Captain Hook

Name	Captain James Hook
Series	Peter Pan
Caption	Robb Harwood as Captain Hook
First	''Peter Pan (1904)
Creator	J. M. Barrie
Gender	Male
Occupation	Pirate
Title	Captain
Nationality	English

Captain James Hook is the antagonist of J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and its various adaptations. The character is a villainous pirate captain of the Jolly Roger brig, and lord of the pirate village/harbour in Neverland, where he is widely feared. Most importantly, he is the archenemy of Peter Pan. It is said that Hook was Blackbeard's boatswain, and that he was the only man Long John Silver ever feared. But he is said to be afraid of crocodiles and probably other reptiles.

Hook wears a big iron hook in place of his right hand, which was cut off by Peter Pan and eaten by a saltwater crocodile, who liked the taste so much that she follows Hook around constantly, hoping for more. Luckily for Hook, the crocodile also swallowed a clock, so Hook can tell from the ticking when she is near. Hook hates Peter obsessively due to his cockiness (and the removing of his hand), as well as the way he always seems to have "good form" without trying or even realizing, which is the best "form" of all, and lives for the day he can make Peter and all his Lost Boys walk the plank.

Creation of the character

Hook did not appear in early drafts of the play, with the capricious and coercive Peter Pan as the closest thing to a "villain" in it. The pirate captain was created for a front-cloth scene to be staged in front of the curtain while the set was changed from Neverland back to the Darling nursery, depicting the children's journey home. Barrie expanded the scene, knowing how much children were fascinated by pirates, and expanded the role of the captain as the play developed. The character was originally cast to be played by a woman: Dorothea Baird, the actress also playing Mary Darling. Gerald du Maurier, who was already playing George Darling (and the brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies), persuaded Barrie to let him take the additional role instead, a casting decision that has since been replicated in many stage and film productions of the Peter Pan story.

Biography of the character

Barrie states in the novel that "Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze." He relates the tale of how Peter Pan cut off his hand and fed it to the crocodile, setting up the rivalry between them. Barrie explains that "he was Blackbeard's boatswain, and that he was the only man Long John Silver ever feared". It is implied that he attended Eton College and Balliol' in the play; Hook's final words are "Floreat Etona", the College's motto. Barrie confirmed this in a speech delivered in 1927 to the first hundred at Eton College entitled "Captain Hook at Eton".

In Barrie's story, Hook captures Wendy Darling, the girl who loves Peter and whom Peter views as his surrogate mother, and challenges the boy to a final duel. When Hook is beaten, Peter Pan kicks him overboard to the open jaws of the waiting crocodile below. Just before his defeat, however, he takes a final jab at Peter by taunting him about his "bad form". Peter, with the callousness of youth, quickly forgets Hook and finds a new nemesis, but as Hook made a stronger impression on the public, most sequels brought him back one way or another.

Appearance

.]] In the novel Peter and Wendy, Hook is described as "cadaverous" and "blackavized", with blue eyes and long dark curls which look like "black candles" at a distance. In most pantomime performances of Peter Pan, and in the film Hook, Hook's hair is simply a wig. He has a hook in place of his right hand (this is often switched to his left hand in film adaptations) and can use it as well as, or instead of, a sword when fighting. He is also described as having a "handsome countenance" and an "elegance of [...] diction" – "even when he [is] swearing". Captain Hook is often portrayed wearing a large feathered hat, a red, black or blue coat, and knee breeches. This pertains to the novel's description of him "In dress he somewhat aped the attire associated with the name of Charles II". Barrie also said of him in "Captain Hook at Eton" as, "In a word, the handsomest man I have ever seen, though, at the same time, perhaps slightly disgusting". While Hook is an evil and bloodthirsty man, Barrie makes it clear that these qualities make him a magnificent pirate and "not wholly unheroic".

In stage appearances and films, George Darling and Captain Hook are often played by the same actor, perhaps based on the belief in the book that "All grown-ups are pirates."

Peter Pan in Scarlet

Geraldine McCaughrean's authorized sequel to Peter Pan gives Peter a new nemesis, while bringing back the old favourite.

