Gentleman Jocard.
- "Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman...would give us a pair of pistols."
"It'll be one pistol as before, and you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady and starve to death yourself." - ―Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa
A gentleman (plural gentlemen; abbreviated gent) was any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, Gentleman was a title or rank denoting a man of a good family. Eventually, by definition, gentleman eventually saw use by members of the peerage, generally in reference to any man of good and courteous conduct. Some successful pirates and notorious adventurers were often called gentlemen of fortune.
History[]
Two guards, Mullroy and Murtogg, who were considered upstanding gentlemen.
- "Gentlemen. Ladies. We must free Calypso."
- ―Hector Barbossa to the Pirate Lords of the Fourth Brethren Court
The infamous pirate captain Bartholomew Roberts dressed like the finest gentleman and drank only tea.[1] Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III, a young aristocrat who sailed with young Jack Sparrow, considered himself a gentleman.[2] When Cutler Beckett asked honest seamanJack Sparrow to take a cargo of slaves to New Avalon, he gave him his word as a gentleman to never ask him to do that again.[3] Some successful pirates or notorious adventurers, like Sparrow, were consider a "gentleman of fortune" during the Golden Age of Piracy.[4] The title of "Gentleman" was most notably used by Jocard,[5] the Pirate Lord of the Atlantic Ocean.[6][7][8] Captain Teague, the Pirate Lord of Madagascar and Keeper of the Code, politely called his fellow pirate guests ladies and gentlemen.[9] When Jack Sparrow killed the rogue pirate Christophe-Julien de Rapièr, he refused to take the rogue's sword for himself because he considered it a gentleman's weapon not suitable for a humble mariner like himself.[10]
A British Navy officer once referred to as a fine gentleman, James Norrington referred to his men as gentlemen.
Shortly before Captain James Norrington was promoted to commodore, Governor Weatherby Swann considered Norrington a fine gentleman to Elizabeth Swann.[11] After the battle of Isla de Muerta, Commodore Norrington called the HMS Dauntless crew gentlemen after retaking the ship from cursed pirates.[12] During the War Against Piracy, when giving a speech to the crew of the Black Pearl prior to the battle, Elizabeth called them gentlemen before giving them the order to hoist the colors.[5] During the quest for the Fountain of Youth, Blackbeard referred to the crew of the Queen Anne's Revenge as gentlemen during Jack Sparrow's attempted mutiny on the Revenge and later to call Philip Swift "a man formerly of faith" due to the young missionary believing Blackbeard's soul could not be saved.[13]
Jack Sparrow, a gentleman of fortune, referred to his crew members as gentlemen, sirs, and fellow conscriptees.
Captain Jack Sparrow referred to his crews or other notable individuals as gentlemen. Jack once referred to Mullroy and Murtogg, two guards in the Royal Marines, as two upstanding gentlemen.[12] As he held Elizabeth Swann hostage, Sparrow called Commodore Norrington's men gentlemen prior to his attempted escape.[11] When the pirates Koehler and Twigg commented that Jack's fortunes hadn't improved since they marooned Sparrow on a desert island, their former captain advised the gentlemen to worry about their own fortunes.[12] Jack referred to his crew as gentlemen when questions arose about a drawing of a key.[4] While stuck in Davy Jones' Locker, Jack Sparrow referred to multiple hallucinations of himself as gentlemen.[5] When Angelica insinuated that she left him, Sparrow replied, "A gentleman allows a lady to maintain her fictions." Jack repeatedly referred to his crew of mutineers as gentlemen when discussing the topic of mutiny aboard the Revenge.[13] At the end of the escape from Saint Martin, Jack Sparrow addressed the Dying Gull crew as gentlemen.[14]
Hector Barbossa, regardless of whether he was a pirate or a privateer, called his various colleagues and cronies as gentlemen.
Hector Barbossa was equally as respectful to his own associates, including members of his crew. With an elegantly engraved flintlock pistol, which he won when a Spanish pirate challenged him to a duel, Barbossa dealt out death like a gentleman.[15][6] Captain Barbossa referred to his cursed crewmen as "gentlemen" and "gents" while attempting to lift the Aztec curse.[12] During the Fourth Brethren Court, Barbossa referred to most of the Pirate Lords and other attendees as gentlemen, due to two of the Lords being women.[5] When he served as a privateer in the employ of King George II, Barbossa referred to members of the Royal Guard and the HMS Providence crew as gentlemen.[13] Shortly before marooning Jack Sparrow again, this time with Elizabeth, despite the pirate suggesting a gentleman would give them two pistols, Barbossa suggested Jack be the gentleman in shooting Elizabeth and "starve to death" by himself.[12]
Behind the scenes[]
- "Right, then. Gentlemen, a man's first duty is less to his office than his own honor, and that he cannot perform if deceived."
- ―Jack Sparrow
- As a term of address, "gentleman" first appeared in the 2003 junior novelization for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,[11] with "gents" first appearing in the final cut of the film.[12] The title "Gentleman" was first mentioned with the Pirate Lord Gentleman Jocard in the 2007 reference book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide.[6]
- In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early screenplay draft for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, it was Pintel who cut Elizabeth Swann's hand during the ritual in the cave, and when she looked surprised, he said they were all gentlemen there, right and proper.[16]
- According to Geoffrey Rush, Captain Hector Barbossa had earnest desires to be a gentleman of the sea.[17][18]
- In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay for At World's End, unlike the final cut of the film,[5] Elizabeth Swann does not refer to the crew of the Black Pearl as "gentlemen" before giving the order to hoist the colors.[19]
- In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay for On Stranger Tides, unlike the final cut of the film,[13] Hector Barbossa does not call the Providence crew as "gentlemen" before they sail for Whitecap Bay, and Blackbeard does not call the Queen Anne's Revenge crew "gentlemen" as he beheld "a man formerly of faith" Philip Swift.[20]
- In Terry Rossio's screenplay for Dead Men Tell No Tales, Admiral John Benbow referred to his crew as "gentlemen" before they sail for Fort San Cristobal. In what was intended to be the post-credit scene, Hector Barbossa tells the assembled crew members "The topic is mutiny, gentlemen. Mutiny most foul," which was likely intended to reference Jack Sparrow's mutiny in On Stranger Tides,[13] as Barbossa now plots to take Sparrow's life.[21]
Appearances[]
- Jack Sparrow: The Pirate Chase
- Jack Sparrow: The Sword of Cortés
- Jack Sparrow: The Age of Bronze
- Jack Sparrow: The Timekeeper
- Jack Sparrow: Dance of the Hours
- The Price of Freedom
- Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First identified as gent)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization) (First appearance) (First identified as gentleman)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Sources[]
- Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide
External links[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, p. 13
- ↑ Jack Sparrow: The Pirate Chase, p. 52
- ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Eighteen, Exodus
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide
- ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean, p. 227
- ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters, p. 74
- ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Two, Lady Esmeralda
- ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Seventeen, A Matter of Honor
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization)
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide
- ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: "Becoming Barbossa"
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean production notes, accessed Dec 9, 2006
- ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
- ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
- ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES by Terry Rossio