The Great Isabel symbolizes the individual, isolated in the Placid Gulf of subjectivity. Here, as Sotillo threatens torture, it hoves into view "darkly" and ominously, suggesting that even in a world devoid of objective reference, Sotillo's character possesses a reality that may well have a physical effect upon the captain. Beneath the surface meaning in which the island provides the objective reference, I sense a second meaning in which the true objective fact is peril at the hands of raving but real individuality.