Hypocrisy In The Algerine Captive

Dr. Updike Underhill, the protagonist of Royall Tyler's The Algerine Captive, is a Caucasian, Christian male, and as countless Caucasian, Christian males before him, he has incredibly strong opinions. Many characters and events challenge him, but he remains steadfast in his beliefs. His two strongest opinions are those of slavery and religion. He believes that his god is the only one, and that slavery is wrong and inhumane. With these beliefs, he shows a great deal of hatred towards Islam since the people who enslaved him were Muslims. Even though he has these strong beliefs, he seldom suits his actions to his words. Throughout The Algerine Captive, Underhill exhibits high levels of hypocrisy in the areas of religion and slavery.

Underhill

It is perfectly acceptable for Underhill to be upset with Islam since its faithful have wronged him in countless ways. However, the alcoran does not incite them to do these terrible deeds, rather, it recommends charity, justice, and mercy (Tyler 183). They do these things because they want to and not for the reason that their religion demands it. Underhill mostly encounters people associated with the slave trade, when he meets Muslims outside Algiers, he should see that you can't stereotype a person based on their religion. Instead, since he has bad experiences, he immediately assumes that they are bad. Underhill states that the alcoran does not incite the Muslims to perform these terrible acts, but he still assumes that all Muslims are terrible people due to their religion. Later in the novel, Underhill encounters a Mahometan saint. He says, "he was the most disgusting, contemptible object, I had ever seen" (Tyler 212). He then goes on to describe him as a "mere idiot" (Tyler 213). It is fair that he describes him as disgusting, considering that, in outward appearance, he does not have much going for him, especially compared to what Underhill saw growing up in the United

The first mentions of slavery would be when he went to the American South to find better work (Tyler 79). He witnesses the beating of a young slave for being late. Upon seeing this Underhill began to dislike the South. Moreover, his friend said that he would have killed the slave, further driving the narrator to dislike the South (Tyler 81). This disdain towards the South comes into play when Underhill is captured and says that if he is granted one more taste of the freedom of his native country that he will return to the South and preach against the slave trade (Tyler106). To him, his native country is a free country, but there are, though he does not appear to be able to fully grasp that, also slaves there that are definitely not free. Underhill later takes a slaver's ship to Africa where he is the surgeon on board. He originally believes that he would not be interacting with the slaves while on the ship, but to his surprise and horror, he discovered that he was required to inspect the slaves to determine if they were suitable (Tyler 95). Underhill accepted this journey originally, but now that he has to take part in the processing he can hardly bear it (Tyler 96). Underhill wanted to ignore the fact that he was a vital part of something he opposed. As a slave, he tried to incite a rebellion, but the other slaves ignored his efforts (Tyler 123). He did not want to be ignored, which is exactly what he