captain jack sparrow

Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional pirate and main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), and the not yet released third installment Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End^[1] (2007). The character is portrayed by actor Johnny Depp.

Inspirations

Depp claims that Rolling Stones guitarist, Keith Richards, who is set to play his father in the third movie, and Pepé Le Pew (from Looney Tunes) were both inspirations for his performance (although Errol Flynn — primarily in Captain Blood [1935] — was also an influence). Depp has also said that he imagined pirates as being "like the rock stars of their day"^[2] and that he likes to portray Sparrow as "sexually ambiguous". ^[3]

The part earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, a rarity for a comic performance. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio compared his character to Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx on the DVD commentary for the first film.

Biography

Early life

Son of Captain Teage Sparrow.

According to the official Disney website and the game based on the film series, Jack Sparrow was born in British colonial India and was once employed by the East India Trading Company. He helmed the Wicked Wench, an EITC merchant vessel, performing odd jobs for Cutler Beckett. When Sparrow refuses to transport slaves and instead frees them in Africa, Beckett sanctions the torching (and sinking) of the Wicked Wench, and literally brands Jack Sparrow a pirate. Jack comes to embrace his outlaw status, becoming a successful pirate with no desire to return to life under the command of others. Later, Jack petitions Davy Jones to raise his ship from the ocean floor. He rechristens her the Black Pearl.

Disney Press began a book series for young readers in June 2006, chronicling Sparrow's adventures as a teenager. Written by Rob Kidd, the first three books follow Sparrow and a young, motley crew in a continuing search for the legendary Sword of Cortés. Along the way, they must battle pirates, ancient curses, sirens, and the power of the sea.^[4]

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

About a decade prior to the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow was searching for the legendary Chest of Cortez containing a cache of Aztec gold. First Mate Hector Barbossa, convinced Jack to share the bearings to the treasure. When he did, Barbossa and the crew mutinied and marooned him on an island with only a pistol containing a single shot (allowing the option of suicide over starvation). After three days, Sparrow bartered passage off the island with rum runners who stored their cache there. Now seeking revenge, Sparrow keeps the pistol to kill his former first mate with. After finding the gold, Barbossa and the crew learned it was cursed, transforming them into immortal skeletons whose true appearance is only seen in moonlight.

Arriving in Port Royal approximately ten years later, Sparrow is arrested for piracy after saving Elizabeth Swann from drowning. Wearing a too-tight corset, Elizabeth faints and falls off a rampart into the bay during a marriage proposal from Commodore James Norrington. A medallion she is wearing signals the Black Pearl, and the pirates lay siege to Port Royal. Elizabeth is captured and taken to Captain Barbossa. Under parley, she negotiates with him to leave Port Royal in exchange for the medallion. Barbossa agrees but keeps her captive. Being the daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann, she identified herself as "Elizabeth Turner" to conceal her identity. However, she's unaware the pirates are looking for someone with that surname. The next day, the imprisoned Sparrow is visited by Will Turner, a young blacksmith who loves Elizabeth and wants to rescue her. Sparrow realises Will is the son of William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, his onetime shipmate and the lone holdout in the mutiny—an action that landed Bootstrap on the bottom of the ocean strapped to a cannon. Familiar with the legend of the "heathen curse" that struck the Pearl's crew, Sparrow knows Turner's child is needed to help break the curse—the blood of those who took the Aztec gold must be "repaid" along with the coins. Will Turner is the only source of his father's blood, and Sparrow sees this as a means to get back his ship. Sparrow does not share this information with Will. Captain Barbossa, meanwhile, believes Elizabeth is Bootstrap's child.

To save Elizabeth, Will agrees to help Sparrow escape and commandeer the Royal Navy ship Interceptor. They sail to Tortuga to recruit a crew before heading to Isla de Muerta. Once there, Sparrow and Will infiltrate the cave, but Will, having learned Sparrow intends to use him to get back the Pearl, leaves him behind unconscious. Will rescues Elizabeth, and they escape to the Interceptor, but the Black Pearl pursues them. After a fierce battle, the Interceptor is sunk and the crew is captured. Barbossa maroons Sparrow and Swann on the same island Sparrow was previously stranded on. To Jack's horror, Elizabeth burns an abandoned rum stockpile as a signal fire that is spotted by Commodore Norrington. To save Will, Elizabeth persuades Norrington to attack Isla de Muerta. On the island, Sparrow enters the cave and interrupts Will sacrifice by informing Barbossa that the navy is waiting outside to ambush them. After Barbossa sends the crew to fight them, Sparrow attacks him. Barbossa believes he mortally wounds his opponent, but Sparrow has cursed himself by sneaking a coin from the chest, rendering him immortal. Sparrow and Turner lift the curse just after Sparrow fatally shoots Barbossa with the shot he has carried for ten years. The remaining now-mortal crewmembers are defeated. Sparrow is arrested and returned to Port Royal for execution, but with help from Turner and Swann, he escapes by accidentally falling off the rampart and into the bay. The Black Pearl is waiting, and Sparrow once again takes his rightful place as its captain.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Thirteen years ago, Captain Sparrow obtained the Black Pearl from Davy Jones by bargaining his soul in exchange for one hundred years service aboard The Flying Dutchman, the infamous ship of the dead and dying. Now the debt is due. One night, Jack's former shipmate, "Bootstrap Bill" Turner appears and marks him with the Black Spot, a sign the Kraken is hunting him. Meanwhile, Will Turner searches for Sparrow. Lord Cutler Beckett has forced Will to find Sparrow's compass and recruit him as a privateer. Otherwise, he, Elizabeth Swann, and former Commodore James Norrington will be executed for aiding Sparrow's escape. Turner finds Sparrow and the crew held captive by cannibals on Pelegosto. They escape, barely making it to the Black Pearl.

