Captain Blood: His Odyssey

“He laughed and sighed in one; but the laugh dominated the sigh, for Mr. Blood was unsympathetic, as are most self-sufficient men; and he was very self-sufficient; adversity had taught him so to be.”

These lines not only explain Blood’s attitude toward the men marching to their doom, but they also describe characteristics that will prove necessary to Blood’s survival. Blood’s lack of sympathy for Monmouth’s volunteers is the result of his self-sufficiency, which means he feels no kinship with people who unquestioningly follow leaders unworthy of their trust. He prefers to trust himself because he learned from difficult experiences that he can’t rely on others to advocate for him. His attitude concerning leadership, trust, and self-interest, displays the characteristics he’ll need to endure the dangers awaiting him: independence, stoicism, sound judgment, and humor.

“He had been considering that in his case of instruments there was a lancet with which he might perform on Captain Hobart a beneficial operation. Beneficial, that is, to humanity. In any case, the dragoon was obviously plethoric and would be the better for a blood-letting. The difficulty lay in making the opportunity. He was beginning to wonder if he could lure the Captain aside with some tale of hidden treasure, when this untimely interruption set a term to that interesting speculation.”

Blood contemplates how to use his lancet to permanently stop Hobart from terrorizing people. This glimpse into his imagination serves to develop Blood’s character. Blood’s medical euphemism for killing Hobar, and his idea to use subterfuge to accomplish his objective for the benefit of humanity, emphasize the complexity and trickery in his character: He cares about humanity, yet he’s willing to kill a man; he’d like to use a lancet to kill Hobart, though blood-letting was meant to heal ailments; and he would ensnare Hobart with the promise of treasure, which is common strategy for tricksters.

“It came to Mr. Blood, as he trudged forward under the laden appletrees [sic] on that fragrant, delicious July morning, that man—as he had long suspected—was the vilest work of God, and that only a fool would set himself up as a healer of a species that was best exterminated.”

Blood suffers the injustice of being arrested for showing a wounded man mercy and doing his job. He generalizes about how humans are despicable because he just witnessed some of the worst conduct humankind has to offer; he believes he would been foolish to become a doctor, when humans don’t deserve to live. The passage shows how dramatically Blood’s humanity can deteriorate—at least in thought—when people betray the ideals he cherishes. He has a similar reaction in Chapter 20, after Arabella Bishop disdainfully calls him a thief and pirate. His mind goes to dark places, but he holds onto his humanity through it all.

“It was a shrewd, sharp thrust aimed at the jury, and it reveals, I think, the alertness of the man’s mind, his self-possession ever steadiest in moments of dire peril.”

Blood just answered a question from Lord Jeffreys at his trial concerning his reason for lying about Jeremy Pitt’s rank. He wanted to stop Hobart from executing a man without a trial. Blood insists injustice should matter to all of the king’s subjects, implying the timid jury members have a duty to honor the king by not committing injustice in his name. He is aware of the danger he faces, yet it doesn’t weaken him. The narrator admires the hero’s ability to thrive in treacherous situations—it’s a strong hint of what readers should expect of Blood when he faces other instances of peril.

“Daily he came to think more of his clipped wings, of his exclusion from the world, and less of the fortuitous liberty he enjoyed. Nor did the contrasting of his comparatively easy lot with that of his unfortunate fellow-convicts bring him the satisfaction a differently constituted mind might have derived from it.”

Blood just expressed gratitude for his relatively comfortable situation as an enslaved doctor, but his resentment over being Colonel Bishop’s property outweighs the gratitude. He misses his freedom of movement, which is a right he enjoyed during his years as a traveling soldier, and slavery has awakened his compulsion to wander because it denies him the right. His increased resentment over the suffering of the other enslaved convicts is a testament to his humanity; it also shows how he has grown to care about and feel responsible for those men, as if he’s already their captain.

“His two years in a Spanish prison and his subsequent campaigning in the Spanish Netherlands had shown him a side of the Spanish character which he had found anything but admirable. Nevertheless he performed his doctor’s duties zealously and painstakingly, if emotionlessly, and even with a certain superficial friendliness towards each of his patients. These were so surprised […] that they manifested a docility very unusual in their kind.”

