Mythical Archetype: the Trickster and Pirates of the Caribbean Essay Example

tricked the young boy into letting him out of his jail cell, and in return he would help him find the love of his life.

As I was researching more information on Captain Jack Sparrow and his trickster-like ways, I found that the character was indeed portrayed to be the mythic archetype, the trickster. According to screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, “There's a certain moral ambiguity to the pirate genre which seemed perfect for the kind of trickster character you see in folklore all around the world... You've got the Jack tales, the Navajo Indian's Coyote legends, the spider god from African Mythology. Shakespeare's Puck is another.” (Hart)

As you can see, the thematic significance of a mythic archetype in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean is huge, Jack Sparrows character was essentially made to represent the mythic archetype, the trickster. Another reason I felt that Jack Sparrow’s character portrayed the trickster so much was that, the Greek deity, Hermes, is one of classical mythology’s examples of a trickster. From birth Hermes was known for playing tricks, by nighttime on his birthday he had stolen and hidden all of Apollo’s cattle.

And when Apollo encountered Hermes about he denied it. Finally after Hermes finally admitted it Apollo and him become friends, with a strong bond that could not be broken between the two of them. This story between reminds me of the friendship between Will Turner and Jack Sparrow in the movie. Throughout the movie and trilogy Jack Sparrow does many sly and trickster-like things that almost anyone would never forgive for yet Will Turner goes and bails him out.