This essay
examines Leggatt as an independent person, rather than as a symbol connected to
the captain-narrator, a view shared by many critics. Leggatt is not a negative influence on the
captain per se. From an objective point
of view, it can be seen that Leggatt's portrayal depends entirely on how the
captain (as narrator) perceives him, and that he deserves to be treated as the
individual being that he is.
Many of
Conrad's critics, most notably Albert J. Guerard , Robert W. Stallmann , have
taken the view that Leggatt, of the novella "The Secret Sharer," is
either some sort of symbol of the captain's dark side, a kind of role model for
the captain, or that he is part of the captain.
In this essay I will first examine the captain's portrayal of Leggatt,
then argue that Leggatt is none of these, rather, he is a complete person in
and of himself, and not simply part of the captain's personality deficiencies.
At first glance it would seem that Leggatt is
either the antagonist or provides a criminal influence on the captain. By no means are Leggatt's decisions and
actions exemplary. Murdering mutinous
crew members is hardly an acceptable practice, and avoiding justice, and one's
punishment-all of which Leggatt do-only worsen the issue. The captain claims that in swimming to the
island Koh-ring, his double had "lowered himself into the water to take
his punishment" (Conrad 193). However, as Cedric Watts argues, this is only
true because Leggatt, by escaping justice, will face an uncertain future
marooned on an island (134). In reality, Leggatt is doing the opposite; he
is lowering himself into the water to escape from the law, for it is unlikely
that he would get off scot-free in court.
The captain describes Koh-ring as "a towering black mass like the
very gateway of Erebus," (Conrad
193) Erebus being the cavern through which the souls of the dead entered Hades'
world (Watts 134).
Leggatt and the captain discover soon after
they first meet that they are both "Conway boys," that is, as cadets,
they served as crew on the training-ship the Conway, which is moored in the
Mersey at Liverpool (Conrad 146). In this novel, the Conway serves as "a
universal letter of credit" (Burgess 115).
Leggatt and the captain's bond becomes stronger once they learn that
they share a common training background.
Conway boys are taught the importance of fierce
loyalty toward one's ship (Batchelor
187). Leggatt demonstrates his loyalty
by risking his life in order to save his ship, the Sephora, from sinking by
setting the foresail. Ironically, the
captain's loyalties lie with Leggatt, rather than his ship, as he risks his
ship and crew to ensure Leggatt's safe marooning at Koh-ring. The fact that the captain is so ready to ally
himself with Leggatt indicates that perhaps the captain is not as qualified for
his command as he should be. Further,
this observation introduces the captain as untrustworthy; his judgment must be
flawed if his primary allegiance is for Leggatt, rather than the ship entrusted
to his command. This flawed judgment
extends to the captain's perception of, and subsequent portrayal of Leggatt, as
we shall see.
Nevertheless, many critics claim that, although
Leggatt may not be a symbol of the dark side of the captain, he is a criminal
influence for the captain. The basis for
the main argument for Leggatt as a criminal influence is that he brings about
situations in which the captain risks his career, crew, ship, and life. However, Leggatt is not responsible for the
captain's behavior. During the course of
the novella, the captain always retains the power to choose his actions and to
make his own decisions. The dark
characterization of Leggatt comes from the captain's perspective and portrayal
of Leggatt.
The captain is an alienated man. At the very beginning of the novel, he
comments a few times that he is the only stranger on board his ship:
"...my position was that of the only stranger on board....But what I felt
most was my being a stranger to the ship, and if all the truth must be told, I
was somewhat of a stranger to myself"
(Conrad 137-138). At this point
in the story, the reader first
recognizes that the captain as unsteady in his new command, but as having good
intentions. He keeps anchor watch one
night, to the astonishment of his crew, as a gesture of benevolence (Conrad 139).
However, this attempt toward friendliness serves to alienate the captain
even further since his crew is so taken aback by his actions. The captain needs to show leadership in order
to gain respect from and get to know his crew.