Blood is treating Spanish prisoners in Barbados. He is prejudiced against Spaniards because he was once a prisoner of war in a Spanish prison, yet his humanity is strong, so he uses medicine to heal his patients. The narrator’s commentary on the Spanish character, especially the line about docility, displays a negative view of Spaniards because it implies that they are, in general, difficult and obstinate.

“He was in danger of becoming no better than an animal, of sinking to the level of the negroes who sometimes toiled beside him.”

The statement at once shows the effect of slavery on Pitt and presents a troubling attitude toward enslaved Africans. Pitt was subjugated to hard labor, meager rations, poor living conditions, and the constant threat of violence. Enslavement numbs Pitt’s mind, depriving him of his identity, as if he is a beast of burden. The comparison of animals with the enslaved Africans, however, is a racist distinction because, although it further illustrates the consequences of slavery, it’s a generalization about enslaved people with darker skin and suggests that “sinking to [their] level” is the ultimate degradation.

“The ruthlessness of Spanish soldiery was a byword, and not at his worst had Morgan or L’Ollonais ever perpetrated such horrors as those of which these Castilian gentlemen were capable.”

Don Diego and his men attack Bridgetown like pirates on a rampage. The narrator attributes their conduct to a generalized characterization of Spanish soldiers, which shows an ethnic prejudice that might been common among the English at the time the novel is set and even when it was published. The Spanish characters emphasize the corrosive effect of abusing power for personal gain. Here the “Castilian gentlemen” abuse their power over the English colonial town so ruthlessly that they commit worse acts than those performed by infamous pirates.

“New to the seas of the Spanish Main and to the ways of the adventurers who sailed it, Captain Blood still entertained illusions.”

Captain Blood trusts Don Diego to navigate Cinco Llagas to Curaçao, despite what he witnessed when the Spaniards raided Bridgetown. Blood is a gentleman, and he believes Don Diego possesses a sense of honor. He took a similar stance before Captain Hobart peremptorily ordered the arrest of a wounded man. Blood harbors similar illusions about Don Diego due to ignorance about buccaneers, but he is unpleasantly educated when he understands Don Diego’s promise was a trick. It’s Captain Blood’s first experience with a piratical gentleman, and it won’t be his last.

“The Spaniards had shown themselves without mercy or sentiment or decency of any kind; stuffed with religion, they were without a spark of that Christianity […] A moment ago this cruel, vicious Don Diego had insulted the Almighty by his assumption that He kept a specially benevolent watch over the destinies of Catholic Spain. Don Diego should be taught his error.”

In abusing his power as the ship’s navigator, Don Diego believes he is doing God’s will. The contrast between what Christianity teaches and how these men, who profess Christianity, treat others, infuriates Blood. His pirate persona forms in reaction to the Spaniards’ hypocrisy, his own religious background, and what he learned from two years in a Spanish prison.

“‘It is not human to be wise,’ said Blood. ‘It is much more human to err, though perhaps exceptional to err on the side of mercy. We’ll be exceptional. Oh, faugh! I’ve no stomach for coldblooded killing. At daybreak pack the Spaniards into a boat with a keg of water and a sack of dumplings, and let them go to the devil.’”

Captain Blood is explaining his decision not to kill Don Esteban, even though the young man swore to take revenge on Blood for the death of his father, Don Diego. Blood’s explanation is a brief summation of the values he applies as a pirate: mercy, justice, understanding, and humanity. The last line foreshadows how he’ll conceal his values behind a persona comprised of arrogance, irony, and nonchalance. Captain Blood will treat people as humanely as possible while simultaneously telling them to go to the devil.

“I mention it chiefly as a warning, for when presently I come to relate the affair of Maracaybo, those of you who have read Esquemeling may be in danger of supposing that Henry Morgan really performed those things which here are veraciously attributed to Peter Blood.”

