Captain Jack Sparrow - A Legend in His Own Mind

[the_stowaway]

Title: Captain Jack Sparrow - A Legend in His Own Mind
Author: the_stowaway
Character: Captain Jack Sparrow
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Spoilers: All three movies
Beta: the lovely and talented jenna_thorn

Comments

[the_stowaway]

YAY! I'm glad you liked it!

You raise some good points. As for the first, you may be right - he may have a personal code, albeit one *very* unlike anything like society's norms. Whether that code would actually stop him from doing something is another question. I tend to see him as extremely flexible morally - so flexible that even his own code couldn't stand if he thought that by evading it he might gain something he valued more. I'd think the better of him if he DID have some firm boundaries beyond which he wouldn't go, actually. *g*

As for the second, I see it this way. Jack went after Elizabeth out of self-interest. He was already about half-way to being under arrest. Murtogg and Mulroy might be duped into letting him go, but even if they did, they'd still be more wary of a second attempt to steal the Interceptor, so Jack was in need of a new plan. By leaping into the bay to rescue Elizabeth, he gets himself off the Interceptor, making it easier for him to slip away altogether, if necessary. (He could sneak back for his coat, hat and 'effects' later.) And rescuing a lady might win him some kind of reward from her grateful family. So I think he was using Elizabeth's rescue for his own ends. YMMV, of course! That's part of the fun of Jack - nobody can ever be quite certain what he's up to; all we can do is guess.

[luvvycat]

I have to agree with Florencia. I believe Jack does have an altruistic side (infinitesimal though it may be), but it’s likely something he hates having, sees as a major weakness in himself, and tries his best to suppress (mostly because his “good deeds” tend to jump up and bite him on the arse, big-time, whenever he succumbs to his altruistic urges.) ;-) Case in point: see how resigned (and rather pissed-off!) Jack looks just before he jumps in to save Elizabeth; it’s clearly something he doesn’t want to do, it’s not the smart thing to do in Jack’s tenuous situation, but seems to be something he is compelled to do nonetheless. Jack had a helluva lot to lose, and very little to gain, by saving Elizabeth.

Jack went after Elizabeth out of self-interest. He was already about half-way to being under arrest … By leaping into the bay to rescue Elizabeth, he gets himself off the Interceptor, making it easier for him to slip away altogether, if necessary … And rescuing a lady might win him some kind of reward from her grateful family. So I think he was using Elizabeth's rescue for his own ends.

Now this, as proof of Jack’s self-interest, (with all due respect to you and your magnificently-written and mostly spot-on character study) just doesn’t hold water, IMO. Firstly, I don’t think Jack ever saw M&M as a real threat, (I mean, honestly-the Laurel & Hardy of the redcoat set vs. the most cunning pirate in the Caribbean?). In fact, I almost get the impression that Jack’s trying to recruit them, first by inferring that they’ve been slighted by not having been invited to the festivities up at the Fort, then wooing them with stories of adventures at sea. (After all, he was in need of a new crew, and persuasion is one of Jack’s most effective, and preferred, weapons of choice!)

I also can’t see how rescuing a rather high-profile local lass would help Jack “slip away” when it can only draw unwanted attention to himself (and bring all those lovely, well-trained soldiers attending the shindig up at Fort Charles running). It’s tantamount to Jack taking himself out of the frying pan (and one simmering over a very weak and rather dim flame, at that, given his easily-distracted and less than brilliant “company”) and plunging himself headlong into a self-immolating fire! And the fact is he didn’t use the rescue attempt as a cover to escape the Interceptor and run away-he saved the girl, swam with her to the docks, handed her up to the two men from whom he (purportedly) would have been trying to escape, hung around to make sure she was all right, and when he found out she wasn’t, took further drastic measures to, in essence, “bring her back to life.” It doesn’t sound like someone only looking out for his own interests!

Saving Elizabeth was a rash and rather foolhardy course of action, if his core motivation was personal gain. As you so clearly point out in your treatise, Jack is neither mad, nor a fool, and only one or the other would wantonly (and quite spectacularly) call attention to himself in the midst of a clandestine mission to steal a ship, particularly when he’s had a very grim, graphic, and putrescent example of how the local authorities deal with pirates.

Other than this one tiny point of dissention, I would like to congratulate you on a quite masterfully-written, thoroughly fascinating look at our favourite scallywag pirate! Truly brilliant, and should be mandatory reading for anyone attempting to write the character of (Captain) Jack Sparrow! Heaps and heaps of kudos to you! ;-)

--Cat

[the_stowaway]

This is what I love about Jack. Everything you say makes perfect sense and holds together beautifully and yet I still think my version can be just as valid. He's such a slippery character, with so much glorious room for interpretation! There's space for a bunch of different versions of Jack, all in one scene, IMO. No wonder he's so much fun to write.

For example, you say Case in point: see how resigned (and rather pissed-off!) Jack looks just before he jumps in to save Elizabeth; it’s clearly something he doesn’t want to do, it’s not the smart thing to do in Jack’s tenuous situation, but seems to be something he is compelled to do nonetheless.

Now, while agreeing that what you say makes perfect sense, I see the disgusted look as his opinion of M&M. He expected *them* to jump in and save her, leaving him in possession of the ship, but neither can swim. Bugger. Go to Plan B - get *himself* off the ship and improvise from there.

And yes, the rescue would be expected to draw attention, but there are any number of ways that Jack could turn that to his advantage, IMO. First, he's assumed a new role - to almost everyone there, he's not a potential ship thief, he's the rescuer of Elizabeth. He might be counting on the easily-distracted M&M forgetting about keeping an eye on him until it's too late - until he's had a chance to use all the confusion and the crowd to slide away. Second, he might be hoping that he'll be handed some kind of reward for the rescue - money, preferably, or, failing that, perhaps the girl's father would hale him off for a drink, once again getting him away from M&M. I think he could have pulled it off, too (I mean getting away from that dock one way or another, in order to be free to try again to steal the ship) if only Norrington hadn't identified him as a pirate. Jack's a brilliant improviser, but what tripped him up this time was Norrington (the 'scourge of piracy in the eastern Caribbean') being so sharp.

So I guess my point can be summed up in a quote from Tia Dalma: "Same story, different versions and all are true."

I'm glad you liked my essay aside from this one point. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment - it's such fun to hear what other people think about our favorite pirate.