Leggatt's character in The Secret SharerThis essay examines Leggatt as an independent person, rather than as a symbol linked to the captain-narrator, a view shared by many many critics. Leggatt per se is not a negative influence on the captain. From an objective point of view, one can see that Leggatt's portrayal depends entirely on how the Captain (as narrator) perceives him, and that he deserves to be treated as the individual that he is . Many of Conrad's critics, notably Albert J. Guérard and Robert W. Stallmann, believe that Leggatt, from the short story "The Secret Sharer", is either a sort of symbol of the Captain's dark side, a sort of role model for the Captain, or that he is a part of the captain. In this essay, I will first examine the Captain's portrayal of Leggatt, and then argue that Leggatt is none of these, but rather is a whole person in his own right, and does not simply part of the captain's personality deficiencies. At first glance, it would appear that Leggatt is either the antagonist or he has criminal influence over the Captain. Leggatt's decisions and actions are by no means exemplary. Murdering mutinous crew members is hardly an acceptable practice, and avoiding justice and its punishment - which Leggatt does - only makes the problem worse. The captain claims that by swimming to Koh-ring Island, his double had “put himself in the water to suffer his punishment” (Conrad 193). However, as Cedric Watts argues, this is only true because Leggatt, in escaping justice, will find himself marooned on an island with an uncertain future (134). In reality, Leggatt does the opposite; he throws himself into the water to escape the law, ...... middle of paper ...... as free as he can be while running 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 Craft Community: Conrad on Ships, Sailors, 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 Editions, 1993.