Compiled and designed by:
Mr. Milan Mondal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
ENGLISH (CC); SEM-III: PAPER- C6T ( The Secret Sharer )
A critical overview of the text: —
Like any other short-stories, this one also starts in in media race (in the middle). As the story opens, we find the unnamed narrator i.e. the captain of the ship into the deck. The narrator is giving a picturesque description of the natural world visible to him from the deck of the ship.
The time is towards the sunset. The narrator was alone in the deck. He was isolated because on the one hand, he is far away from human civilization and on the other hand he was new to his present profession and so he was not acquainted with his fellow mates. So out of literal and metaphorical isolation the narrator was passing time observing the nature.
In this way the time passed and it was 8’o clock in the evening he got the call for supper. When the Captain sat for supper, he wanted to know about a ship he saw in the afternoon. From his mates he came to know that that was a ship waiting for proper weather. This type of deed of the narrator suggests that he was a novice in this present profession. The narrator himself declared that he was appointed to his present post of captain before fifteen days.
When the conversation about that ship was going on, the chief-mate with long whiskers introduced the story of the scorpion. He said that someday he saw a scorpion in his cabin. It fell on ink of his writing desk. The anecdote of the scorpion bears highly symbolical importance. A scorpion can generally be found in land and not in a place like ship. So it is unusual one. Later we see that Leggatt came into the ship in an unexpected manner. So symbolically, Leggatt is like that of the scorpion because he was found in an unusual circumstance. The mate also said that the scorpion become black stained due to its fall into the ink. Very interestingly we find that Leggatt’s hair was black in colour. According to western belief black colour is associated with ill or something bad and we find that Leggatt was an absconding murderer. Though ultimately, Leggatt stands as an eye opener to the Captain of the ship.
After the supper the Captain ordered his chief mated to take rest till further call. The Captain also told his mates that he would be in his duty till 1’o clock at night. This was unusual for a
Compiled and designed by:
Mr. Milan Mondal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
ENGLISH (CC); SEM-III: PAPER- C6T ( The Secret Sharer )
captain, because a captain generally does not perform in such an hour. From this it is clear that the captain was really alone he wanted to remain alone. It also suggests that he is anew in his profession.
The night became serene and quiet after the supper, as the crewmen fell asleep. The narrator then started to smoke a cigar to his fill on the deck of the ship while watching the nocturnal sky. Suddenly, he found that the side ladders of the ship were not turned out. So, he was turning out the ladder. In his utter dismay, the narrator found that he was unable to tun out one of the ladders. Out of curiosity, he leaned over the deck and found a stranger. The stranger gripped the ladder. The narrator helped the stranger to come to the deck of the ship. The more the Captain enquired, the more the mysterious incident was revealed. The narrator came to know that the man was Leggatt, the absconding captain of a ship Sephora. The narrator was already given a preliminary idea about the ship by one of his chief mates.
When Leggatt came to the ship of the narrator, he was totally naked. The narrator, then gave him one of his sleeping suits. Very interestingly enough, the narrator understood that the suit suited the man properly. The narrator himself declared the man to be his ‘double’. That is to say that the man was his alter-ego. So, here we find that the ‘doppelganger’ theme comes into the text.
The strange man (Leggatt), then, started narrating his story to the narrator. From their conversation it cme into light that the narrator and Leggat belonged to the same place. Then, Leggatt told the narrator that he had absconded from his ship killing one of his fellow mates.
Leggatt also told the narrator that he was the captain of a ship and he unintentionally killed one of his crewmen for disobeying him (Leggatt). Here, we can trace a psychological difference in between the Captain of the present ship and Leggatt. Leggatt represents the courageous nature of human being and the narrator represents the rational and timid nature of human being.
Leggatt was given refuge into the ‘L’ shaped cabin of the narrator. The shape of the cabin is highly symbolic. As the narrator himself declared that the cabin was a suitable place to hide
Compiled and designed by:
Mr. Milan Mondal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
ENGLISH (CC); SEM-III: PAPER- C6T ( The Secret Sharer )
Leggatt. The narrator minutely listened to Leggatt. As they were talking in a whispering tone they had to be very close. The narrator said that he had to put his shoulder in touch with the shoulder of Leggatt at the time of their conversation. The narrator himself declared that in the dim light of the cabin they resembled each other. So, once again it is clear that the doppelganger theme is prevalent in every inch of the novel.
