54 pages • 1 hour read
Captain Blood: His Odyssey
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Themes
Gentlemen Pirates and Pirate Gentlemen
The term “pirate” is often an insult in Captain Blood; it describes a corrupt seafaring vagabond, usually male, who uses violence and deceit to plunder civilized, law-abiding communities. The worst pirates in Captain Blood, however, are not vagabonds; they are representatives of supposedly legitimate authority. Blood, by contrast, is more gentleman than pirate in his dealings—he shows a commoner is capable of gentility while a powerful gentleman is capable of criminality. In the end, the characters receive poetic justice. Blood prospers, whereas every dishonorable gentleman receives humiliation or death.
The pirate gentlemen are Colonel Bishop, Don Diego, Don Miguel, Rivarol, and even Lord Julian. Each abuses his power for personal gain. Colonel Bishop abuses people he enslaved and misuses the English fleet to pursue personal vengeance; Don Diego, Don Miguel, and Rivarol use their government positions to legitimize immoral acts that benefit them financially; and Lord Julian’s jealousy of Captain Blood compels him to join forces with Colonel Bishop. Captain Blood, on the other hand, behaves honorably in that he abides by a personal code similar to the gentlemanly code of chivalry. An official in Maracaybo tells him, “You have the repute of making war like a gentleman” (175). Blood didn’t consciously cultivate this reputation, but his courtly love for Arabella compels him to behave, the narrator says, with “as much chivalry as is consistent with piracy” (175).
Blood’s reputation as a gentleman pirate, and his successful defense of Port Royal, earn him a respectable position in service of King William; his chivalrous actions, inspired by courtly love, enable a happy resolution for him and Arabella. The pirate gentlemen—motivated by selfishness, vengeance, jealousy, avarice, or viciousness—do not fare well: Colonel Bishop loses his post to the man he enslaved and hunted; Don Diego dies suddenly; Don Miguel is decisively defeated; Rivarol dies fighting the privateers he cheated; and Lord Julian seems likely to face the same humiliation as Colonel Bishop.
Fate Begins the Journey, Love Decides the Destination
The full title of Sabatini’s novel is Captain Blood: His Odyssey, the word “odyssey” denoting a long journey filled with twists of fate and grand adventures. Its origin is Homer’s Odyssey, an epic poem about Odysseus, who wanders and faces many dangers for 10 years, until he reaches home in Ithaca. There are similarities between Odysseus and Peter Blood: they’re adventurous, experienced in combat, adept at using tricks and disguises to thwart their enemies, and yearn for home. Odysseus, however, knows where home is, whereas Blood doesn’t. Blood doesn’t know where his home is until he arrives there—home is the woman he loves.
Blood pursued adventure for years as a young man, but he became homesick for Ireland. Unable to reach his homeland, he settled in Somersetshire—his mother’s home—after recovering his health. Six months later, Jeremy Pitt sets the plot in motion when he begs Blood to treat the rebel gentleman, Lord Gildoy. Blood acquiesces. His decision initiates the injustices he endures on his odyssey: imprisonment, a sham trial, a death sentence, and transport to Barbados, where he becomes the property of Colonel Bishop and his niece, Arabella.
Blood distrusts Arabella at first, but he learns her values align with his: she abhors injustice, believes all humans deserve charity and mercy, and possesses a strong moral compass. Blood’s cynicism causes him to misjudge her, and he is humbled; he becomes resigned to admiring Arabella from afar and, when he escapes Barbados, despairs of ever seeing her again. Blood’s decision to enter piracy—although he knows Arabella would disapprove—stems from this dubious status: “He was […] an escaped slave, an outlaw in his own land and a homeless outcast in any other. There remained the sea, which is free to all, and particularly alluring to those who feel themselves at war with humanity” (128). His memory of Arabella inspires him to practice humane piracy and to name his ship Arabella, foreshadowing the conclusion of his odyssey. When Arabella tells him she’s not engaged to Lord Julian Wade, Blood shares his true feelings with her and she reciprocates. The narrator states, “He had reached home at last. His odyssey was ended” (329). Where Blood lives doesn’t matter, because as long as Arabella is with him he’s home.
Blood’s odyssey is full of danger, like the journey of Odysseus, but unlike Odysseus, Blood’s destination is unknown until he finds it. He chooses his fate in Tortuga, where he condemns himself to wander the Caribbean Sea and plunder Spanish ships and settlements while he tries to live up to Arabella’s standards. He ends his odyssey when he loses his ship Arabella while voluntarily defending Port Royal. The loss of the Arabella makes the necessary space in Blood’s life for his destination: the real Arabella.
The Heroism of a Humane Trickster
Captain Blood values humanity in spite of suffering injustices. Blood feels obligated to care for, defend, and collaborate with people no matter what his opinion of them might be. He scorns the men marching to join the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion, but he helps a wounded rebel and doesn’t reprimand him. He is prejudiced against Spaniards, but in Barbados, he treats his Spanish patients effectually and respectfully. He despises himself for being a pirate, but he doesn’t despise his men, and he tries to be a responsible leader who plans raids and skirmishes that will enrich everyone under his command. Blood’s adherence to his humane values—even when committing acts of piracy—makes him heroic. Whereas Levasseur pretends to be a romantic hero to hide his inhumanity, Blood pretends to be a ruthless pirate to hide his humanity. Their contrasting dealings with the d’Ogerons and their own crews illustrate how a hero acts in the best interests of others and with humanity.
Levasseur fancies himself a gallant hero who will do anything for the woman he loves. However, his sense of entitlement makes it impossible for him to care for her. Madeleine’s romantic illusions about Levasseur vanish when she witnesses his inhumanity toward the Dutch master and her brother and he forces himself on her. When Blood endeavors to save her and her brother, he appeals to the “cupidity” of the French captain’s men. Blood’s ironic tone and unwavering enforcement of the articles they signed, contrast with Levasseur’s inability to stay calm. Levasseur doesn’t consider his crew members’ approval of Blood’s offer because he insists Madeleine belongs to him.
Blood plays the callous pirate to achieve his humane objective. He uses logic and irony to rile Levasseur until the latter challenges him to a duel. Levasseur’s ignominious death doesn’t trouble his crew, as long as they get their fair share of the plunder. When Blood informs the d’Ogerons in private that he is setting them free, he had played his role so well that the siblings are incredulous. Blood explains, “I may be a pirate. But my ways are not the ways of Levasseur […]. I have a sort of honor—shall we say, some rags of honor?—remaining me from better days” (155). His humanity, so well hidden under the callous pirate persona, humbles Madeleine, who says he’s noble and begs his forgiveness for believing he was anything like Levasseur. Blood thinks it was smart of her to judge him the way she did, which shows that he is the kind of hero who helps people in distress and doesn’t expect widespread praise.
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