Long John Silver Long John Silver is a fictional character
and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. The most
colorful character in the book, he continues to appear in popular culture.
Profile In Treasure Island, Long John Silver is a
pirate who was quartermaster under the notorious Captain Flint. Long John Silver had a pet
parrot called Captain Flint, often seen sitting on his shoulder where she would nibble on
seeds. Silver's importance to the late Captain Flint can be seen in that fact that a quartermaster
on a pirate ship ranked higher than any officer except the captain himself, and that a quartermaster
could also veto the captain's decisions whenever the ship was not in a battle. The quartermaster
was elected by the crew and one of his tasks was to lead the boarding party from the quarterdeck
during boarding attacks. 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." He claims to have been the only man whom Flint
ever feared. Like many of Stevenson's characters, there is more than a modicum of duality in
the character; ostensibly Silver is a hardworking and likeable seaman, and it is only as the
plot unfolds that his villainous nature is gradually revealed. His relationship with
Jim Hawkins, the novel's protagonist and narrator, is interesting, as he serves as a mentor and
eventually father-figure to Jim, creating much shock and emotion when it is discovered
that he is in charge of the mutiny, and especially when Jim must confront and fight him later
on. Although willing to change sides at any time to further his own interests, Silver
has compensating virtues: he is wise enough to pay attention to money management, in contrast
to the spendthrift ways of most of the pirates, and is physically courageous despite his disability;
for instance, when Flint's cache is found to be empty, he coolly stands his ground against
five grown men despite having only Jim, a boy in his teens, to back him.
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; a separate cache of bar
silver is apparently left on the island. (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." Stevenson's portrayal of Silver has greatly
influenced the modern iconography of the pirate. Silver has a parrot, named Captain Flint in
mockery of his former captain, 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 (many of them likely fake) about the parrot's buccaneer history.
"'Now that bird,' Silver would say, 'is, may be, two hundred years old, Hawkins- they live
forever mostly, and if anybody's seen more wickedness it must be the devil himself. She's
sailed with England- the great Cap'n England, the pirate. 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 babby." 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 {£400} is considerably less than that of
Ben Gunn's share {£1,000} and what he himself boasts is 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 inspired by his real-life friend William Henley,
a writer and editor. 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". 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".
Modern portrayals Actors who have portrayed Long John Silver
in the various motion picture adaptations of Treasure Island include Wallace Beery,
Ivo Garrani, Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Eddie Izzard, Lance Henriksen, Robert Newton,
Anthony Quinn, Tim Curry, Jack Palance, Brian Murray, Oleg Borisov, Boris Andreyev and British
actor Ivor Dean in a televised version of the novel. Robert Newton followed up his two
Long John Silver movies with an Australian-produced TV series.
BBC1 has presented the story four times, with Anthony Quinn, Bernard Miles, Peter Vaughan
and Alfred Burke, respectively, as Long John Silver.
In the Soviet animated film Treasure Island of 1988, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan provided the
voice talent for John Silver. Ivor Dean played the character in an acclaimed
European 4-part mini-series in 1966. He intended to reprise the role in another series with
more adventures of Silver. He began writing it with director Robert S. Baker, but his
sudden death in 1974 stopped all further plans. In 1985, this script was used as foundation
for a Disney 10-part TV-series called Return to Treasure Island, starring Brian Blessed
in the role of Long John Silver. John Silver was also the protagonist in Björn
Larsson's fictional autobiography of the character, Long John Silver: the True and Eventful History
of My Life of Liberty and Adventure as a Gentleman of Fortune and Enemy to Mankind (ISBN 1-86046-538-2
respectively 91-7263-285-2). The novel was first published in Sweden in 1995.
