Thinking outside the box...

Benito Cereno, being written from the protagonist perspective of Captain Delano, can sway the readers' by giving them a very negative connotation of the slaves aboard the San Dominick. With the conclusion of the story, the reader generally will have garnered a sense of satisfaction knowing that the slave revolt on the ship was put down by the valiant efforts of Captain Delano and Don Benito. It is very interesting to take a gander into this story from the perspective of the slaves and to understand how they felt during these events.
In Benito Cereno, it is often overlooked that these slaves were wrenched from their homeland and forced into submission by the Spaniards. The narrator conveys an image of unrelenting cruelty and lack of pity when describing the actions of the slaves whereas this very description can be used to characterize the actions of the Spaniards. When Delano had the epiphany of perceiving the macrocosm of the slaves hidden scheme, it was said that, "the scales dropped from his eyes, [he] saw the negroes, not in misrule, not in tumult, not as if frantically concerned for Don Benito, but with mask torn away, flourishing hatchets and knives, in ferocious piratical revolt." It seems most likely that the majority subjected to these aforementioned conditions would do their best to formulate a plan in order to overthrow their oppressors. The narrator also says via Don Benito's account that, "Don Alexandro; that, yet half alive and mangled, they dragged him on deck; that they were going to throw him overboard in that state..."
This all being said, it is hard to read this story with empathy towards the slaves. It intrigues me to think how easily this story could have been shifted from satisfying to tragic by switching protagonist aspects. Authors have so much power in controlling the readers' emotions and their response to works of literature simply telling the story from the perspective of their choosing.