Gordian Knot

            Have you heard the myth of the Gordian knot? It is an important allusion to know in order to understand and analyze the scene around page 202 in Benito Cereno. Author Herman Melville depicts a scene here in which Captain Delano observes an old Spanish sailor constructing an intricate knot out of ropes. He explains that “the old man looked like an Egyptian priest, making Gordian knots for the temple of Ammon” (Melville 202). Why does he use this allusion? Surely Melville wanted us to understand the story of the Gordian knot in order to understand the implications of this scene.

            The story shows us that in the ancient world there was a country called Phrygia, which existed happily for some time without the guidance of a ruler. Eventually chaos began to ensue, and the wise men of the country realized that it could not continue to function well without a leader. Unable to decide who should become king, they looked to the God Apollo for guidance. Apollo’s sign indicated that a hard-working man named Gordius should be king, and he proved to be a great ruler of the country. On the day that he was appointed king, Gordius tied together the pole of his wagon and the yolk from his ox with such an intricate knot that no one who tried could ever undo it. The wagon and yolk were located in a temple, and the oracle of the temple said that the man who undid the knot would become ruler of the world. The knot remained intact inside the temple several years after the death of Gordius, despite the numerous attempts made by great men to undo it. Eventually a young king named Alexander came to try his hand at undoing the knot. After looking it over, Alexander pulled out his sword and sliced through the knot, causing it to fall to the floor. Using atypical methods he was able to undo the knot which had posed as a problem to great men for many years before him. He then set out on his quest to conquer the world, and will forever be known as Alexander the Great (Baldwin).

            Benito Cereno has many parallels to the story of the Gordian knot, which makes this a great allusion for this point in the story. They both contain: wise men who recognize issues that need to be solved, seemingly impossible situations, and outsiders who get introduced before the stories can be resolved. The old sailor who made the knot says that it is “’for someone else to undo,’” and, after throwing the knot to Delano, says in English “’undo it, cut it, quick’” (202). The knot represents the seemingly impossible “problem” on the ship, which started out in a “peaceful” state, but escalated into chaos just like in the story of the knot. From the Spanish sailor’s perspective, the “order” of master and slave that was originally present on the ship had been ruined by the overtaking of power by the black men, and he was sending a plea to Delano to restore order by asking him to undo the knot. No one on the ship was able to fix the “problem” of the black men taking over, and the sailor was hoping Delano could understand his pleas and become the heroic outsider.

            It may seem like I am assuming the old sailor knows and understands more than he actually does, but there is textual evidence showing that he is wise and has things figured out. First, he is the only man on the ship who Delano has heard speak English, and being multilingual is a sign of literacy and intelligence. Also his plea to Delano to undo the knot in English “was said lowly, but with such condensation of rapidity, that the long, slow words in Spanish, which had preceded and followed, almost operated as covers to the brief English between” (202). He was trying to get his message across to Delano, who also speaks English, without raising the suspicions of the other men on the ship. He was smart in using his knowledge of the Gordian knot and of English to nonchalantly beg for Delano’s help, but Delano did not pick up on it. His message was that things were not as they seemed, and that Delano needed to “undo the knot”, or solve the “problem,” because no one else could. An older black man came over after seeing the exchange between the sailor and Delano, and, “with a good-natured, knowing wink” told Delano that the sailor was “simple-witted but harmless; often playing his odd tricks” (203). The black man then takes the knot and, after trying to undo it, throws it with frustration into the ocean. To me, this act shows that he is in fact the simple-minded one, not the old sailor. He tries to undermine the credibility of the old man, and unfortunately Delano doesn’t see through the plot. Melville uses irony in his overly-positive description of the man, which I believe plays up Delano’s misinterpretation of the scene.

            As you can see there is a lot of important information contained within this short scene that helps us interpret and understand the story. There are a lot of different directions the analysis of the story could go using evidence from this scene, but I believe that understanding the importance of the Gordian knot is integral to understanding the scene. The Spanish sailor used a smart allusion to try to get Delano to undo the disorder that had taken place, but unfortunately Delano did not understand his implications and pick up on what the man was trying to tell him. The Gordian knot is a symbol that people all over the world would recognize, and Melville was smart including it here in his story.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. "The Gordion Knot." Thirty More Famous Stories Retold. The Baldwin Project,

         2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.
Melville, Herman. Billy Budd and Other Stories. New York: Penguin Group, 1986. Print.