing Babo in a sphere unaccustomed to his race. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Throughout the narrative, Babo often speaks on behalf of Don Benito, supports him physically and emotionally, and, most importantly, skillfully plays the role of a submissive man. Captain Delano does not doubt Babo's legitimacy because Melville so convincingly places the slave in the position of devoted servant and humble inferior. Moreover, when Babo begins to wash Don Benito, the narrator comments extensively on the slave's ability to “take care of himself” (73). He continues: “Most Negroes are natural servants and hairdressers, taking up the comb and brush as well as the castanets, and apparently handling them with almost equal satisfaction” (73). Since the narrator places Babo in such a "natural" position for a black man, the reader, as well as Delano's character, are fooled into believing that Babo could not harbor other motivations. Babo's attention to the details of his master's person illustrates a stereotypical sphere acceptable to the slave - breaking free of this role would require the greatest imagination on the part of Captain Delano and the reader. Melville's description of Babo's ease with razor and scissors places him simply within the limits of the abilities attributed to a typical slave. Melville deceives the reader by responding to the stereotype of the slave and thus allows the “natural lackey” to break free from the slave mold and become the intellectual impulse behind the revolt. Melville draws Delano into the slavery convention to the point of writing about Babo. and the race as a whole, "[They had] a certain easy, harmonious cheerfulness in every look and gesture, as if God had set the whole Negro to a pleasant melody" (73). In retrospect, these words ring with menace. Babo, instead of following the “pleasant melody” of his race as described by Melville, moves from the position of slave to that of master. Rather than through overt force, Babo exerts his mastery over Don Benito throughout the narrative as he fulfills the role of slave on the surface for the comfort of Captain Delano. As Babo shaves Don Benito, Melville's description ofthe typical occupation of slaves, “the docility arising from the unambitious contentment of a limited mind” (73) implies the exact opposite of the powerful and intelligent Babo. Captain Delano, falling into the trap of believing in Babo's "docility", goes so far as to recall his past experiences in America, sitting in his door, observing the movement of the Negroes outside and thinking about how he launched into the race like a man does with a Newfoundland dog. Melville's description of Delano's contentment in proximity to what evolves into the formidable figure of Babo, illustrates the author's use of convention as a literary device. By maintaining a stereotype, Melville leads the reader into a trap of tranquility with regard to Babo - a trap that is only realized towards the crisis of the plot. Although Melville maintains the clichés of black slaves during the barber scene, he nevertheless creates an unconventional power relationship between Babo and Don. Benito, like the first, attends to his duties as valet. Babo's grooming actions cause inexplicable fear in Don Benito; However, Captain Delano never for a moment gives the slave the power to induce fear in his master. When some blood is drawn, Melville writes of Delano's performance: “Poor boy, thought Captain Delano, so nervous that he cannot even bear the sight of the barber's blood; and this deranged and sick man, is it credible that I should have done it? imagined that he wanted to shed all my blood, who cannot bear the sight of a single little drop of his own drop? » (75). Although Don Benito is clearly reacting to a horrible fear or nervous breakdown, Delano blames himself for thinking that the Spanish captain is a murderer, never interpreting the signs as an implication of Babo's control over his own master. Since Delano's view of Babo is one of dutiful, canine devotion to Don Benito, the flow of blood during the shaving accident and Benito's resulting nerves suggest interpretations other than actual mastery of Babo on the situation. Through language, Melville alludes to the real domination of the slave; however, Delano only once considers the situation somewhat strange. Melville writes: "The idea crossed his mind that perhaps the master and the man, for some unknown purpose, were acting, both in word and in deed, nay, to the trembling of the limbs of Don Benito, a juggling game before him” (76). However, after this "flash" of doubt, Delano ignores his feeling and simply interprets the situation as strange due to the picturesque heraldic shaving cloth draped over Don Benito's body. After this moment of doubt, Melville again alludes to a perverse power play as Babo finishes shaving his master: "He sat so pale and stiff now that the negro looked like a Nubian sculptor finishing a white statue's head » (76). Nothing could be more obvious than the sculptor-marble/master-object parallel in this description - Babo's command over Don Benito - yet Melville continues to confuse Delano and the reader with the supposed bloodthirsty intent of the weak Don Benito. In one sentence, Melville demonstrates the power and action of the slave over the master in a strange inversion of positions. The “Nubian sculptor” has complete control over the rigid white man and, although Babo never openly deviates from the path of perfect servitude, he exercises complete control over Don Benito during the entire interaction. After Babo completed his work on Don Benito, Melville again wrote subtly about the slave's control over his master. Parallel to the metaphor of the sculptor, Melville writes: “Everything,.