title: Benito Cereno
author:  Herman Melville 
description: ''In our own time of terror and torture, <i>Benito Cereno</i> has emerged as the most salient of Melville's works: a tale of desperate men in the grip of a vengeful fury that those whom they hate cannot begin to understand.'' --Andrew Delbanco, author, <i>Melville: His World and Work</i><br /><br />''The noblest short story in American literature.'' --Edward J. O'Brien, American author and short-story anthologist<br /><br />''Superficially, this is a story of slavery and mutiny on the high seas, but beneath the adventure-charged plot lies Melville's examination of that subject which so fascinated him: the confrontation of extreme forces of good and evil in the universe.'' --<i>Masterpieces of World Literature</i>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Benito Cereno and Billy Budd**
  
  
  Herman Melville
  
  
  Benito Cereno and Billy Budd
  
  
  **Table of Contents**
  
  
  **Benito Cereno and Billy
  Budd...........................................................................................................................1**
  
  
  Herman
  Melville......................................................................................................................................1
  
  
  i
  
  
  **Benito Cereno and Billy Budd**
  
  
  **Herman Melville**
  
  
  Benito Cereno
  
  
  •
  
  
  Billy Budd
  
  
  •
  
  
  [CHAPTER I](index_split_001.html#p50)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER II](index_split_001.html#p53)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER III](index_split_001.html#p55)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER IV](index_split_001.html#p56)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER V](index_split_001.html#p57)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER VI](index_split_001.html#p58)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER VII](index_split_001.html#p59)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER VIII](index_split_001.html#p60)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER IX](index_split_001.html#p62)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER X](index_split_001.html#p63)
  
  
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  [CHAPTER XI](