Rowing upriver, they find Tia Dalma, a voodoo priestess with whom Sparrow hints he was once close. Jack shows her a drawing of a key; he doesn't know what it unlocks or where to find it, and his magical compass is not working. Tia Dalma says it doesn't work because Jack does not know what he truly wants. She tells them the legend of Davy Jones and the Dead Man's Chest. When Jones lost his true love, his pain was so deep that he cut out his heart and buried it. The key is kept by Jones. Back at sea, the "Pearl" encounters Davy Jones who has come to claim his debt. Attempt to barter a deal to exchange one hundred souls in exchange for his soul, the devious Sparrow uses the clueless Will as a bargaining chip, and he is taken prisoner.

Jack heads to Tortuga to recruit ninety-nine sailors. While he and Gibbs interview candidates in a pub, a fallen James Norrington applies. Blaming Jack for ruining his life, he tries to shoot him and a brawl erupts. Elizabeth, who has escaped from prison, suddenly arrives and stops the fight by knocking out Norrington.

They head to the Black Pearl where Elizabeth confronts Jack as he's preparing to leave port. Mistaking her for a boy, he hires her. Elizabeth asks about Will, but Jack regrets to say that he was press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew. He claims he is blameless, but Norrington is skeptical. Jack reveals the compass' secret, telling Elizabeth that if she finds the Dead Man's Chest, she will be able to save Will. The compass works at last. After setting sail for Isla Cruces, Elizabeth discloses that Will was sent by Cutler Beckett and shows Jack and Gibbs the Letter of Marque, which Jack takes from her. Norrington overhears the conversation and devises his own plan. The captain then expresses an amorous interest in Elizabeth and attempts to woo her. She reacts coyly and seems disappointed when Jack apparently respects her virtue. Actually, he panics and runs off when the Black Spot suddenly reappears—the Kraken is hunting him again.

On Isla Cruces and Sparrow, Elizabeth and Norrington find the chest. But Jack's confronted by Will (who's escaped from Davy Jones' ship) and Norrington, each hoping to claim the heart. Turner wants to free his father, while Norrington hopes to reclaim his career. Sparrow extricates himself from their three-way sword fight, and obtaining the chest, opens it to find Jones' beating heart within. However, Norrington steals it and the Letter of Marque and escapes. Jones' crew retrieves the chest, unaware it's empty. Back at sea, the Dutchman chases the Pearl, but they outrun her. Jones summons the Kraken. In a moment of cowardice, Sparrow deserts the Pearl as the crew valiantly fights the monster. However, Jack's underlying loyalty and honor compel him to go back and savess his shipmates. Knowing the Kraken will return, he gives the order to abandon ship.

As the crew leaves the ship, Elizabeth tricks Sparrow by distracting him with a passionate kiss and cuffs him to the mast. She tells him she isn't sorry. A smirking Jack simply responds, "Pirate." Elizabeth climbs into the longboat and, unaware Will witnessed the kiss, tells the others Jack elected to stay behind. Sparrow frees himself and bravely battles the ferocious beast as the Pearl is dragged underwater. Davy Jones declares their debt settled, but he's enraged when he discovers the chest is empty. Meanwhile, Norrington delivers the heart and the Letter of Marque to Lord Beckett, hoping to reclaim his career.

The saddened crew make their way to Tia Dalma's. As she consoles them, she asks if they would be willing to sail to the World's End to bring back Sparrow and the Pearl, to which all agree. She says they will need a Captain who knows those waters. Just then, the very alive Captain Barbossa descends the stairs.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

Although few details have been released about At Worlds End, it has been confirmed that Jack will cross paths with his father, Captain Grant (Sea sponge) Sparrow (portrayed by Keith Richards).

