*Long John Silver* -Fictional Pirate
Yes, a chain of seafood restaurants stole his name. But that doesn’t diminish the stature of possibly the most famous fictional pirate ever.
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island in 1883 as a serialized children’s story. On the surface, it is a rousing adventure, full of danger, suspense, and of course treasure. It’s not very difficult to imagine a child of that time identifying with young Jim Hawkins, dreaming of sailing the high seas, following a treasure map to a chest full of gold doubloons.
But there is much more to the story than that. Originally titled “The Sea Cook”, it has been argued because of this, and because of the character of Long John Silver, that the story was not about Jim Hawkins at all.
John Silver had served in the Royal Navy under a man named Hawke, and at some point during this service lost his leg. He was presumably discharged for this impairment, and taken on by the pirate Captain Flint. A man must survive somehow, after all. Silver was apparently so good at his adopted career that he was the only man Flint feared; a considerable accomplishment, since Flint himself was formidable. Silver became Flint’s quartermaster, and served under him for many years.
Flint’s career lasted twenty-five years, an enormous length of time for one in such a risky profession. During this time he buried the bulk of his treasure on a remote Caribbean island, killed the six men who helped him to do it, and kept the map of its location a secret until he lay on his deathbed.
Flint’s remaining pirate crew scattered after his death; he had shared out what loot was left after he buried the greater portion. But the wily Silver knew it would not be long before the others would try to find the treasure, and so he gathered a few of his own crew and set off to recover it himself. What follows is the adventure of Treasure Island.
Stevenson, in his portrayal of Silver, gave rise to much of the modern perception of pirates. Long John Silver uses crutches very effectively after losing his leg; this may be where the association between pirates and peg legs comes from. A parrot (rather wryly named Captain Flint) rides his shoulder and screams “Pieces of eight, pieces of eight”. He uses a treasure map to find a buried treasure, something few if any actual pirates ever did. (Captain Kidd buried loot to hold as a bargaining chip, but it was quickly recovered by the authorities.)
But Long John Silver is not at all a one-dimensional character. Like his real-life counterparts he is a mix of good and evil. He shows a friendly, even fatherly side to Jim Hawkins, perhaps seeing something of himself in the young adventure-seeking boy. To others he is by turns friendly and ruthless, murdering fellow crewmen without a flicker of emotion and manipulating them for his benefit. He is clever, self-serving, greedy, and a hardened killer, and yet likeable despite all of that.
An excess of charm? Perhaps. Long John Silver is no more or less than the real-life pirates who terrorized the high seas in the Golden Age of piracy, with all their charm and murder. He is easily believable as a real person, mixed up in an adventure most of us only read or dream about, of treasure maps, tall ships, and the Jolly Roger against a clear blue sky.
Leave a Comment
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
