Dentuso

Dentuso is the local Spanish name for the mako shark, a formidable predator that attacks Santiago's marlin and embodies the relentless forces of nature that destroy the old man's prize. In The Old Man and the Sea, the Dentuso is the first and most dangerous shark to strike, and Santiago's encounter with it establishes the pattern of loss and resistance that defines the final act of his journey. The shark is not merely an obstacle but a creature of terrible beauty and power, and the old man's response to it reveals the core of his philosophy: that a man can be destroyed but not defeated.

Identity and Description

The Dentuso is a very big mako shark, built to swim as fast as the fastest fish in the sea. Everything about him is beautiful except his jaws. His back is as blue as a swordfish's, his belly is silver, and his hide is smooth and handsome. He is built like a swordfish except for his huge jaws, which are tight shut as he swims fast just under the surface, his high dorsal fin knifing through the water without wavering. Inside the closed double lip of his jaws, all of his eight rows of teeth are slanted inwards. They are not the ordinary pyramid-shaped teeth of most sharks but are shaped like a man's fingers when they are crisped like claws, nearly as long as the old man's fingers and with razor-sharp cutting edges on both sides. This is a fish built to feed on all the fishes in the sea, so fast and strong and well armed that they have no other enemy. The old man identifies him as "Dentuso," a name that carries a curse: "Bad luck to your mother." He is the biggest dentuso Santiago has ever seen, and God knows he has seen big ones.

The Attack and the Old Man's Response

The shark comes up from deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood from the marlin has settled and dispersed in the mile-deep sea. He comes up so fast and absolutely without caution that he breaks the surface of the blue water and is in the sun. He falls back into the sea, picks up the scent, and starts swimming on the course the skiff and the fish have taken. When the old man sees him coming, he knows that this is a shark that has no fear at all and will do exactly what he wishes. Santiago prepares the harpoon and makes the rope fast while he watches the shark close in. The rope is short because of what he has cut away to lash the fish. The old man's head is clear and good now, and he is full of resolution, but he has little hope. "It was too good to last," he thinks. The shark closes fast astern, and when he hits the fish, the old man sees his mouth open and his strange eyes and hears the clicking chop of the teeth as he drives forward into the meat just above the tail. The shark's head is out of water, and his back is coming out, and the old man can hear the noise of skin and flesh ripping on the big fish. Santiago rams the harpoon down onto the shark's head at the spot where the line between his eyes intersects with the line that runs straight back from his nose—the location of the brain. He hits it with his blood-mushed hands, driving a good harpoon with all his strength, without hope but with resolution and complete malignancy. The shark swings over, and the old man sees his eye is not alive. The shark swings over once again, wrapping himself in two loops of the rope. The old man knows he is dead, but the shark will not accept it. On his back, with his tail lashing and his jaws clicking, the shark plows over the water like a speedboat. The water is white where his tail beats it, and three-quarters of his body is clear above the water when the rope comes taut, shivers, and then snaps. The shark lies quietly for a little while on the surface, then goes down very slowly.

Consequences and the Old Man's Reflection

The Dentuso takes about forty pounds of the marlin's meat, and he also takes the harpoon and all the rope. The old man does not like to look at the fish anymore since it has been mutilated. When the fish was hit, it was as though he himself were hit. But he killed the shark that hit his fish, and he reflects that the Dentuso is cruel and able and strong and intelligent, but he was more intelligent than he was. Then he wonders: perhaps not, perhaps he was only better armed. He thinks about how the great DiMaggio would have liked the way he hit him in the brain. He also reflects that he enjoyed killing the Dentuso, because the shark lives on the live fish as he does, is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are, but is beautiful and noble and knows no fear of anything. Santiago says aloud, "I killed him in self-defense, and I killed him well." The loss of the harpoon and the rope leaves the old man nearly unarmed for the subsequent attacks, and the wound to the marlin's carcass draws more sharks. The Dentuso's attack is the turning point that transforms Santiago's triumph into a struggle for survival and dignity.

Thematic Significance

The Dentuso represents the pure, amoral force of nature that destroys without malice. Santiago's respect for the shark's beauty, nobility, and fearlessness, even as he kills it, underscores his complex relationship with the natural world. The shark is not evil; it is simply doing what it is built to do. The old man's victory over the Dentuso is a moral and physical triumph, but it comes at a cost that makes his ultimate defeat inevitable. The Dentuso is the first and most formidable of the sharks, and its attack sets in motion the chain of destruction that leaves Santiago with only a skeleton. The old man's reflection that he was "more intelligent" than the shark, and his subsequent doubt, highlights the theme of human pride and the limits of human mastery over nature. The Dentuso is a worthy adversary, and Santiago's battle with it is a microcosm of his entire struggle: a contest of will, skill, and endurance against an opponent that is both beautiful and deadly.