Before the truth about Benito Cereno's strange fate becomes apparent, Herman Melville creates an intriguing juxtaposition between Don Benito and Babo as the latter joins to the toilet of his "master". Captain Delano, while watching this masquerade between owner and slave, congratulates the slave on his mastery of the razor, brush, and comb without realizing Babo's deadly control over the weakened captain. Melville describes the barbershop scene with the utmost care and illustrates Babo's role as a gentleman's impromptu valet in intricate detail. Although Melville reaches the narrative's climax with the slave revolt, the reader is not yet privy to a mutinous plot or dangerous threat as Babo tends to Don Benito's needs. 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 premise of the climax, the hegemonic relationship between Babo and his fictional master is overtly demonstrated by Melville's dramatic details, but left unexplained until the actual depiction of the slave revolt. By placing the master and slave in traditional roles and reversing the master's effective control over the slave, Melville envelops the scene with 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Throughout the entire narrative, Babo often speaks for Don Benito, supports him physically and emotionally, and, above all, 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 dutiful and humble inferior servant. Furthermore, when Babo begins his toilette of Don Benito, the narrator comments profusely on the slave's ability to "care for his own person" (73). He continues: "most of the negroes are natural valets and hairdressers, who attend to the comb and brush as congenially as to the castanets, and wave them apparently 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, is led to believe that Babo cannot harbor alternative motivations. Babo's attention to the details of his master's person illustrates a stereotypical sphere acceptable to the slave: freeing himself from that role would require the utmost imagination on the part of Captain Delano and the reader. Melville's description of Babo's ease with a razor and scissors simply places him within the capabilities assigned to a typical slave. Melville deceives the reader by fulfilling the slave stereotype and thus allows the "natural valet" to break free from the slave mold and become the intellectual impulse behind the revolt. Melville drags Delano into the slave convention to the point of writing about Babo. and the race as a whole, "[They had] a certain easy cheerfulness, harmonious in every look and gesture, as if God had set the whole Negro to a pleasant tune" (73). In retrospect, these words ring with menace. Babo, instead of following the "pleasant tune" of his race described by Melville, moves from the position of slave to that of master. Rather than overt force, Babo exerts his dominance 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 of the typical occupation of theslave, "the docility that arises from the unaspirational 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 doorway, watching the movement of the Negroes outside and thinking to himself how took to the run as a man does a Newfoundland dog. Melville's description of Delano's contentment as it evolves into the formidable figure of Babo illustrates the author's use of convention as a literary device. By maintaining a stereotype, Melville drags the reader into a trap of tranquility towards Babo, a trap that is only realized during the crisis of the plot. Although Melville maintains the clichés of the Negro slaves during the barbershop scene, he still creates an unconventional power relationship between Babo and Don. Benito, like the first, performs his duties as a waiter. Babo's baiting actions cause inexplicable fear in Don Benito; Captain Delano, however, never for an instant grants 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 could not even bear the sight of the barber's blood; and this sick and nervous man, he is believable that I should have imagined I wanted to shed all my blood, who cannot bear the sight of a single drop of his (75) Although Don Benito is clearly reacting to some horrible fear or attack of nerves, Delano berates himself for thinking that the Spanish captain is a murderer, never interpreting the signs as implying Babo's control over his own master As Delano's vision of Babo is one of conscientious, canine devotion to Don Benito, the release of blood. during the shaving incident and Benito's resulting nerves, indicate interpretations other than Babo's actual control over the situation. Through language, Melville alludes to the slave's actual dominance; however, Delano only once considers the situation somewhat strange. Melville writes: "the idea flashed upon him that perhaps the master and the man, for some unknown purpose, were acting, both in word and deed, indeed, to the trembling of Don Benito's limbs, some juggling act before him " (76). After this "flash" of doubt, however, Delano ignores his feelings and simply interprets the situation as strange due to the distinctive 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 the head of a white statue" (76 ). Nothing could be more evident than the sculptor-marble/principal object parallel in this description – Babo's command over Don Benito – and yet Melville still confuses Delano and the reader with the supposed bloodthirsty intent of the weak Don Benito. In one sentence, Melville demonstrates the power and agency of the slave over the master in a strange reversal of positions. The "Nubian sculptor" has total control over the rigid white man, and although Babo never overtly strays from the path of perfect servitude, he exerts complete control over Don Benito throughout the entire interaction. After Babo finishes his work on Don Benito, Melville again subtly writes of the slave's control over his master. Parallel to the sculptor's metaphor, Melville writes: "all this done, retreating a little space and pausing with an expression of subdued self-satisfaction, the servant observed for a moment the,.