St. Olaf College

From Poppet to Pirate King

The Intersection of Class and Gender in Elizabeth’s Monomythic Hero Progression

Olivia Sullivan

ASIAN 333: What is a Hero?

Professor Ka Wong

May 20th, 2017

Introduction

Elizabeth Swann, daughter of Governor Swann of , is the boon of young

Turner’s heroic quest in : The of the (Verbinski

2003). Elizabeth also follows her own monomythic progression throughout both the first film and the entire Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy (Campbell 28). However, this monomythic progression, which lacks a specification of morality, is not enough for American society and culture. Disney has a history of providing these good, moral role models (Ward 2), and does an excellent job in creating Elizabeth’s character to fit the bill by having her oppose the sexism and classism propagated by colonial Great Britain. The intersection of class and gender is especially key to Elizabeth’s monomythic progression, as she is initially hindered by her gender but benefits from her high status in the British colonial system. It is only through her journey, when she gives up her class in order to effectively fight the system that gave it to her, that she can truly take down Great Britain and its classist and sexist trappings. Although her original boon in the first film is to experience adventure and find a comfortable place within the British hierarchy, her final boon at the end of the trilogy is total freedom from the British patriarchy. This is achieved by demonstrating to both the British bourgeoisie and proletariat that she can, in spite of gender and regardless of her original British class, be a strong leader and fighter.

Plot Summary

The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is set in the 18th century Caribbean (Pirates of the

Caribbean: Set Visit!), although locations ranging from Singapore to the supernatural world of ’ Locker are also prominent in the third movie. The following is a plot summary of the trilogy focusing mainly on Elizabeth’s storyline. In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, , the governor’s young daughter, is fascinated by pirates but is chided for her interest by both her father and Lieutenant Norrington on the crossing from England to Port Royal. After rescuing the young , the only survivor from a wrecked ship, Elizabeth sees the Black Pearl sailing off into the distance and takes Will’s pirate medallion to protect him from Norrington, thinking him to be a pirate. Years later, at Norrington’s promotion ceremony, Elizabeth faints into the water after Norrington’s proposal due to her tight and is rescued by Captain .

She is taken hostage by his former crew aboard the Black Pearl because of the pirate medallion she stole from Will, and leads them to believe that her last name is “Turner,” making her the child of Bootstrap Bill, who is in fact Will’s father. Eventually, Norrington rescues her, but she refuses to leave without rescuing Will, who has been captured by the same pirates; she asks

Norrington to do this for her as a wedding present, and a battle ensues. The protagonists make it safely back to Port Royal. Upon their return, Jack is to be hung for . However, Will and

Elizabeth rescue Jack, and Elizabeth tells Norrington and her father that she chooses to marry

Will instead.

Unfortunately, in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Verbinski 2006), higher- up Lord Beckett of the East India Trading Company gets wind of Jack’s escape and issues arrest warrants for Elizabeth, Will, Jack and Norrington. With Norrington having resigned and left Port

Royal some time ago, Elizabeth is put in jail while Will sets out to find Jack to trade his compass for Elizabeth’s freedom. Elizabeth’s father attempts to use his class and “standing with the king” to spring her from jail, but he is caught. However, Elizabeth escapes and threatens Beckett in order to get him to sign letters of mark for Will’s freedom. Through a series of witty plans,

Elizabeth finds Will and Jack, and reluctantly assists Jack on his quest to find the heart of Jones, to whom Jack owes a life debt and upon whose ship the Flying

Dutchman Will’s father is serving an eternal term of service. After a battle between Jones and our protagonists, Elizabeth sacrifices an unwilling Jack to Jones’ beast, the . Will mistakenly believes that Elizabeth is in love with Jack, even though her changed demeanor is actually from the guilt of killing Jack. Norrington returns to Beckett with the heart of Davy Jones, effectively allowing the East India Trading Company to control the seas by blackmailing Jones.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Verbinski 2007), Elizabeth works with

Captain Barbossa to enlist the aid of Sao Feng, Pirate Lord of Singapore, to bring Jack back from

Davy Jones’ Locker so that the nine Pirate Lords can come together at Shipwreck Cove to decide how to counter the growing East India Trading Company threat on the open seas. After bringing

Jack back, Elizabeth’s relationship with Will continues to be strained: he is upset that she didn’t tell him about killing Jack—which made him believe that the sorrow she exuded over Jack’s death was because she loved him—and she is taken aback by his betrayal of their pirate comrades to get the Pearl for himself to rescue his father from the . Believing her to be the incarnation of the heathen goddess Calypso, Sao Feng barters for Elizabeth to be aboard his ship to Pirate Cove. While attempting to rape her, Sao Feng is killed by a cannon blast from Beckett’s ship and makes Elizabeth captain of his ship and one of the nine Pirate Lords.

