Good Vs Evil In Treasure Island And

Good Vs. Evil In Treasure Island And Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde Essay, Research Paper

Throughout many works of literature, a prominent theme has been Good vs. Evil . Many authors base the plot of their novels around good guys fighting the villain .Robert Louis Stevenson contrasts good and evil through many of the characters thathe creates.

In the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , Stevensoncontrasts the characters of Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde to further the theme Good vs. Evil . This theme is common to many of Stevenson s other works. In TreasureIsland, Stevenson uses the character Long John Silver to bring out this identicalidea. Long John Silver in many ways can be viewed the classic villain. But, whilereading this novel, one must be aware of the many other facets of Silver spersonality that bring out his good nature. In Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , Robert Louis Stevenson incorporates the theme Good vs. Evil in both of these stories through the split personalities of both Long John Silver, and Dr. Jekyll.

Robert Louis Stevenson s theme of Good vs. Evil is prominent in the novel Treasure Island. This story begins by introducing the protagonist of the novel Jim Hawkins. Jim works at an inn, which his mother owns. An old buccaneer is staying there by the name of Billy Bones who possesses a mysterious sea chest, which

many people seem to want. While he was staying at the inn, many people attempted to steal the chest from the buccaneer. Billy Bones is a very heavy drinker, which may have been the cause of his death while staying at the inn. After the death, Jim s curiosity for the old chest overwhelms him. Jim opens up the chest and finds to his pleasure an old treasure map. Jim immediately brings the map to

Dr. Livesey, a friend of Jim s family. Dr. Livesey and Jim decide to gather up a crew and sail to Treasure Island aboard the Hispanola to find the buried treasure. While looking for a cook, Dr. Livesey comes across a man by the name of Long John Silver. Because of Silver s vast knowledge of the sea and his great cooking, he is named the head chef of the ship. Silver has other plans in mind though. As

soon as he boards the ship, Jim sees him as a nice, intelligent man. This all quickly changes as he overhears Silver talking about heading a mutiny against the captain and the other crew members and taking the treasure for himself. As soon as they get to Treasure Island, Jim and his comrades escape from the wrath of Silver and hide out in a bunker in the forest. Silver soon realizes this and declares war on Jim and his men. While exploring the forest, Jim comes across a man by the name of Ben Gunn. Ben is the only inhabitant of Treasure Island, and was marooned there three long years earlier. Ben decides to stay hidden in the woods while Jim goes back to the bunker. While at the bunker, Jim and his men are repeatedly attacked by Silver. The next day, Jim boards the Hispanola and beaches it miles down shore

so no one can find it but him. Silver is greatly angered by this and captures Jim along with his men. They happily trade Silver the treasure map for their freedom, but when Silver goes to look for the treasure, he finds that someone has taken it. What Silver did not know was that earlier in the day, Ben Gunn had discovered the

treasure and had hidden it in his cave. Jim and his men now have the treasure, and all of Silver s men leave after they get in a fight. Jim and his men take Silver aboard to reach civilization and to have him imprisoned. But when they reach shore, Silver grabs two handfuls of treasure and fleas, never to be seen again.

From the beginning of the novel, the reader gets an evil connotation from Silver s character. Although Jim likes Silver, the reader knows that Silver is the one legged man that the buccaneer previously had warned Jim about. By the old buccaneer asking Jim to keep an eye out for Long John Silver, the reader is aware of the importance of Silver without ever being introduced to his character. look out for the seafaring man with one leg (Treasure p5). This is the first sign of Silver s evil. The old buccaneer, who seems very brave otherwise, is deeply petrified by even the thought of Silver. When Jim finally meets Silver, he does not know that he was the man that the buccaneer was warning him of, and is in awe of

his Silver s abundant knowledge of the sea. When they finally aboard the ship, Jim learns that Silver is also an amazing cook. What Jim doesn t know is that Silver has been devising a plan to head a mutiny against the rest of the ship. This is only the beginning of the many horrible things that Silver does to ultimately possess the

treasure.

By the time they reach the island, Silver has already shown his true colors by killing one of his own men who disobeyed him. Soon afterwards he strikes again. all of a sudden, a cry like the sound of anger and then one horrid, long drawn scream (Treasure p76). Here, Silver kills another one of his own men in the forest.

Silver s distorted ethics are displayed here once more. He puts money as a top priority for himself, way above the value of any one human life. This shows his extreme greed, and the lack of remorse for any of his fellow shipmates.

While examining the character of Long John Silver one must see his good side also. He i