Treasure Island: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''Treasure Island''

''Where the brave fell''

{{quote|''Fifteen men on the dead man's chest ... Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!''}}

 

 

* X marks the spot on a [[Treasure Map]].

Although originally published chapter-by-chapter in a magazine, when published as a book it became very popular, the British Prime Minister Gladstone staying up until two in the morning to finish it. It is also the ultimate inspiration for all the subsequent pirate [[Movies]] and other [[Novels]], down to ''Pirates of The Caribbean''. Many of them include a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Treasure Island]]. E.g., in ''[[Peter Pan]]'', it is said that Captain Hook was the only man Long John Silver ever feared, while ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: Dead Man's Chest'' features the "Black Spot" (in a flashier form) and the song quoted at the beginning of this entry.

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Adaptational Attractiveness]]: Ben Gunn is often portrayed as an older man, however in the Sky 1 adaptation he is portrayed by a [http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=treasure+island+elijah+wood&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1G1SVED_ENDZ410&tbm=isch&tbnid=1HzmzU4UYo0fKM:&imgrefurl=http://elizagolightly.tumblr.com/post/4795232080&docid=LhjyYPFVyEzkYM&imgurl=http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljz8pnqFjR1qh6t66.jpg&w=344&h=500&ei=XugCT9mIHs2eOrDl4IMF&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=191&vpy=129&dur=1113&hovh=271&hovw=186&tx=68&ty=156&sig=109329316927012994317&page=1&tbnh=171&tbnw=128&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&biw=1303&bih=707 shirtless Elijah Wood in tribal paint.]

* [[Adaptational Villainy]]: Squire Trelawney in the [[Sky 1]] adaptation has Mrs Hawkins thrown out of the Admiral Benbow inn, arranges for the execution of Mr Arrow, and schemes to cheat Jim and Dr Livesy out of the treasure. In the book, while [[Upper Class Twit|somewhat foolish]], he is well-meaning and far from evil.

* [[Affably Evil]]: Long John, one of the ultimate exemplars of this trope. Sure, he's a lying, thieving, murdering scumbag pirate...but he's also a lovable, charismatic anti-villain! How can you hold anything against him?

* [[Catapult Nightmare]] - At the very end of the book, Jim Hawkins says that the worst dreams he ever has are when he "start[s] upright in bed with the sharp voice of Captain Flint [the parrot] still ringing in my ears."

* [[Equal Opportunity Evil]]: The pirate crews in the Sky 1 adaption are very multiculutral, contrasting with the all-white upper class [[Evil Brit]].

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Pirate, mutineer and murderer Long John Silver may be, but he bends over backwards, even risking the Black Spot, to keep Jim Hawkins alive.

* [[Face Death with Dignity]]: {{spoiler|When Jim is captured by the pirates and is given the offer of joining them ''or else'', he delivers a defiant [[Facing the Bullets One-Liner|Facing The Bullets Speech]] outlining how it was him the whole time that [[Defiant to the End|kept screwing up their plans]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|that the laugh's on his side and he no more fears them than he fears a fly,]] but he'll put in a word at court for them if they choose to spare him.}}

* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: The story is introduced as Jim's tale of his adventure, which keeps you from getting too worried whenever his life is at risk. Considering that the story already includes an adolescent of unspecified age (some adaptations go as far as casting a ''preteen'') {{spoiler|getting hit by a thrown knife as well as being captured by pirates and threatened with torture,}} this may have been necessary at the time to keep the story from feeling too dark and shocking the audience.

* [[Heel Face Revolving Door]]: Silver.

* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Jim keeps his promise not to escape with the doctor even though his life is in danger if he stays, at the point where even the doctor himself is ready to break his word because he can't bear the thought of young Jim {{spoiler|being tortured to death}}. This is the turning point in Jim's [[Coming of Age Story]].

** Also Ben Gunn. Nobody seems particularly bothered that he was a part of one of the most feared pirate crews that ever sailed, and he gets a larger share of the treasure than Silver did (which he manages to blow in three weeks, at which point he is given a pension). This was averted in the Sky 1 adaption, where Ben Gunn is far more sympathetic and chooses to stay on the island because he thinks the devils won't come back.

** He also gives investment advice to young sailors.

* [[Not So Harmless]]: Blind Pew and Silver are two cripples you don't want to meet.

* [[Red Herring]]: The account book that comes with the treasure map is this in part, having no real bearing on the plot at large, though it does confirm the late owner's reputation and increases the importance of the actual treasure map in the eyes of those who realized it's value.

** The money insides Bones' chest isn't the real treasure, as Pew points out to his men, but most are too dense to realize that.

* [[Switching POV]]: For practical reasons, we switch to the doctor when important events occur that Jim didn't witness.

* [[Upper Class Twit]]: Squire Trelawney

* [[We Named the Monkey "Jack"]]: Captain Silver has a parrot named Cap'n Flint.

* [[When It All Began]]: When Captain Flint buried his treasure on the island.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Literature of the 19th century]]

[[Category:Sea Stories]]