Ravello, a circus man in a constantly ragged woollen coat, offers Peter a servant and to ensure his well being in the search for the treasure. Ravello provides - through a red coat and a bad influence - that Peter Pan is increasingly in the direction of Captain Hook turns. He sees himself not as a living person, because he only eats eggs and no longer sleeps there. He is revealed in the middle of the book to be the old James Hook, who escaped the crocodile, when the muscle contractions of the stomach meant to crush and digest Hook, which broke the vial of poison he kept with him at all times. The poison killed the crocodile, and Hook used his hook to claw out, but he was mutated by the stomach acid, changed Hook to an ugly man. The scarred visage that emerged from the crocodile's stomach was not the noble pirate who went forthwith from the deck of the Jolly Roger, but Ravello, the travelling man. Ravello has many animals in front lions, bears, and tigers.

Ravello gives another clue to his true identity when one of the Lost Boys asks Ravello his name: he thinks for a while, as if trying to remember, and finally says the name his mother gave him was Crichton, but that names given by mothers don't mean anything.

One of Ravello's trophies is an Eton trophy dated 1894. If Hook was 18 - the last year of an Etonian - in that year, then he was born in 1876, a full one-hundred and one years after his appearance at The Pirates' Conference [see below], and even further after the times of Blackbeard and Long John Silver. It must also be said that Hook in this book denies that he was ever with Blackbeard, claiming that he would never have served such an uneducated man and that all suggestions that he has are merely rumours started by his enemies. Only upon receiving Wendy's kiss, and five weeks' worth of sleep, does the real James Hook again reveal himself.

Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth

According to the (non-canon) novel Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth, Captain Hook was born the illegitimate son of a nobleman, "Lord B", and an unnamed woman Hook has never met (however, throughout the story, there are multiple clues in the way characters act and react that the unnamed woman may in fact be the Queen). Denounced by Lord B, James Matthew is brought up by a Shakespearean actress he calls Aunt Emily. When he is fifteen he unwillingly attends Eton College as an Oppidan scholar.

James strives to reach the top of his class at Eton. He is an avid reader of Shakespeare and Shelley, and his motto is "Knowledge is Power". He describes many things as first rate - "Topping Swank", and he punctuates his sentences with "The End." He is very interested in the French Revolution.

In the novel James has only a few friends - Roger Peter Davies, whom he nicknames "Jolly Roger" and later names his ship after; and his pet Electra, a fatally poisonous spider. However, James Matthew has many enemies, particularly Arthur Darling, a seventeen-year-old Colleger, whom he rivals in studies, fencing, sports, and the attentions of the visiting Ottoman Sultana Ananova Ariadne. Although James successfully woos Ananova, their mutual affection sets off a chain of political outrage that affects the noble position of Lord B. Lord B selfishly arranges for James to leave Eton on his trading ship, the Sea Witch. The deeply hurt James doesn't leave without defeating Arthur in a final fencing duel, terrifying him with a home-made guillotine. He also burns his own school records so there would be no traces of his well-liked "notorious" behaviour.

James leaves Eton with Jolly Roger. Once on the trading ship, he meets the boatswain Bartholomew Quigley Smeethington, generally called Smee. Smee and all the other sailors live in terror of their ruthless captain, who, in a cruel twist, also happens to be a Christian priest. James, as always, is able to empathize with the underdogs. When James discovers in horror that his father is a slave trader, he frees the slaves on the ship and overthrows the ship's captain (who then is killed by Electra), and then murders the quartermaster with a metal hook.

Throughout Capt. Hook, author J.V. Hart relates events in James Matthew Barrie's life and the lives of the Llewellyn-Davies children; including naming James's arch-enemy after the Llewellyn-Davies' father. The author mainly expands upon details in Barrie's original play and novel, while changing a few key points - he ascribes James's strange colouring and yellow blood to a blood disorder; James's long dark hair is natural, rather than the usually suggested wig; James is christened "Hook" after murdering the quartermaster of the Sea Witch, rather than in reference to his prosthetic hand (in the original novel, Hook was known as "Hook" before he lost his hand, so this is consistent).

