54 pages • 1 hour read
Rafael SabatiniCaptain Blood: His Odyssey
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1922A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Chivalry
Chivalry is a motif that contributes to all three themes in Captain Blood. Chivalry originated in medieval Europe as a code of conduct for knights fighting wars, but it evolved into a set of values for all Christian aristocrats. Captain Blood shows readers that chivalry can be practiced by men who aren’t high in the social order. Blood’s nobility derives from his character rather than the circumstances of his birth. It is demonstrated in chivalrous behavior despite his poverty and low standing and becomes even clearer in contrast to the corruption of his social superiors. In this context, chivalry includes protecting the vulnerable, championing justice and mercy, acting honorably, and earning fame through brave deeds, sacrifice, and charity. It doesn’t require religious devotion. Captain Blood doesn’t observe any established religion, whereas the aristocrats who are more like pirates than Blood do.
Captain Blood’s chivalry is rooted in his courtly love for Arabella. Courtly love is chivalry’s ideal romantic relationship, in which a knight loves a lady from afar and performs great deeds to honor her without expecting anything in return. The goal is to elevate romantic love to a purely spiritual level that refines the knight’s character. Blood’s courtly love inspires him to be a humane pirate because he wants Arabella to think well of him, even though he believes he’ll never see her again. He proves to be a romantic hero when he leaves Jamaica without harming his rival, Lord Julian, because he believes Arabella loves Lord Julian. He further proves his nobility when he volunteers to defend Port Royal against Rivarol. Although Blood acted heroically with no expectation of reward, the novel grants him poetic justice by winning Arabelle’s love and high office in Jamaica.
Fate
Fate is a motif that guides Blood’s odyssey. Its efficacy depends on Blood’s character as well as his decisions in relation to unforeseen events. The narrator explains Blood’s character in detail in the first chapter with descriptions of his appearance, voice, and clothes, as well as his thoughts on current events. These details indicate who Blood is and suggest what he will become. The description of Blood’s voice foreshadows his adventures:
He had a pleasant, vibrant voice, whose metallic ring was softened and muted by the Irish accent which in all his wanderings he had never lost. It was a voice that could woo seductively and caressingly, or command in such a way as to compel obedience. Indeed, the man’s whole nature was in that voice of his (5).
If Blood’s voice expresses his nature, he possesses the qualities of a romantic hero and a formidable leader—his exceptional voice destines him for the life of a hero on a journey to find his home.
Blood’s character influences his decisions whenever Fate presents unexpected opportunities, dangerous situations, or dishonorable actors. The narrator, who has the benefit of knowing Blood’s “history,” identifies moments when Fate interrupts Blood’s life and he has to decide how he should respond. Whatever Blood decides, he takes responsibility for his decisions, such as when he takes the commission from King James to protect his men from the English fleet, and by extension protect Arabella from becoming a hostage of his men: “I accept it [the commission] as the only way to save us all from the certain destruction into which my own act may have brought us” (228). This decision, like many others, is grounded in Blood’s values, which include honor, justice, mercy, and humanity. Every decision Blood makes solidifies his hero status and brings him closer to the end of his journey.
Humanity
Humanity is both a motif and a symbol in Captain Blood. The motif indicates virtues like mercy, justice, compassion, and humility; as a symbol, humanity signifies human society, which encompasses all human virtues and vices, including the crime of inhumanity. The narrative employs the word “humanity” as a motif many times, especially when one character chastises another for being inhumane. Blood invokes his idea of humanity when he objects to Captain Hobart’s removal of Lord Gildoy: “In the name of humanity, sir! […] This is England, not Tangiers. The gentleman is in sore case. He may not be moved without peril to his life” (12). These lines imply Blood expects Hobart to show humanity for a wounded foe because they live in a civilized country. Hobart instead arrests all of the men, including Blood, and assaults Baynes’s daughter. Blood’s experience with Hobart, and then with Lord Jeffreys and Colonel Bishop, sours his belief in humanity until Arabella shows she’s humane to everyone; she restores Blood’s faith so effectively that he determines to be a humane pirate, which is self-contradictory on its face, but he puts it into practice with success.
Humanity is also a symbol of society, but not necessarily a fair society. The symbol appears when the narrator or a character considers the effects of Blood’s misfortunes. In Chapter 13, Blood contemplates his limited options and decides to make his living at sea, “which is free to all, and particularly alluring to those who feel themselves at war with humanity” (128). Blood isn’t at war with literally all humanity; the term symbolizes the society that unjustly arrested, enslaved, and betrayed him. Later, in Chapter 20, Lord Julian offers Blood the commission to serve King James, to which Blood responds with a bitter recounting of how he came to be a convict for being humane to a wounded rebel. The description of Lord Julian’s reaction uses the word “humanity” to represent the civilized society that wronged Blood many times over: “He was deeply stricken by the other’s words, the passionate, eloquent outburst that in a few sharp, clear-cut strokes had so convincingly presented the man’s bitter case against humanity, his complete apologia and justification for all that could be laid to his charge” (218). As a symbol, humanity carries negative connotations, while as a motif, humanity is a set of positive values—both uses highlight the struggles of the eponymous hero, who is often torn between cynicism and hope, yet never loses his humanity.
