Elizabeth Swann
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This film-related article or section describes an aspect of the film in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article or section to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. |
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Elizabeth Swann | |
 Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann as depicted in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl |
|
| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Profession | Pirate Captain of the Empress Pirate Lord of the South China Sea Pirate King |
| Weaponry | A Cutlass and Jian Pistol Musket grenades |
| Bounty | Wanted for abetting the pirate, Jack Sparrow |
| Family | Captain Will Turner (husband) Will Turner III (son) Weatherby Swann (father) Bootstrap Bill (father-in-law) |
| Appearance(s) | The Curse of the Black Pearl Dead Man's Chest At World's End |
| Portrayer | Keira Knightley (Adult), Lucinda Dryzek (Pre-Adolescent) |
Elizabeth Swann is a fictional character in the Walt Disney Pictures' Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. She appears in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and its two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007). She is portrayed by Keira Knightley, and in a flashback by Lucinda Dryzek. She is known to use the alias "Elizabeth Turner," but this later becomes her married name when she weds the character, Will Turner.
Contents |
[edit] Character development
According to actress Keira Knightley, Swann is, "a 21st century girl trapped in an 18th century world. She . . . starts out as a damsel in distress and then kicks butt, so what's not to like?" While she appreciates her role, she was disappointed that her character did not carry a sword in The Black Pearl: "I didn't have a sword. Am I angry about that? Yes, very! ... I asked every single day, anyone I could ask, if I could have a sword but I didn't get one."[1] In the sequel Dead Man's Chest, she added that, "we went off into a grungier look for her. That was really exciting actually, to take the character and make her grow up... I think they really liked the more action-based side of Elizabeth from the first film and apparently that's what little girls really responded to, so they decided to take her off in that direction"[2]. She adds she was relieved to finally be able to brandish a sword, although according to Knightley, most of her swordfighting scenes were cut.[2] Knightley also stated how glad she was that by At World's End, she was finally able to shed the elaborate dresses and only wear pirate's clothing: "Actually I am really glad, it's so hot in there it is unbelievable, and everybody else has got their proper pirate stuff on and I am a little less dressed than everyone else and I am very glad, so that's good. The rest of the time I've got kind of the Pirate look instead of the corset and frilly dresses."[3]
[edit] Personality
Unlike most young women in her time, Elizabeth is independent-minded and spirited. Throughout the films, she transforms from a modest lady into a true and courageous pirate princess. Elizabeth has always been fascinated by pirates, but she is often revolted by their aggressive and wild nature, especially when she initially meets Captain Jack Sparrow, and he made his escape from Port Royal at her expense. Even after becoming a pirate, she retains her sense of propriety, as well as her loyalty and compassion for loved ones (namely William Turner, her father, and later, Jack Sparrow).
Elizabeth adapted well to pirate life, although it is unknown what her status was following the events in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. She had learned swordsmanship from her (at the time) fiancee, Will Turner. She is able to defend herself against multiple opponents and can fight using two swords. Elizabeth has natural leadership abilities, quickly learned seamanship, and displays a talent for battle strategy, having devised many defensive and offensive maneuvers against her opponents. It should be noted that she is the only character in the film to use a Chinese Jian as her weapon of choice, which is ironic considering the setting it was used in; the Jian, known as the most civilized and elegant of all Chinese weapons, ended up being a pirate's weapon.
[edit] Appearance
Having grown up as a Governor's daughter in upper-class society, the beautiful Elizabeth is an elegant, well-mannered, and finely-dressed lady. In Curse of the Black Pearl Elizabeth's father presents her with a new gown, explaining, "I'm told it's the latest fashion in London." Though initially Elizabeth thinks the frock is beautiful, the corset is uncomfortable and restrictive, severely affecting her breathing and later causing her to faint.
In Dead Man's Chest, Elizabeth's appearance changes significantly throughout the film. Though initially she appears the same - wearing a wedding gown with a matching veil - she later disguises herself as a cabin boy and boards a merchant ship. Being in the sun tans her skin and lightens her hair. She wears common men's garb throughout the film.
In the third film, she is first seen wearing Chinese peasant clothing and a straw hat while paddling a small boat through Singapore's waters. She hides weapons (swords, pistols and grenades) under her cloak, and is forced to change into a short, silk robe upon entering Sao Feng's bathhouse. While captive aboard the Empress, Sao Feng has Elizabeth dressed in a dark pink silk robe and a studded blue headress, an outfit she maintains throughout the siege on the Empress and her imprisonment aboard the Flying Dutchman'. She changes into traditional Chinese armour for the Brethren Court, which she also wears during the parlay scene with Beckett and Davy Jones and during the climatic maelstrom battle. During her "one day" with Will on the island, she is in a dark tunic. In the Easter Egg scene set ten years later, she wears a long, dark skirt and a double-breasted brocade vest over a white puffy-sleeved shirt.
