Within the world of literature and especially of classic stories, There are many villains who have conquered our hearts. Their evil, far from being hurtful or disproportionate, is defiant, sometimes even elegant. Maybe he is on your list of favorite evildoers, Captain Hook. That character created by JM Barrie who continues to haunt the dreams of millions of children and adults, his greatest enemy… Peter Pan.
“Click Clock Click Clock… Hook is afraid of a simple clock. I don’t think so, he is afraid of time, of time that goes away.» -Robin Williams said in the movie «Hook» embodying Pan himself, a production that is difficult to forget, another example that the great classics never die. In fact, to this day, we continue to enjoy a «renewed» version of the Hook character represented by Colin 0’Donoghue in the hit television series,«Habia una vez» (top image).
Would you like to know what is hidden behind this character? Join us on this journey aboard your ship…
Curiosities about Captain Hook
1. Hook and the world of piracy
Hook was the fearless captain of the jolly roger. In Barrie’s book he gave an interesting little tribute to all those fantastic piracy novels by commenting that the antagonist of Peter Pan had actually worked for Blackbeard himself. What’s more, it pays a small tribute to Robert Louis Stevenson commenting that Hook was the only man John Long Silver feared (remember that Silver is one of the most important and endearing characters in «Treasure Island»).
2. Hook, a man with good manners
Captain Hook is not just any pirate. Barrie often said of him that he was an exquisitely cultured man. In fact, he was a former student of the Eton College. In the book he almost lets us sense that he could have been a well-known man in British society, but that at some point in his life, the sea, the wandering life and piracy seduced his heart.
He describes him as a man with a thin, almost cadaverous face and deep melancholic blue eyes, capable of turning into a fiery red when rage possessed him. He used to look too a curly wig. At one moment he was the most subtle of knights and suddenly he exploded as the most energetic of villains.
3. But who was JM Barrie really based on to create Captain Hook?
There are several theories. One of them focuses on cChristopher Newport. A 17th century privateer who worked for the Queen of England herself. He was a somewhat infamous and boastful character who from a very young age took part in fierce confrontations attacking Spanish cargo ships. He lost an arm (Hook his hand). And it is also known that on one occasion he arrived at the British court with two baby crocodiles.
Other historians think that perhaps Barrie was based on James Cook to create the antagonist of Peter Pan. The 18th century navigator and explorer has a surname with a sound similar to that of Hook. It is also known that James Cook was murdered by native Hawaiians in 1779, a fact that many believe was used by Barrie to create the «lost boys.» Creatures who reacted against the «Western or civilized man», a father figure before whom they could oppose and defend themselves, as in some way those who murdered the English explorer also did.
4. Captain Hook’s deepest fear
Peter Pan was the one who cut off Captain Hook’s right hand (for Walt Disney it was the left). After cutting it off, a crocodile devoured it, swallowing her watch as well. And if there’s one thing the captain of the Jolly Rogers truly fears, it’s that one. fierce crocodile who was spellbound with the taste of her blood. So much so that since then she has not stopped chasing him. Hunting him wherever he goes.
As you may remember, Hook knows the crocodile is close to him when he hears a timid «tick-tack» in the waters. It is the sound of that clock that the animal still carries in its belly. It is said that Hook’s obsession with that crocodile is the same that Captain Ahab had with the white whale (that sperm whale we already told you about in ). It is also a representation that time and death are closing in on him.
5. Wendy and Captain Hook
As a final curiosity, we will tell you that in most of the plays performed since the time of J. M Barrie, the actor who plays Hookis the same one who plays the Wendy Darling’s father. Same man, different clothes… Why? That was something that was left to the free interpretation of the general public.
If you liked knowing these curiosities about Captain Hook, learn more about what «the true shadow of Peter Pan» hides.