Long John Silver

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox character Long John Silver is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1883 novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. The most colourful and complex character in the book, he continues to appear in popular culture. His missing leg and parrot, in particular, have greatly contributed to the image of the pirate in popular culture.

Profile

Long John Silver is a cunning and opportunistic pirate who was quartermaster under the notorious Captain Flint.<ref name="studyflint">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Stevenson's portrayal of Silver has greatly influenced the modern iconography of the pirate.<ref>Karg, p. 220.</ref>

Long John Silver has a parrot, named Captain Flint in honor—or mockery—of his former captain,<ref name="TreasureIslandCaptainFlint">Stevenson (1883), "The Voyage" [Ch. 10], pp. 80f.</ref> who generally perches on Silver's shoulder, and is known to chatter pirate or seafaring phrases like "Pieces of Eight", and "Stand by to go about". Silver uses the parrot as another means of gaining Jim's trust, by telling the boy all manner of exciting stories about the parrot's buccaneer history. Template:"-'Now that bird', Silver would say, 'is, maybe, two hundred years old, Hawkins—they lives forever mostly, and if anybody's seen more wickedness it must be the devil himself. She's sailed with England—the great pirate Cap'n England. She's been at Madagascar, and at Malabar, and Surinam, and Providence, and Portobello... She was at the boarding of the Viceroy of the Indies out of Goa, she was, and to look at her you would think she was a baby'.Template:-"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Silver claims to have served in the Royal Navy and lost his leg under "the immortal Hawke". "His left leg was cut off close by the hip, and under the left shoulder, he carried a crutch, which he managed with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very tall and strong, with a face as big as a ham—plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling."<ref>Stevenson (1883), p. 82</ref>

He claims to have been the only man whom Flint ever feared. Although treacherous and willing to change sides at any time to further his own interests, Silver has compensating virtues. He is wise enough to save his money, in contrast to the spendthrift ways of most of the pirates. He is physically courageous despite his disability: for instance, when Flint's cache is found to be empty, he coolly stands his ground against five murderous seamen despite having only Jim, a boy in his teens, to back him.<ref>"He was brave and no mistake" -- Jim Hawkins' comment at this juncture, "The Fall of a Chieftain", penultimate chapter of Treasure Island</ref>

When Silver escapes at the end of the novel, he takes "three or four hundred guineas" of the treasure with him, thus becoming one of only two former members of Captain Flint's crew to get his hands on a portion of the recovered treasure. (The repentant maroonee Ben Gunn is the other, but he spends all £1,000 in nineteen days.) Jim's own ambivalence towards Silver is reflected in the last chapter, when he speculates that the old pirate must have settled down in comfortable retirement: "It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in another world are very small."

Silver is married to a woman of African descent, whom he trusts to manage his business affairs in his absence and to liquidate his Bristol assets when his actions make it impossible for him to go home. He confides in his fellow pirates that he and his wife plan to rendezvous after the voyage to Skeleton Island is complete and Flint's treasure is recovered, at which point Silver will retire to a life of luxury. Ironically his "share" of Flint's treasure (£420) is considerably less than that of Ben Gunn (£1,000) and what Silver boasts was his share from England (£900) and from Flint (£2,000).

According to Stevenson's letters, the idea for the character of Long John Silver was in part inspired by his real-life friend William Henley, a writer and editor.<ref>Prince, p. 78.</ref> Stevenson's stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, described Henley as "...a great, glowing, massive-shouldered fellow with a big red beard and a crutch; jovial, astoundingly clever, and with a laugh that rolled like music; he had an unimaginable fire and vitality; he swept one off one's feet".<ref>Elwin, p. 154.</ref> In a letter to Henley after the publication of Treasure Island, Stevenson wrote: "I will now make a confession. It was the sight of your maimed strength and masterfulness that begot Long John Silver...the idea of the maimed man, ruling and dreaded by the sound, was entirely taken from you".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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Literature

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  • In the Stephen King novel Firestarter, the main protagonist's father Andy McGee receives a psychic warning that his daughter has been deceived by a lead antagonist, the scarred assassin Rainbird, in the form of a vision of Silver.

Audio-radio

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  • William Redfield played Silver on the 14 May 1948 Your Playhouse of Favorites adaptation.
  • Ronald Colman hosted an adaptation of the novel on the 27 April 1948 broadcast of Favorite Story.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • There have been two BBC Radio adaptations of Treasure Island, with Silver being played by Peter Jeffrey in 1989,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • The author John le Carré performed an abridged reading of the novel in five parts as part of BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Reading.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Theatre

There have been several major stage adaptations made.<ref name="Ref_u">Dury, Richard. Stage and Radio adaptations of Treasure Island Template:Webarchive.</ref>

  • Starting in 1966,Template:When in London, there was an annual production of the musical Treasure Island, based on a book by Bernard Miles and Josephine Wilson. The music was composed by Cyril Ornadel and the lyrics by Hal Shaper. The musical was performed at the Mermaid Theatre, originally under the direction of Bernard Miles, who played Long John Silver, a part he also played in various television versions. Comedian Spike Milligan would often play Ben Gunn in these productions, and in 1981, Tom Baker played Long John Silver.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • In July 2011, Bristol Old Vic staged a large-scale outdoor production of Treasure Island outside the theatre on King Street, Bristol directed by Sally Cookson, with music by Benji Bower.
  • From October 2013 to 2014, Mind the Gap Theatre Company held a national tour of Treasure Island, retold by Olivier award-winning writer Mike Kenny.
  • In 2013, YouthPlays published Long Joan Silver by Arthur M. Jolly, an adaptation where all of the pirates are women.
  • From December 2014 to April 2015, Arthur Darvill played Silver in the National Theatre production of Treasure Island adapted by Bryony Lavery and directed by Polly Findlay.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Film

File:WellesTreasureIslanda.jpg
Orson Welles as Silver in the 1972 live-action film version of Treasure Island.
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John Silver (left) is portrayed as a cyborg in Disney's Treasure Planet.
  • Silver is voiced by Brian Murray and depicted as an extraterrestrial cyborg in the Disney 2002 animated science fiction adventure film Treasure Planet.
    • One thing screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio took from their experience on Treasure Planet, was the simple premise of, "Is Long John Silver a delightful Falstaffian character or a contemptible villain?" That idea was something they carried into Captain Jack Sparrow.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Both Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa are based on Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In an article, The Guardian noted that "Nowadays all pirates (though not Somali pirates, interestingly) are in some sense a version of Long John Silver, even when they have got two legs – think of Captain Jack Sparrow."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Television

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Other print media

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Other

  • In May 1960, The Silver Beetles (later to become known as The Beatles) were backing a young musician Johnny Gentle, during his tour through Scotland. For the duration of this tour, the whole band decided to give themselves pseudonyms. Band member John Lennon became Long John for this occasion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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References

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Bibliography

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  • Elwin, Malcolm (1939). Old Gods Falling. New York: The Macmillan Company. Template:OCLC.
  • Prince, Alison (1994). Kenneth Grahame: An Innocent in the Wild Wood. London: Allison & Busby. Template:ISBN.
  • Karg, Barbara; Spaite, Arjean (2007). The Everything Pirates Book: A Swashbuckling History of Adventure on the High Seas. Avon, MA: Adams Media. Template:ISBN.
  • Jolly, Arthur M (2013). Long Joan Silver. Los Angeles: YouthPLAYS, Inc. Template:ISBN.

Further reading

  • Stevenson, Robert Louis; Colvin, Sidney, Sir (1899). Letters to his family and friends. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Template:OCLC.

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