Peter and the Starcatchers

In the novel Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Captain Hook is at his nastiest - he is described as greasy and filthy, with terrible breath, beady black eyes, and a pock-marked face. He eats raw meat in his room, often leaving the food on his bed. This grotesque image of Hook contrasts strongly with J. M. Barrie's Etonian gentleman. In Peter and the Starcatchers, which takes place before the captain meets Peter Pan, Hook is called "Black Stache" because of his moustache, and his ship is called the Sea Devil - he obtains the Jolly Roger after using a corset-shaped sail to attack a British ship named the Wasp. In this prequel, although Peter cuts off Hook's hand, he does not throw Hook's hand to the crocodile; the animal simply gobbles it up in passing. Black Stache is renamed Captain Hook in the second installment, Peter and the Shadow Thieves. Which hand is severed differs. In Barrie's original novel, his right hand was purposely cut off by Peter. In Barry and Pearson's adaptation, his left hand was accidentally cut off by Peter.

Disney

Colour	#4B89E6
Name	Captain James Hook
Caption	Hook in the Walt Disney version of Peter Pan.
First	Peter Pan (1953)
Creator	Walt Disney Pictures
Lbl1	Voiced by
Data1	Hans Conried (1953 film)Corey Burton (Modern animation)Chikao Ōhtsuka (Kingdom Hearts, Japanese dub of 1953 film)
Alias	J. Hook
Noinfo	yes

The version of Captain Hook who appears in the Disney animated film adaptation of Peter Pan is somewhat of a fool, prone to crying out for help as well as being called a codfish and having his clothes repeatedly ruined. This Captain Hook has the hook in place of his left hand instead of his right. In early development, the story department wrote their analysis of Hook's character: "He is a fop...Yet very mean, to the point of being murderous. This combination of traits should cause plenty of amusement whenever he talks or acts."

Frank Thomas was the directing animator of Hook. According to Disney's Platinum release bonus features, Hook was modeled after a Spanish King. One director insisted that Hook should be a darker villain with no comedic traits. Yet this would not work during the crocodile scenes. The animators realized he could not be truly evil, because of the children in the film that he would be threatening. The result is a "bad guy," but only to the point of matching Peter Pan. In modern animation, Hook is voiced by Corey Burton.

Appearances

Captain Hook is introduced in the animated film as a cunning, spoiled, sinister, frustrated man, plotting to trap Peter in his lair, but also a bit of a buffoon, hiding from the crocodile nicknamed 'Tick Tock' who took off his hand. He seeks revenge on Peter Pan for having fed the crocodile his hand amidst battle, and will keep his ship and its crew anchored in Never Land's waters until he finds the boy. In Dylan Dog comic book, Captain Hook's biography is the same as in J. M. Barrie's story, but he left Neverland after his defeat on the hands of Peter Pan. He came to the modern late 20th century world where he became a successful businessman.

Pirates of the Caribbean

In A. C. Crispin's 2011 novel , Captain Hook is referenced in a conversation between Captain Teague and Pirate Lord Don Rafael. "You'll never guess who I encountered at Oporto a few months ago. [...] James. [...] He's lost a hand. [...]he said it wasn't so bad, the hook was as good as a dagger in a fight. [...] He didn't look a day older, not a day. [...] James was a lot more...subdued. [...] The taberna keeper's little lad came round to collect our plates, and when he turned and saw he, for just a second he looked--scared. No, worse than that. Terrified. [...] Can you imagine that? Afraid! Of a young boy!" One of the early concept arts for showed a pirate similar to Captain Hook as one of the Pirate Lords of the Fourth Brethren Court.

Shrek film series

Captain Hook is a minor character in the film Shrek 2, playing the piano in the "Poisoned Apple" tabern. In Shrek the Third, has a major role, as a secondary villain.

References

External links

Captain Hook in the Disney Archives - Villains

http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/captain-hook

Category:Peter Pan characters Category:Kingdom Hearts characters Category:Fictional amputees Category:Fictional captains Category:Fictional Old Etonians Category:Fictional pirates Category:Fictional sword fighters Category:Supervillains first appearing in novels Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1904 Category:Disney comics characters