However, the captain is so inexperienced that he does not really have a
conception of himself as the commander of a sailing vessel. He needs someone to confide in, but this
confidante cannot be a crew member since they all know each other, having had
worked with one another for some time.
This person must be equally a stranger to the ship and its crew. That is why, when Leggatt is introduced, the
captain almost immediately treats him as though he were some sort of a surprise
guest, rather than a fugitive.
The captain hides Leggatt in his personal
quarters, and they spend as much time as possible whispering together about
Leggatt's crime, the situation on board the ship, and any other pressing
information that must be discussed. The
captain sneaks in food for Leggatt, and visits him at every opportunity. The captain expends so much energy in caring
for his guest that he further alienates himself from the crew and the
ship. He avoids the steward, and sends
him on inane errands in order to get him away from his quarters lest he
discover Leggatt. The crew thus
perceives the captain as strange and unpredictable. Further, the captain endangers his career,
and ultimately, his ship and his crew, in order to ensure Leggatt's safe
marooning. Watt points out "Indeed,
one of the most enigmatic features of the tale is that the narrator never seems
to appreciate the moral enormity of his own readiness to help a felon elude
justice" (134).
What makes things worse for the captain is that
his desire to sate his loneliness transcends his judgment. While he is hiding Leggatt, he puts himself
under an enormous amount of stress. He
tells the reader how unbearable it is to be separated from his double. The captain needs to have Leggatt in his
quarters to make him feel less alienated from others, but at the same time, he
cannot deal with the strain of hiding a fugitive. This causes him to falter, and consequently,
makes him appear as though Leggatt's criminal side is influencing the captain
for the worse.
Further, according to Graver, the captain uses
phrases like "double," "other self," and "secret
sharer" to identify himself with Leggatt nearly forty times during the
course of the novella (152). This tremendous repetition is even more
amazing when it is considered that, beyond their superficial similarities-they
are both Conway boys, wearing the same pajamas-the two men are not very much
alike at all. In fact, the captain never
bothers to explore any deeper connections between the two. This adds support to the assertion that the
captain feels a need for a confidante; he draws on non-existent superficial
similarities in order to draw himself closer to Leggatt.
Leggatt is not an evil man, nor does he exert a
criminal influence on the captain. On
the other hand, Leggatt is a role model for the captain in some ways. He brings out a kind of inner strength in the
captain on at least two occasions. When
they first meet, the captain says to the reader, "[Leggatt's] voice was
calm and resolute. A good voice. The self-possession of that man had somehow
induced a corresponding state in myself"
(Conrad 144). This soothing
effect is what allows the two men to continue to develop their close bond. The captain makes use of this effect later,
when Captain Archbold is aboard. The
captain almost toys with him, pretending he is hard of hearing. He asks Archbold to speak up; this way, Leggatt,
hidden a few feet away, can listen to the conversation. The captain then happily leads Captain
Archbold on a vain search of his ship.
At other times, the captain is so fearful of Leggatt's being discovered
that he nearly passes out from sheer terror.
One such incident occurs when the steward hangs the captain's coat to
dry in his bathroom, where Leggatt is hiding.
"My nerves were so shaken that I could not govern my voice and
conceal my agitation...I expected to hear a yell of surprise and terror, and
made a movement, but had not the strength to get on my legs...My head
swam..." (Conrad 176-177). If anything, this is more like the reaction
one would expect from a young inexperienced captain on his maiden voyage, upon
seeing a stranger hanging from his ship's ladder, rather than the captain's
calm, hushed whispering. Leggatt
inspires the calm, collected mood in the captain, a tool he will need to gain
confidence in his captaincy, as he does at the end of the novella.
