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[djarum99]

Meta: On Captain Jack Sparrow and the Nature of Good and Evil
Author: djarum99
Disclaimer: not mine, no money coming in
A/N: Just some thoughts that have presented themselves in the course of writing in this fandom. This is where the characters as I see them come from; it is also the result of a very long work week, too little sleep, and Friday night

Comments

[djarum99]

Yes, but it's a good kind of pain *g*. Taking your points in order:

I agree with everything you've said, and I've also tried to tease apart some of the same dilemmas. I believe Jack is as capable of cowardice as any of us, but that he can and does overcome it(canon)as you pointed out (again, grinning on the gallows and "hello beastie").

The society Jack lives in is not so far removed from out own. Some of us in this world have readier access to power in the form of money and protective social and political structures, but the balance is still tipped by the powerless and disenfranchised. We, too, are able to find easy denial of the misery of others and the human cost of our luxuries, although perhaps not as easily as did the privileged of Jack's century. I have the same fascination you do for Jack's past, and the same belief in the choices he had, given the ones that he made as a "good man". One thing I really am itching to write about is the intriguing history with Beckett that you referred to. I've already incorporated part of that into my stories, but I feel the need to explore it further.

The Dauntless scene always made me wonder, as well. I think I've finally decided that Jack was caught in the planning stages in that scene, not yet having a clue how he was going to acquire a crew to sail her. I think he simply wouldn't have been able to resist putting his hands on her, once he had her in sight *g*.

Thank you so much for responding to this. One of the best things about this community is having the chance to bat these questions back and forth!

[bleumidget]

A thought on the Dauntless; I never interpreted Jack as planning on taking that ship in CotBP - he just had to give the impression that he was to draw the Intercepter out of dock and into waters where he could just steal her right from under the Navy's noses. He would have had no chance of comandeering her berthed in Port Royal; that would have definitley required more men than just he & Will to pull off. Remember that Murtogg and Mulroy had told him way back before he saved Elizabeth or ever had a run-in with Norrington and was jailed, that no ship could match the Interceptor for speed. In my mind he was after the Interceptor from that moment on; he needed a fast ship to catch up with Barbossa, and what he did to the Dauntless just gave him the opportunity to compound Norrington's embarrasment. How could Jack resist that?

[djarum99]

I know, you're definitely right about all of that. Just think that boarding the Dauntless under Murtogg and Mulroy's noses was part of that plan, and that he was starving for the feel of a ship, any ship, at that point. And yes, how could he resist? Best pirate I've ever seen...:)