[edit] Fictional biography
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Elizabeth Swann is portrayed as a character who often fantasizes about pirates and life at sea. Her fantasy may have been fueled somewhat by her association with Will Turner, who Elizabeth, then twelve years old, met when she and her father, Governor Weatherby Swann were en route to Port Royal eight years before. Will, also about twelve years old, was rescued at sea, the only survivor of a pirate attack. Will now secretly loves Elizabeth, although as a common blacksmith, he is an unsuitable match for a well-born lady. Elizabeth also harbors feelings for Will, but her father wishes her to marry Commodore James Norrington, a Royal Navy officer Elizabeth likes but does not love. His marriage proposal at his promotion ceremony is interrupted when Elizabeth faints and falls off a rampart and into the bay. Her unlikely rescuer is the notorious pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, newly arrived in Port Royal to commandeer a ship. Despite Sparrow's gallant actions, he is promptly jailed for piracy and sentenced to hang. That night, the Black Pearl raids Port Royal. Elizabeth is kidnapped because she possesses a cursed gold medallion—the same medallion she took from Will when he was rescued because she feared he would be arrested as a pirate. Invoking parley, Elizabeth negotiates with Captain Barbossa to leave Port Royal in exchange for the coin. He agrees but keeps her captive after she identifies herself as Elizabeth "Turner". Barbossa believes her blood can break an ancient Aztec curse the pirates are under. Their true forms—immortal skeletons — can only be seen in moonlight.
Will frees Sparrow in exchange for his help to rescue Elizabeth, unaware he is the Black Pearl's former captain; ten years ago, Sparrow's crew mutineed and marooned him. Sparrow and Will hijack a navy ship and recruit a crew in Tortuga. Along the way, Sparrow tells Will that his father is William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, the only Pearl crew member who opposed the mutiny. When Bootstrap sent a piece of the treasure to Will so the pirates would remain cursed, Barbossa ordered him tied to a cannon and thrown overboard. Now, Turner blood and the gold coin are needed to break the curse.
On Isla de Muerta, Barbossa discovers Elizabeth is unable to break the curse just as Will and Sparrow secretly arrive. Distrusting Sparrow, Will knocks him out and rescues Elizabeth. He tells first mate Gibbs that Jack fell behind. Barbossa pursues them in the Pearl and, after a fierce battle, Sparrow's ship is sunk, and the crew and Sparrow are captured. Will reveals his identity; unless the crew is released, he will shoot himself while falling overboard, rendering him useless for breaking the curse. Barbossa complies, but employing a loophole in their agreement, he maroons Sparrow and Elizabeth on a deserted isle and throws Will and the crew in the brig.
Elizabeth takes action by burning a cache of smugglers' rum to create a huge smoke signal that is spotted by Commodore Norrington aboard Dauntless. To save Will, Elizabeth convinces Norrington to attack Isla de Muerta by impulsively accepting his previous marriage proposal, although the commodore doubts her sincerity. She says nothing about the curse while Jack provides the bearings to Isla de Muerta, setting his own plan in motion.
At Isla de Muerta, Elizabeth sneaks aboard the Pearl and frees Jack's crew while Jack and Will are inside the treasure cave with Barbossa and his men. Jack's crew refuse to help and commandeer the ship as a disgusted Elizabeth rows to the island alone. Sparrow tricks Barbossa into forming an alliance while secretly cursing himself by swiping a coin from the Aztec chest. As the other pirates battle the navy, Sparrow attacks Barbossa. Elizabeth, aided by Will, fights the remaining pirates. Sparrow and Will break the curse just after Sparrow fatally shoots Barbossa. Reverting to mortal form, he falls dead. The surviving now-mortal pirates surrender. Will, Elizabeth, and Sparrow are rescued, although Sparrow is later condemned to hang.