After much backstabbing and conniving by the protagonists both between other pirates and with

Beckett, the pirates eventually end up at Shipwreck Cove. Elizabeth is voted Pirate King, and declares an act of war against Beckett and the East India Trading Company. Meanwhile,

Barbossa unilaterally decides to free Calypso, who is actually , the mystic that has been helping the protagonists along their journey. Calypso unleashes her fury at both the pirates that have enslaved her and Beckett’s ships, which houses Davy Jones, Calypso’s old lover. In a battle royale, Will and Jones are both killed. However, Will becomes the new undead captain of the Flying Dutchman, and aids the pirates, led by Pirate King Elizabeth, in destroying the British

Navy in these waters once and for all.

Great Britain as the Classist and Sexist Antagonist

In the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Elizabeth’s boon is to free herself and others from the sexist and classist grip of Great Britain. This colonial power is largely represented by Beckett as a classist antagonist, Norrington as a sexist antagonist, and by Governor Swann as both.

Beckett’s war on piracy, representative of the proletariat in a Marxist reading, exemplifies the larger and more nuanced hierarchy of British society as a whole. Beckett is only concerned with catering to his high-class British customers for economic gain, which means exploiting the use of slave labor and eliminating the pirate threat at the cost of thousands of lives. To Beckett,

“the immaterial [is] immaterial,” and rather, “currency is the currency of the realm.” Beckett is confident in his ability to restore control; he blackmails Davy Jones with his own heart, and is assured that Norrington will obey orders because “it’s what he does.” While Beckett acknowledges Elizabeth as a skilled adversary, he speaks with her only because her and her father’s class makes her a good pawn in his game to maintain control of the proletariat.

On the other hand, Norrington sees Elizabeth only as a prize to be won. Although he cares deeply for her, this is not for her wit or courage. Instead, it is for her physical beauty and high class. Norrington wishes to collect this “fine woman” as his wife to compliment his new promotion, and uses his class to try and deter his competition, Will, from pursuing Elizabeth. He admonishes young Elizabeth for her knowledge of pirates as it is unladylike, even though it saves his life several times throughout the trilogy. When Beckett’s crew captures recently-proclaimed Pirate Lord Elizabeth and her men, he insists that Elizabeth, as a woman and their captain, take his quarters even though she is the enemy. Even when Norrington chooses to betray the East

India Trading Company and help Elizabeth’s crew escape, he does this for her, and not the good of the cause.

Similarly, Elizabeth’s father, Governor Swann, reduces Elizabeth to what British society deems appropriate for a woman of her class. Instead of encouraging her to be educated, he chides her for her study of pirates, even though it is Elizabeth who saves Port Royal from total destruction by the Black Pearl by using her knowledge of parley. Swann would rather have

Elizabeth be more ladylike, and gives her a physically constricting dress to wear to Norrington’s promotion ceremony. Swann pushes Elizabeth towards Norrington instead of Will, as her class would dictate. When Elizabeth is jailed for helping Jack escape, Swann refuses to allow

Elizabeth to use her own cunning and wit to get out of the situation, instead relying on his class ties to the colonial power that put her there in the first place. While misguided, Swann does all of these out of love for his daughter, and eventually gives up his own coveted class to Beckett in return for an assurance of safety for Elizabeth. Although Swann does not live to see his daughter fully realize her potential as Pirate King, Elizabeth’s atonement with his ghost in Davy Jones’

Locker is a key part of both her experience with the intersection of class and gender, and with her progression in Campbell’s monomythical journey.

Elizabeth’s Progression through Campbell’s Monomyth

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

As all monomythical heroes, Elizabeth begins her heroic progression with the call to adventure when the Black Pearl comes to sack Port Royal and find Will’s medallion. Similar to heroes such as Beowulf and Gilgamesh, Elizabeth does not refuse the call – in fact, she actively puts herself on the Black Pearl in order to save herself and her town through parley. At this point, she crosses the first threshold out of her sophisticated, high-class life and into the realm of the pirate proletariat.

