Secret Sharer

In the novel The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad a young captain is placed aboard a ship, in a condition that leaves him feeling insecure and introverted in his role as captain. The sailors on board are older than him, they have been together for eighteen months, and he is unsure of how to command authority over them. Later he finds a man in the waters by his ship, one thing leads to another, and the man, who has turned out to be a murderer from a nearby ship, is now being hidden in the captains’ quarters. In an obvious way, the presence of this man, named Leggatt, seems to be the captain’s secret that he shares with Leggatt himself; explaining the title yet it would seem that maybe the secret is between the captain and the audience on whether or not Leggatt exists at all. There are many points in the book that cause the audience to question if Leggatt is really there for surely someone else would have noticed him on board at some point. The narrator with the very small amount of information given in the text is not made out to be very reliable which does not help the convincing of Leggatt’s existence. On the other hand, a crew does come aboard searching for a man who had murdered a fellow crew member and the captain does give reasonable scenarios for how Leggatt remained hidden. The existence of Leggatt can be questioned and argued both ways throughout the novel.
For the argument that Leggatt does indeed exist, there are some strong facts to confirm this view. When the captain first notices Leggatt, it is because he had been holding on to the ship’s ladder and his weight on it prohibited the captain from reeling in the ladder. “Now a side-ladder of that sort is a light affair and comes in easily, yet my vigorous tug, which should have brought it flying on board, merely recoiled upon my body in a totally unexpected jerk.” (Conrad 28). Afterwards the captain begins to have a long conversation with Leggatt and finds that he and this man are very similar in looks

References: Conrad, Joseph. The Secret Sharer. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. 24-60. Print Hirsch, Robert. "Secret Sharer Paper." Glen Ellyn, IL: 2010. . Underwood, Milton. "Self Discovery in Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Sharer." Austin: 2008. .