A video unveiled to attends of Comic-Con International in San Diego included brief scenes from the film, with Sparrow fighting against Davy Jones in a crow's nest and against Barbossa aboard the Black Pearl.^[5]

Personality

Captaincy

Sparrow has an unwavering desire to captain the Black Pearl, and only the Black Pearl, and the majority of his actions in Pirates 1 are the means to get his ship back. Says Jack, "What a ship is—what the Black Pearl really is—is freedom." He is one of the few pirates who is not only good at what he does, but truly loves doing it and can't conceive of any other life. This is demonstrated by his willingness to barter for his ship—he offers Captain Barbossa his subordination, 25% of his pirates’ earnings, and says he'll buy Barbossa a new hat (a big one) should he be given back his command. However, this appears to have been a ploy to fool Barbossa into forming an alliance so Sparrow can defeat him.

Despite his love for the Black Pearl, he does tell Gibbs, "She's only a ship, mate." However, this was probably said to convince the crew to save themselves, and as they climb into the longboat, Jack lingers behind, seemingly reluctant to leave his beloved Pearl and knowing the Kraken is hunting only him.

Demeanor

Sparrow's most obvious physical characteristic is a slightly drunken stagger, accompanied by awkwardly flailing hand gestures that make him look unfocused (or possibly slightly ataxic). It may also be a side effect of spending long periods on a ship, as he seems fairly sure-footed once onboard. The noted stagger could have resulted from the heat stroke he was rumored to have suffered while marooned, although he actually spent part of that time cavorting with the rum runners who helped him escape. Sparrow's gestures are also believed to be a ploy to help keep his enemies off-guard. His seemingly perpetual drunkenness could also be why he often slurs his speech.

Jack possesses a distinctive tattoo of a sparrow flying in front of a setting sun over the ocean on his right forearm. This is apparently a well-known identification mark of the infamous pirate as Commodore Norrington immediately recognized it. The letter "P" (for pirate) was also branded on his right wrist by the East India Trading Company. Whilst handling a red-hot P branding iron, Cutler Beckett tells Will Turner that he and Sparrow each left their "mark" upon the other. Beckett branded Jack with the letter "P", but he refrains from saying just how Jack marked him.

Rum

Jack is particularly fond of rum, more so than any other character, save Gibbs. Sparrow is outraged when Elizabeth burns the cache of smuggler's rum to create a smoke signal leading to their rescue from the uninhabited island. He is so irate, in fact, that he pulls out his pistol and is momentarily tempted to use his single shot on the oblivious Elizabeth. When Elizabeth boards the Pearl in Pirates DMC, Sparrow whispers to Gibbs, "Hide the rum," fearing she will try to get rid of it. In another nod to his fondness for the drink, upon finding his bottle of rum empty, Jack groans, "Why is the rum always gone?" Standing up, he staggers a bit and mutters smugly, "Oh, that's why."

When Jack is visited by "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, he wonders if it's a dream, but Bootstrap says no. Jack resignedly sighs, "I thought not. If it were, there'd be rum," to which Bootstrap proffers a bottle that Sparrow has to pry from his barnacle-encrusted hand.

Jack's effects

Jack carries a number of items on his person at all times, including his pistol, sword, coat and tricorne hat. He also has an unusual compass that he obtained in a barter with the voodoo priestess Tia Dalma (as established in Dead Man's Chest). Rather than pointing north, its needle points to whatever the person holding it wants most. Usually that is treasure or other valuable items, but it can also be a person or a geographical location. It works for anyone using it, if they know what they desire. It will even work while lying untouched on the ground.

In Pirates 2, Jack's compass appears to fail. However, it later works for Elizabeth when she is focused on saving Will. Jack convinces her that the only way to save Will is by finding the Dead Man's Chest. Later, when Elizabeth holds the compass to find the chest, it instead points towards Jack, leading her to complain it is broken and plopping down in the sand. When Jack looks at the compass, it points towards Elizabeth. He says, "You're sitting on it," and motions her to move. However, it is subtly implied that the Dead Man's Chest being buried in that same spot is merely a coincidence, or that Jack's finding it is dumb luck. When Jack returns to the Pearl after deserting the crew, it may have been because the compass was pointing to his beloved ship or Elizabeth.

After his pistol, Jack's most prized possession is his hat. He is rarely seen without it, and he always mentions it when discussing his "effects." When Jack orders the ship to head for land to escape the Kraken, his hat is thrown overboard by Jack the monkey. A panicked Sparrow commands it be left behind, which so surprises the crew they are literally struck motionless. The hat, which is picked up by nearby fishermen, is eaten by the Kraken when it attacks the wrong ship. Jack spends the entire film searching for a suitable replacement and even walks through a pub fight trying on the brawlers' tricornes. He eventually regains his own hat when it is regurgitated by the Kraken as is about to devour him. Covered in mucus, Jack merely shakes it off and puts it back on before drawing his cutlass and attacking the monster.

