Stevenson: "Treasure Island" or the ideal of pirate adventures

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

More than a hundred years ago, Stevenson's book "Treasure Island" survived its first publication. If you think about the title, you can suggest that the main characters in the novel are pirates. In fact, the way it is, but even the villains from the first role-playing series are indirect heroes. In fact, the main role is given to a young man who, until a certain day, did not think about the sea, that he would go on an unforgettable journey for treasures.

You can quickly get acquainted with the essence of the novel that Stevenson wrote ("Treasure Island"). A summary of it is available on many Internet resources. But the book is so breathtaking that a full reading of it will bring more pleasure. The protagonist, Jim, a young but brave boy, randomly receives a map with which he can find treasures.

However, he is not the only one interested in finding gold. There is another colorful character in the novel - Dr. Livesey. While readingit becomes clear that he is not deprived of the author's love, Stevenson also admired him. "Treasure Island" generally collected such heroes that it is impossible not to remember. Even small, secondary roles are placed in their places and are no less significant. С

the plot described in the book is undoubtedly interesting. However, no less vivid is the story that tells how Stevenson created Treasure Island. If in many books “in the beginning there was a word”, then this work represents the true ideal of the “pirate adventure” genre, since there was a map in the beginning. This is exactly what happened, because Robert Stevenson drew a plan of the seas and islands to attract the attention of his stepson. Then he began to tell him about the characters that were created around this card. Initially, all his stories were stories of sailors heard by Stevenson in childhood. After that, the circle of heroes expanded, new ships, pirates, the famous dead man's chest and, of course, fighters against evil appeared.

Piracy at the time of writing the novel was already in decline, so Robert showed not the struggle of corsairs with ships, not gold mining, but looters who could kill each other for money. They had no family, friends and homeland behind them, they fought to live rich. But all Stevenson's funny adventures of these villains reflect only a secondary line of the book, and the main idea of the novel is as old as the world - the final victory of good. Moreover, the path to it does not lie through brute force, cunning or cruelty. He is trampled by a young boy, confident and unspoiled by life.

It cannot be said that Robert did not condemn evil, he did it ironically, through laughter. But one energetic pirate still deserved his freedom and treasures. At the end of the novel, he escapes punishment and again goes on a journey through the waves. Therefore, one-legged Silver survived when Stevenson finished Treasure Island. But one cannot blame the author for this - surely every reader admired the vitality, cunning and treachery of a cruel pirate. Thus, by the end of the 19th century, people first saw the immortal novel that Robert Stevenson gave to the world: Treasure Island. Combining several genres, he was able to interest any reader. This is what gave him worldwide fame. And for an entire era, this book has been "swallowed" with rapture by people of all ages.