It is not as Elizabeth expected. Beyond the reach of Great Britain’s social hierarchy, here,

Elizabeth’s class does nothing to protect her from the effects of being a woman among men in the 18th century western world. Having given her last name as “Turner” instead of “Swann” to avoid being kidnapped for ransom as the governor’s daughter, Elizabeth has inadvertently made herself seem more valuable because the crew believes she is Bootstrap Bill’s only remaining child. While this keeps her alive, as a woman, she is faced with physical abuse and threats of sexual assault from the crew. Elizabeth is clearly appalled, but handles both instances gracefully.

These are things that she has never experienced before in her “original” world: that of finery and economic advantage in England and Port Royal.

However, even while Elizabeth is in the company of the pirate proletariat, her class still applies. The entire Royal Navy, at the direction of Norrington and Governor Swann, is scouring the Caribbean looking for her. This would hardly be the case if Elizabeth were a mere kitchen wench or maid instead of the governor’s daughter. However, this rescue comes at a cost. When

Elizabeth is finally safe aboard the Dauntless, her opinions as a woman are invalid even though she has the most specialized knowledge of pirates among anyone on the ship. Norrington and

Governor Swann refuse to rescue Will, the proletariat blacksmith, now that Elizabeth is safe. She must submit to gender norms of British society and agree to marry Norrington on the condition that he rescue Will as a wedding present. When Norrington and his men set out to do just that, Elizabeth is locked in the captain’s quarters and laughed at for attempting to give advice on how to fight the undead crew of the Black Pearl.

Not content to sit around while incompetent pawns of the patriarchy try to rescue her true love, Elizabeth escapes to the Black Pearl to enlist the aid of pirates sympathetic to Jack and

Will. However, they selfishly refuse to help, since she has already freed them from the brig and given them the Pearl. Elizabeth, with her strong sense of morals, attempts to convince them to

“hang the [pirate] code” and sacrifice their time and efforts anyways, to no avail. An irate

Elizabeth rows to Isla de Muerta to rescue Jack and Will herself. Once she arrives, she fights as an equal alongside both of them, where she has always deserved to be.

At the end of the first film, Elizabeth speaks up for herself and defies classism by defending Jack as a good man. She also defies both classism and sexism by choosing to marry

Will, who she loves, instead of Norrington, who sees her only as a feminine trophy of his accomplishments and is who her class dictates she should marry. However, this newfound freedom is limited: Elizabeth retains her high class and still enjoys the benefits of her status within Great Britain’s system. Although her heroic arc for the first film could end here, Elizabeth must continue on throughout the trilogy to effect real change in terms of classism and sexism.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Elizabeth may have found an expanded role for herself within Great Britain’s patriarchal social hierarchy, but her failure to completely overthrow it in the first film means it will come back with a vengeance to try and put her in her place. Here, this means an arrest and death warrant for her, Will, and Norrington for either passively or actively allowing Jack to escape the gallows. Now, the system that gave Elizabeth her class privilege that provided for her speedy rescue in the first film is the same system planning her demise. Governor Swann refuses to allow

Elizabeth to rely on herself or on Will, and instead attempts to use his class connections to the

King of England to free her. Unfortunately, Governor Swann is caught, almost getting Elizabeth killed. However, Elizabeth is smart enough to realize that nothing about Great Britain or its society can save her, and turns to her own wits instead.

It is at this point, in the belly of the whale, that Elizabeth is forced to give up all class influence she once had. Here, she is doubly affected by her lack of both class and male privilege.

This is evident in the way that Elizabeth is treated by the pirates throughout the second film, such as when she is simply instructed to “guard the chest” instead of either attempting to fight, as a male would do, or negotiate with the Royal Navy, as someone of her original class might do.

Despite this, Elizabeth does concoct a series of cunning plans throughout the second film to save herself and Will, culminating in killing Jack as a sacrifice to Davy Jones’ Kraken to rescue the rest of the crew.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

The decision that Elizabeth makes to kill Jack shows immense character growth.

Elizabeth has continuously had her morality challenged throughout the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy: first in accepting that not all pirates are bad people, and now in weighing the life of one against the lives of many. Elizabeth lives with the guilt of her decision, even though it saved her life and the lives of her friends. Unfortunately, Will mistakes this guilt for sorrow at Jack’s passing because Elizabeth was in love with him. This causes a rift between them that doesn’t heal until Jack reveals that Elizabeth killed him, and when Will reveals that he betrayed the crew of the Black Pearl in order to gain command of the ship to rescue his father. While returning from the afterlife rescuing Jack, Elizabeth reaches Campbell’s stage of atonement with the father when she sees the specter of Governor Swann crossing into the afterlife. When she realizes that he is among the dead and not the living, Elizabeth becomes distraught and tries to throw him a rope to climb aboard the Black Pearl. Instead of taking the rope, Governor Swann simply tells Elizabeth “I’m so proud of you.” In life, Governor Swann was unable to see past Elizabeth’s class and gender in making decisions about her well-being.