Further arguments supporting Leggatt as a
benevolent character can be found in examining one of Conrad's sources for his
novella. Conrad based "The Secret
Sharer," on the events of another ship, the Cutty Sark, a famous tea
clipper. In 1880, the chief mate of the
Cutty Sark, Sydney Smith (Batchelor names John Anderson 188), killed a
disobedient and lazy crew member, John Francis, by hitting him on the head with
a capstan bar, after Francis refused to carry out some particular order of
Smith's (Karl 203). The skipper of the Cutty Sark helped Smith to
escape, but later committed suicide.
Smith was eventually arrested in London and convicted of manslaughter.
Conrad purposefully lessened the severity of
Leggatt's crime compared to Smith's by making the situation much more stressful
than that of the Cutty Sark. Leggatt's
ship, the Sephora, was in such violent waters as Captain Archbold had not seen
in his seventy-three years of sailing.
The Sephora's sinking was thought to be imminent, and the crew was in
panic. In the midst of this chaos,
Leggatt managed to set the reefed foresail, which saved the ship and its
crew. However, in setting the foresail,
a mate helping Leggatt refused to follow orders, and Leggatt, exasperated by
the storm and by facing death, "felled him like an ox" (Conrad147).
The mate got up, wanting to fight, but Leggatt grabbed a hold of his
neck and did not let go until he was dead, while the storm tossed the pair
around the deck of the ship.
Later, while Captain Archbold is on the
captain's ship, he concedes that it was the foresail that prevented the
Sephora's sinking. He claims that the
sea was so violent that, although he knew the foresail should be set, he was
too afraid to give the order. Archbold
goes on to reason that it must have been divine intervention which saved his
ship, and retreats to a blind, unthinking reliance on God. After Archbold disembarks, the captain
returns to his quarters and asks Leggatt if he had heard that conversation. Leggatt replies:
The man told you he hardly dared to give
the order...I
assure you he never gave the order. He stood there with
me on the deck of the poop after the main
topsail blew
away, and whimpered about our last
hope--[it] was enough
to drive any fellow out of his mind. It worked me up into a
sort of desperation. I just took it in my own hands...It
wasn't a heavy sea--it was a sea gone
mad! (Conrad 171-172)
Although the
consideration of all of the external pressures surrounding Leggatt's crime do
not make his behavior acceptable, it does make it more understandable. The reader gets the feeling that, given the
right circumstances, the same thing could happen to anybody under
pressure...especially the captain.
Graver agrees that "Conrad recast the Cutty Sark source material to
make Leggatt seem more agreeable; if he had wished to create a character in
some ways disreputable, he need not have made any changes at all" (150).
Leggatt is not a psychopath who wanders about
strangling people. The captain says,
"And I knew well enough also that my double was no homicidal
ruffian" (Conrad 147). In all other respects he seems to be a
strong, intelligent, well-mannered sailor.
Conrad himself was "simply knocked over" when he read a review
calling Leggatt "a murderous ruffian." (qtd. in Baines 358)
Leggatt is neither evil nor good, but somewhere
in between, as most people are. He is
not a symbol for some aspect of the captain, but a whole person whose existence
does not depend on the captain's. The
contrary view, that Leggatt is somehow a part of the captain, a doppelganger or
some such double, stems from the captain's flawed and biased portrayal of
him. Nor is Leggatt necessarily a good
influence, as can be seen by examining the historical basis for the story. He is merely a person, independent and as
free as he can be while fleeing from the law.
Works Cited:
Baines,
Jocelyn. Joseph Conrad: A Critical Biography. London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
1959.
Batchelor,
John. The Life of Joseph Conrad: A Critical Biography. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishers, 1994.
Burgess, Chester
Francis. The Fellowship of the
Craft: Conrad on Ships and Seamen and the Sea.
New York: National University
Publications, 1976.
Conrad,
Joseph. Heart of Darkness and The Secret
Sharer. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.
Graver,
Lawrence. Conrad's Short Fiction. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1969.
Karl, Frederick
Robert. Joseph Conrad: The Three Lives. New York:
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,
1979.
Watts,
Cedric. A Preface to Conrad. 2nd ed.
New York: Longman Publishing,
1993.
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