The narrator argues that the historian Esquemeling erroneously attributed the Maracaybo story to Henry Morgan because he was biased toward Morgan. Jeremy Pitt’s log, the narrator claims, is the most accurate historical record of the incredible victory at Maracaybo, and it attributes the success to Blood. The narrator’s critique of a real historian provides insight into Sabatini’s ideas concerning historical research and popular historical fiction. He believes it’s important to introduce readers to real historical figures and historians.

“He compromised with the conscience that her memory kept so disconcertingly active. He vowed that the thought of her should continue ever before him to help him keep his hands as clean as a man might in this desperate trade upon which he was embarking.”

Blood decides to be a pirate, yet he can’t bear the idea of Arabella disapproving of him. The woman he loves embodies his conscience; he grew to love her for her frankness, humanity, and empathy, and those aspects of her character form his moral core. He scorns the excesses and vices of other buccaneers, but he knows he could enjoy them too if he didn’t have an external restraint. Blood’s courtly love determines his humane version of piracy, which is what earns him a reputation for being a gentleman pirate.

“For what he had suffered at the hands of Man he had chosen to make Spain the scapegoat. Thus he accounted that he served a twofold purpose: he took compensation and at the same time served, not indeed the Stuart King, whom be [sic] despised, but England and, for that matter, all the rest of civilized mankind which cruel, treacherous, greedy, bigoted Castile sought to exclude from intercourse with the New World.”

Blood’s determination to blame Spain for his circumstances, rather than the men responsible, seems unreasonable, but it makes sense to him given the betrayal he endured and barely survived at the hands of Don Diego and his prejudice against Spaniards. His thought about helping England’s interests, despite what happened to him in England and Barbados, and despite what he thinks of King James, also seems unreasonable, yet he feels an affinity for England—he settled there instead of continuing his journey to Ireland as if Fate guided him. Blood also wants all Europeans, not just the English, to have open trade routes in the Atlantic; his new cause is both a reference to the historical context and an example of Blood’s need for purpose, even as a pirate.

“Gloriously heroic he seemed as he stood towering there, masterful, audacious, beautiful. The Dutch master got in his way […] Levasseur did not stay to argue with him: he was too impatient to reach his mistress. He swung the poleaxe that he carried, and the Dutchman went down in blood with a cloven skull. The eager lover stepped across the body and came on, his countenance joyously alight.”

The narrator’s romanticized description of Levasseur boarding the Dutch ship to claim Madeleine d’Ogeron simultaneously satirizes traditional ideas of a swashbuckling hero and exposes Levasseur’s nature with the jarring violence of his murder of the Dutch master while his face wears the mask of a lover. Madeleine believed Levasseur’s persona because he looked and behaved like a hero in a romance, but this murder makes her doubt him; it takes a few more violent episodes for her to realize that her lover is not as he appears. She makes a similar mistake with Blood. His persona convinces her of his villainy, yet she learns he is a humanitarian in disguise.

“There was in his appearance nothing of the buccaneer. He had much more the air of a lounger in the Mall or the Alameda—the latter rather, since his elegant suit of violet taffetas with gold-embroidered buttonholes was in the Spanish fashion. But the long, stout, serviceable rapier […] corrected the impression. That and those steely eyes of his announced the adventurer.”

Captain Blood uses his appearance to manipulate people. The fashionable Spanish suit commands respect because it announces that he is a wealthy gentleman—the Spanish style reflects his sense of irony since he dislikes Spaniards and attacks Spanish ships and towns. The rapier is a warning not to get too close, but it is not prominent, therefore people deduce that he uses the weapon sparingly. He can’t disguise his eyes, and they express the truth about his character, and at the moment, they show his mindset: He’s about to confront Cahusac for speaking against his authority.

“Open the history of the past at whatsoever page you will, and there you shall find coincidence at work bringing about events that the merest chance might have averted. Indeed, coincidence may be defined as the very tool used by Fate to shape the destinies of men and nations.”