Here, Elizabeth’s father acknowledges the wit, courage and determination that he could not while he was alive.

Although she is the object of Will, Norrington, Sao Feng and Beckett’s desires, unlike other female heroes, Elizabeth refuses to use sex or sexuality as a means to get to her boon. It is, in fact, this refusal to allow her gender and sexuality to be the deciding factor for her male counterparts that forces them to give into Elizabeth’s demands. Sao Feng, thinking that Elizabeth is Calypso incarnate, attempts to rape her after she refuses his sexual advances. When he is mortally wounded by shrapnel from battle with the Flying Dutchman, Sao Feng, racked by guilt, makes Elizabeth both captain of his ship and the new Pirate Lord of Singapore. Sao Feng’s crew, especially his first mate, is reluctant to call Elizabeth their captain until they are captured by

Norrington’s men and brought aboard the Flying Dutchman.

Similarly, Norrington attempts to give Elizabeth his quarters to sleep in when she and her crew are captured en route to Shipwreck Cove, possibly one last chance to woo her. By refusing special treatment and telling Norrington that she would rather stay with her men in the brig—the morally-correct choice in becoming a hero of the proletariat—Elizabeth forces Norrington to realize how committed she is to the cause. This leads him to help Elizabeth and her crew escape; without Norrington’s help, they might have never made it off the Flying Dutchman and get to

Shipwreck Cove in time.

One could argue that Elizabeth, in showing her maternal and romantic facets vis-à-vis

Will throughout the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, is not as strong a heroine. However,

Elizabeth is not “locked into gender” like other female heroes before her (Scott & Dargis).

Instead of being purely the “temptress” in Campbell’s monomythical progression, Will serves more as a foil of Norrington, who cannot see past Elizabeth’s gender and class in attempting to woo her. Instead, Will sees Elizabeth for who she is: a strong, caring, witty woman. Elizabeth does not need Will, but feminism proper involves the ability of women to actively make decisions about their own lives, and she chooses to sacrifice her class and risk her life throughout the trilogy to be with him.

Eventually, Elizabeth achieves her ultimate boon and becomes a hero when she becomes the Pirate King, declares an act of war on the Royal Navy and the East India Trading Company, and destroys its classist and sexist hold on the Caribbean by taking down Beckett’s ship.

Elizabeth does this in spite of her gender, which originally hindered her in both British and pirate circles, and regardless of her former class, which she had to give up in order to effectively fight the system that thrust it upon her in the first place. Her accomplishment is purely based on her wit, courage and moral compass, and she leaves the pirate world with the respect of the proletariat and married to the man that she loves.

Reflection

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was one of my favorites growing up; the first film narrowly beats out The Princess Bride as my all-time favorite film specifically because Elizabeth’s character is so much stronger than the more passive Buttercup. Analyzing

Elizabeth’s progression through Campbell’s monomyth has allowed me to realize just how strong and complex of a character she is. I believe that Disney did an excellent job in creating a female hero that is both engaging and someone parents would want their children to look up to.

Elizabeth is allowed to grow, and yet possesses a strong and obvious moral compass.

Additionally, Elizabeth is forced to make tough decisions, such as deciding to kill Jack. This sharply contrasts with Will, whose already-lacking complexity is further diminished at the end of the third film when Jack makes Will’s tough decision, freeing his father or staying with Elizabeth, for him.

Conclusion

While the fourth film of the franchise features neither Elizabeth nor Will, it appears that both will return for the fifth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Bradley,

2017). Early critic reviews concur that this new film is the most like the original movie of all films in the franchise, and gave promising praise for its storyline (Sciretta, 2017). In addition to featuring Elizabeth in some capacity, there is also a new female protagonist, an astronomer named Carina. Based on trailers, it appears that Carina shares Elizabeth’s analytical mind, initial skepticism of the undead, and strong moral compass. It is yet to be seen if our female heroes will continue to lift women and the proletariat up; if they do, some other antagonist will have to fill the void of Great Britain, now that Elizabeth has successfully smashed their rule on the high seas.

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