Bible

The Bible.

"You know you can't read."
"It's the Bible, you get credit for trying."
"Pretending to read the Bible's a lie. That's a mark against..."

―Pintel and Ragetti

The Bible, sometimes referred to as the Holy Bible or the Good Book, refers to a collection of religious texts or scriptures, some, all of which, or a variant of which, are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, and other religions. The Bible is an anthology, a compilation of texts of a variety of forms, originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, and other genres. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text varies. The oldest surviving Christian Bibles were Greek manuscripts from fourth century AD; the oldest complete Hebrew manuscripts were from the Middle Ages.

History

Ragetti trying to read the Bible.

"Any time you want to borrow my Bible when you run out of reading material, just say the word, Jack."

―Robert Greene to Jack Sparrow

Robert Greene, the Second Mate of the East India Trading Company brig the Fair Wind, owned a well-thumbed Bible which he would read from time to time. The morning after Captain Nathaniel Bainbridge's death during the attack on the Fair Wind, Greene whispered a few prayers to the First Mate Jack Sparrow, which Sparrow loudly repeated to the ship's crew, before Bainbridge's burial at sea. Greene kept the Bible during his service as First Mate of the merchant ship Wicked Wench under Captain Jack Sparrow, and even offered to lend it to him if he ever runs out of reading materials. After Sparrow killed the infamous rogue pirate Christophe-Julien de Rapièr in a duel, the helmsman Roger Prescott suggested he could bring the Good Book, but Sparrow and Greene simply grabbed the corpse by the feet and wrists and threw it overboard without a single word. The first and only Biblical story Jack Sparrow liked was the parable of a pearl of great price, which Jesus told his disciples. Jack eventually realized the Wicked Wench was like his pearl of great price, so when Davy Jones raised his beloved ship from the bottom of the sea, now half burned and with her hull and masts all charred, Sparrow returned to a life of piracy and rechristened the Wicked Wench as a pirate vessel, the Black Pearl.

After escaping from Fort Charles prison, the pirate duo Pintel and Ragetti escaped Port Royal on a longboat. Ragetti somehow got a hold of a copy of the Bible during the escape, and tried to read it while Pintel was rowing the boat near Isla de Pelegostos. The two pirates later got into an argument about divine providence, stealing a ship, or if it was right that Ragetti was trying to read the Bible, even though he couldn't read.

Angelica, the daughter of the infamous pirate Blackbeard, would always reread the Old Testament of the Bible and had one time thought that her father was lost at sea like Jonah, a Biblical figure who got eaten by a whale. Years later, when Blackbeard ordered the death of the Cook following Jack Sparrow's mutiny aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, Angelica said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy," quoting a Bible verse she learned in the Spanish convent. Despite Angelica's pleas, Blackbeard responded, "It is a blessing for a man to have a hand in determining his own fate."

A man of few possessions, the young missionary named Philip Swift needs little in life except for his cracked and weathered Bible, leather-bound with impression of cross, which lied close to his heart. Despite being taken prisoner by Blackbeard, and the painful ordeal of being lashed to the mast of the Queen Anne's Revenge, the missionary still manages to cling onto his most precious effect—his holy Bible. When Philip encountered the mermaid he called Syrena on the pursuit of the Fountain of Youth, something stirs inside of his heart as well as his soul, feelings which proved that the path to real deliverance may lie beyond the Good Book he carries with him. During Jack Sparrow's forced wedding to Beatrice, the Priest asked Jack to put his hand on the Bible, completely ignoring the fact that he was unable to do so because his hands were tied behind his back.

Behind the scenes

Overview

The Bible first appeared in the 2003 video game Pirates of the Caribbean. It was also referred to as the "Good Book" in Philip Swift's character description for the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

When asked about developing the sequels of The Curse of the Black Pearl, beginning with Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, and later with On Stranger Tides, screenwriter Terry Rossio said that he and Ted Elliott were able to proceed with their first (and best) ideas, with virtually nothing they came up with that wasn't used. However, there was a thematic quote that never made it into the films, Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Screenplays

"Will—you can't trust him."
"You must swear by the Holy Bible."
"Eh? You have my word, then—on the Good Book, I do swear, and the Lord spare my worthless soul."

―Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner and Barbossa

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early screenplay draft of The Curse of the Black Pearl, Will Turner demanded that Captain Barbossa swear by the Holy Bible, or the Good Book as Barbossa called it, that he would let Elizabeth Swann, Jack Sparrow and his crew go free and unharmed.

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Angelica begs Blackbeard for mercy several times before he attempts to kill someone. While it is unknown if the line was ever spoken on set, the junior novelization has Angelica say, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy," quoting a Bible verse she learned in the Spanish convent.

In Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, following his encounter with the sea serpent, Jack Sparrow would have been taken to an underwater Mermaid Prison where he would find a Bible stuck in coral. After he pulled it out the book would fall apart.

Other media

In the At World's End comic book, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann stand in front of Barbossa, who performs an improvised wedding ceremony with an open book in his hands. Though unconfirmed, it is possible this book was a Bible.

According to the Disney Second Screen feature for On Stranger Tides, Angelica would always reread the Old Testament of the Bible and had one time thought that her father was lost at sea like Jonah, a Biblical figure who got eaten by a whale.

Appearances

• Pirates of the Caribbean (2003 video game) (Mentioned only)
• The Price of Freedom
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization) (First appearance)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization

Sources

• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: The Visual Guide
• Disney Second Screen: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

External links

• Bible on Wikipedia