Traits

Unusual for a pirate, Sparrow is known for his altruistic nature and will risk himself to save others, most notably Will and Elizabeth. In Pirates 1, it's implied that Jack's benevolence is one reason his crew mutinied. When Jack suggests a nonviolent way to retrieve the Aztec medallion from the Interceptor, Barbossa exclaims, "Now, y'see Jack, that's exactly the attitude that lost you the Pearl. People are easier to search when they're dead." Sparrow is presented as an honourable, if self-serving, man who adheres to the "Pirates' Code." He also believes there are pirates who can still be "good men", which was his evaluation of "Bootstrap" Bill Turner. Jack also has character flaws. In a weak moment of cowardice, he deserts his ship and crew to save himself as it's being attacked by the Kraken. However, his intrinsic loyalty and heroism ultimately win out, and he returns in time to save his shipmates.

Jack considers himself a ladies' man, explaining that he has a "tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature." However, he is seemingly unable to commit to a long-term relationship, although Elizabeth Swann appears to be the first woman Jack is unable to forget. Interestingly, in the novelization of the second film, Jack tells Elizabeth that he likes marriage because it is, "like a wager to see who will fall out of love first." Jack is adept at sweeping ladies off their feet, but his conquests seem to have a sour memory of him. His former flames, Giselle and Scarlett, tend to slap him or anyone looking for him. However, Tia Dalma, who he apparently has a history with, is rather pleased to see him when he visits her, although Jack's initial concern over their impending reunion indicates they may not have parted on good terms.

Jack apparently suffers from extremely bad breath, although this may just be from drinking alcohol. Commodore Norrington had to take a step back when Sparrow got a little too close, and Governor Swann nearly gagged when face-to-face with him. When Jack attempts to romantically approach Elizabeth during Dead Man's Chest, she notes their various differences, including "personal hygiene." However, she seems unaffected by his breath during later close encounters with him. Ironically, Sparrow tells Commodore Norrington that he smells funny (after he was thrown into a pig sty).

Catchphrases

Sparrow's most commonly-used words and phrases include "savvy?" (Do you understand me?) and "bugger," ( a Britishism equivocal to a 4 lettered word). He makes several references to, "using the right leverage," and "waiting for the opportune moment." Sparrow's most quoted line: "Why is the rum gone?"^{citation needed]}

As an endnote, Sparrow frequently says, "This is the day you will all remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow." This line is humourously cut off at the end of the first film when he falls off the fortress and evades execution, and again in Pirates 2 as a wave hits him after he escapes the cannibals.

Sparrow often uses "eunuch" as an insult. During his first duel with Will Turner, he asks him if he is one, given his penchant for long hours practicing with swords rather than courting ladies. It becomes a running joke throughout both films. Jack tells Barbossa, and later Davy Jones in an effort to protect him, that Will is a soprano (referring to the former Roman Catholic Church practice to castrate talented pre-pubescent choir boys {known as a castrato} to maintain their high-toned singing voices). While addressing the natives about a hog-tied Will, he refers to him by saying, "Eunuchy, snip-snip."

Other appearances

• Jack Sparrow appears as Terri Clark's fantasy lover in the video for her country music song, Girls Lie Too.
• Sparrow appears in Kingdom Hearts II as an optional member of the party in the Port Royal world. James Arnold Taylor voices Jack Sparrow in the English release of the game (as the movie cast were unavailable because of filming Dead Man's Chest); Hiroaki Hirata (who voiced Jack Sparrow in the Japanese dub of Pirates) plays the character for the Japanese release.
• Sparrow's name makes an appearance in the game Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters on a tombstone in the Lychfield Graveyard. The grave reads "Cpt. J. Sparrow: A wind at your back forever, sir"Foto, perhaps a reference to the toast Depp shares with his father while playing George Jung in Blow.
• The character of the Pirate King in the 2006 Opera Australia production of the classic operetta The Pirates of Penzance is played by Anthony Warlow as a dead ringer impersonation of Jack Sparrow.
• Sparrow is the protagonist of the video game titled Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow for the PC, and PS2 platforms. The game follows the events of Sparrow's past, including his escape from the island on which he was marooned and how he sacked Nassau Port without firing a shot. Johnny Depp supplies the voice for Jack Sparrow, which is unusual for a game based on a film. None of the other cast members perform their character's voices.
• In the spring of 2006, Disney retooled their Pirates of the Caribbean ride to include more references to the film. Jack Sparrow makes three appearances in the attraction, hunting for the town's treasure. The final scene sees Jack victorious in his efforts, sitting on a throne surrounded by treasure, singing the "Yo-Ho" song happily.

References