Silver is the main character in Silver—My Own Tale As Told By Me With A Goodly Amount
Of Murder by Edward Chupack (ISBN 978-0-312-53936-8). The recent 2013 Big Finish audio production
starred Tom Baker as Silver, a role he also played on stage at the Mermaid Theatre, London,
UK in 1981. The 2014 original series "Black Sails" on
Starz has the character, John Silver, played by Luke Arnold. The series takes place 20
years prior to the events in Treasure Island. In popular culture
In anime and manga The 1978 Japanese series Takarajima portrayed
John Silver as a tall blond man. In audio
James Kennedy played Silver in the Tale Spinners for Children audio adaptation of Treasure
Island (United Artists Records, UAC 11013). Orson Welles played Silver in the July 18,
1938 Mercury Theater on the Air adaptation of Treasure Island.
William Redfield played Silver on the May 14, 1948 Your Playhouse of Favorites adaptation
of Treasure Island. James Mason played Silver opposite Bobby Driscoll's
"Jim Hawkins" on the Lux Radio Theatre's January 29, 1951 adaptation of Treasure Island.
There have been two BBC Radio adaptations of Treasure Island, one in 1989 with Peter
Jeffrey as Silver and one in 1996 starring Jack Shepherd as Silver.
Tom Baker starred as Silver in Big Finish Productions' 2012 audio adaptation of Treasure
Island. In film and television
Charles Ogle, who also played the Frankenstein Monster in Edison's 1910 film, played Silver
in a 1920 silent film of Treasure Island, which also starred Lon Chaney.
Wallace Beery was the first speaking Long John Silver in the 1934 film version of Treasure
Island. Robert Newton became the definitive Long John
Silver in the 1950 Disney live-action film version of Treasure Island. He was the first
actor to employ the phrase "Arrrrrh, matey!" Long John Silver, a 1954 film, starred Robert
Newton once again as the title character (which he also played in the 1957 television series
The Adventures of Long John Silver). In the 1958 television series The Adventures
of Ben Gunn, Silver was played by Peter Wyngarde. In Soviet miniseries of 1982 Treasure Island
John Silver was portrayed by Oleg Borisov. John Silver is depicted in L'ile aux tresors,
a movie by Alain Berberian; the cast includes Gerard Jugnot and Alice Taglioni.
In the 1986 Disney mini-series Return to Treasure Island, Brian Blessed played Silver.
Tim Curry portrayed Long John Silver in the 1996 film Muppet Treasure Island.
Charlton Heston portrayed a much darker Long John Silver in the 1990 Made-for Television
Treasure Island. In one of his last film appearances, Jack
Palance portrayed Long John Silver in the 1999 film version of Treasure Island.
Long John Silver is voiced by Jim Cummings in the 1994 movie The Pagemaster.
In the 2002 Disney film Treasure Planet, an animated science fiction adaptation of Treasure
Island, depicts "John Silver" as a cyborg, voiced by Brian Murray.
Hector Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean is similar to Long John Silver. He owned a
monkey named after his previous captain Jack Sparrow, and was referred to as the "one-legged
man" in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Eddie Izzard played Long John Silver in the 2012 Sky mini-series.
Luke Arnold plays John Silver in the Starz TV series Black Sails, a prequel story set
20 years before Treasure Island. In literature
Porto Bello Gold is a prequel novel to Treasure Island written in 1924 by Arthur D. Howden
Smith Long John Silver is a Franco-Belgian comics
series written by Xavier Dorison, illustrated by Mathieu Laufray and published by Dargaud
in French and Cinebook in English. John Silver, a fictional space pirate with
mechanical leg who appears in the Italian comic book Nathan Never, was inspired by Long
John Silver. According to J. M. Barrie's play Peter and
Wendy, Captain Hook was the only man whom Silver ever feared.
Flint and Silver is a prequel novel to Treasure Island written by John Drake.
In music The rock band Jefferson Airplane had a song
and 1972 album named Long John Silver. Jethro Tull's song "Mother Goose" (on the
Aqualung album) references the title character as well as four and twenty laborers, concluding
with the line, "and I don't believe they knew that I was Long John Silver."
In 1960, John Lennon changed the name of his group to Long John and the Silver Beetles,
himself taking the stage name of Long John Silver. In August 1960, they changed it again
to simply The Beatles. In other uses
A restaurant chain, Long John Silver's, is named after the character.
Retired porn star Daniel Mead took his stage name of Long Dong Silver from this character.