The narrator offers an argument to explain several coincidences in Chapters 18 and 19, such as Lord Julian sailing on the same ship with Arabella Bishop. Fate, the motif that directs Blood’s odyssey, uses coincidence as a tool by which key players in the narrative meet in one place and alter the hero’s course. Sabatini’s narrative purports to be a true story but also contains elements of a swashbuckling adventure yarn. This passage seeks to reconcile these facets of the novel.

“It is that I treat you English heretic dogs just as you English heretic dogs have treated Spaniards upon the seas—you robbers and thieves out of hell! I have the honesty to do it in my own name—but you, you perfidious beasts, you send your Captain Bloods, your Hagthorpes, and your Morgans against us and disclaim responsibility for what they do. Like Pilate, you wash your hands.”

Don Miguel justifies his attack on Royal Mary. His reasoning is rooted in grievances and religious zeal, and he declares he is better than English buccaneers because he does not hide what he’s doing nor why he’s doing it. He refuses to believe that Captain Blood and the rest aren’t privateers hired by the English government. In truth, Don Miguel knows he’s abusing his power to enrich himself.

“His soul was given up to conflict between the almost sacred love he had borne her in all these years and the evil passion which she had now awakened in him. Extremes touch, and in touching may for a space become confused, indistinguishable. And the extremes of love and hate were to-night so confused in the soul of Captain Blood that in their fusion they made up a monstrous passion.”

Captain Blood grapples with the loss of the illusion of Arabella’s approbation. He feels betrayed by her uncharitable epithet of “thief and pirate”; he briefly considers justifying the epithet by assaulting her. The combining of his courtly love and his bitter anger nearly destroys his humanity and transforms his chivalry into villainy. He doesn’t act on this passion, which shows his principles are stronger than his impulses.

“The country is all, sir; the sovereign naught. King James will pass; others will come and pass; England remains, to be honorably served by her sons, whatever rancor they may hold against the man who rules her in their time.”

Arabella tries to soothe Blood’s feelings after he accepts the commission of service to King James. She hopes Blood will be able to stomach the commission better by viewing it as she does. She knows part of the reason Blood accepted the commission is to save her from becoming a hostage of his crew.

“I regret to chronicle it of one for whom—if I have done him any sort of justice—you should have been conceiving some esteem. But the truth is that the lingering remains of the regard in which he had held Peter Blood were choked by the desire to supplant and destroy his rival.”

Lord Julian learns Blood was wrong. Arabella loves Blood not him. Unlike Blood, Lord Julian’s jealousy is stronger than his regard for Arabella’s feelings; rather than keep his promise to protect Blood from her uncle’s wrath, as a gentleman would do, Lord Julian joins Colonel Bishop in his vengeful hunt for Blood. The contrast between Arabella’s suitors proves which of them is a true hero, the one who chooses her happiness, even if it means he’ll never have his love requited.

“‘I am by way of accounting myself a gentleman, little though I may look like one at present; and I should not account myself that were I capable of anything but deference to those whom nature or fortune may have placed above me, or to those who being placed beneath me in rank may labor under a disability to resent my lack of it.’ It was a neatly intangible rebuke. M. de Rivarol bit his lip.”

Rivarol just reminded Blood of their comparative ranks. Blood’s response argues that a gentleman treats those above and below him courteously, and that it’s ungentlemanly to treat the lower ranks with disrespect when they’re not allowed to express their indignation. He implies Rivarol’s demeaning reminder about Blood’s place in the hierarchy displays a lack of gentility, which foreshadows Rivarol’s capacity for abusing power.

“He had been deluding himself that he had done with piracy. The conviction that this French service was free of any taint of that was the only consideration that had induced him to accept it. Yet here was this haughty, supercilious gentleman, who dubbed himself General of the Armies of France, proposing a plundering, thieving raid which, when stripped of its mean, transparent mask of legitimate warfare, was revealed as piracy of the most flagrant.”

Captain Blood has recovered from his sadness over Arabella and attempts to do legitimate work with the French military, but Rivarol’s insistence on attacking Cartagena signals an ironic twist in Blood’s fate. A French nobleman and general—a gentleman—is pushing Blood back into piracy, the profession he hoped to leave.