In Port Royal, Jack is about to be executed. Will, believeing Jack deserves to live, proclaims his love to Elizabeth before attempting to rescue Sparrow from the gallows. They are quickly captured, but Norrington and Governor Swann are reluctant to arrest Will or resume Sparrow's execution. Elizabeth intervenes to lend her support and declares her love for Will. Norrington releases Will and graciously concedes Elizabeth's hand to him. Sparrow, meanwhile, falls off the rampart and into the bay just as the Black Pearl sails into view. He is hauled aboard, captain once again. Apparently impressed by the wily pirate, Norrington allows the Black Pearl one day's head start before giving chase.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
On Will and Elizabeth's wedding day, Will is missing and Elizabeth is seen waiting alone at the altar. Lord Cutler Beckett and the British Navy arrive with Will shackled in irons. Beckett, a ruthless East India Trading Company agent, charges Elizabeth and Will with aiding Sparrow’s escape; the punishment to all is death. Former Commodore James Norrington is also implicated, although he has resigned from the Navy and disappeared. Beckett offers clemency if Will agrees to search for Jack Sparrow and brings back his compass.
Will finds Jack and the Black Pearl crew on Pelegosto hiding from the Kraken, a voracious leviathan controlled by Davy Jones, the mythical captain of the Flying Dutchman and ruler of the seas. Jones is hunting Sparrow to collect a blood debt, while Jack has been searching for the Dead Man's Chest containing Jones' beating heart. Whoever possesses the heart, controls Davy Jones and the oceans. Unfortunately, Jack’s magic compass has failed him.
Elizabeth escapes from jail and discovers that Beckett is only pardoning Sparrow. Determined to save Will, she confronts Beckett at gunpoint and demands he validate a Letters of Marque—a document intended to recruit Jack Sparrow as a privateer but which she wants for Will. Beckett signs it but says he still wants Sparrow's compass. Disguised as a cabin boy, Elizabeth tricks a merchant crew into taking port in Tortuga. Searching for Will, she instead encounters Sparrow and Gibbs in a pub recruiting sailors to pay off Jack's debt to Davy Jones, who demands one hundred souls in exchange for Jack's. Another man applies—James Norrington, who is now a disgraced, drunken wretch. Blaming Sparrow for his ruin, Norrington attempts to shoot him and ignites a brawl, but Elizabeth knocks him out to save him. At the pier, Jack claims Will was pressganged into Davy Jones' crew, insisting he was blameless; Norrington is skeptical, however. Jack convinces Elizabeth she can save Will by finding the Dead Man's Chest. Trusting him, she uses his magical compass and gets a bearing.
As the Black Pearl heads for Isla Cruces, Jack becomes amorous towards Elizabeth, and even suggests marriage. Norrington observes her seemingly pleased reaction to Sparrow's attention, but she denies any romantic feelings. She becomes distressed, however, when the compass, which points to what the holder wants most in the world, now points to Jack. Elizabeth tells Jack that he is a good man and will one day do a courageous thing, but he brushes off her comments. Encouraged by her coyness, he attempts to kiss her, but the Black Spot, a mark that Jack's blood debt to Davy Jones is due, suddenly reappears on his palm. When he rushes off in a panic, Elizabeth mistakenly believes he is respecting her virtue, unaware the Kraken is hunting him.
On Isla Cruces, Jack, Elizabeth, and Norrington find the Dead Man's Chest. When Will arrives with the key he stole from Davy Jones, Elizabeth learns that Jack betrayed him. A conflict emerges: Will wants to stab the heart and kill Jones to free his father from Jones' servitude; Jack fears the Kraken will continue hunting him if Jones is dead; Norrington plots to bargain back his career. As a three-way duel erupts, Jones' crewmen arrive. Jack gets the key and opens the chest, but it is Norrington who ultimately escapes with the heart and the Letters of Marque.
Pursued by the Flying Dutchman, the Pearl outruns her. Undeterred, Jones summons the Kraken, but the crew temporarily fight it off. Jack deserts the ship in the only remaining longboat in a last attempt to escape the Kraken, but he quickly returns to help save his crew. During the Kraken's brief retreat, he orders all hands to abandon ship. Realizing the Kraken only wants Jack, Elizabeth distracts him with a passionate kiss while handcuffing him to the mast, claiming she is not sorry. She then tells the others that Jack chose to stay behind, unaware Will witnessed her kissing Jack. The Kraken returns for its final assault; the Pearl and Jack are dragged to a watery grave. It is during this final battle that Jack and Elizabeth's contrasting, yet also similar, characters emerge: Jack shows heroism and loyalty by returning to the ship and saving his crew; by abandoning her duty and honor, Elizabeth becomes more pirate-like, using deception to sacrifice Jack to save herself and the crew.
Norrington arrives in Port Royal and presents the heart and the Letters of Marque to Cutler Beckett in a bid to reclaim his career. Meanwhile, Will, Elizabeth, and the grieving crew make their way to Tia Dalma, the voodoo priestess who helped Jack find the Dead Man's Chest. As the crew drinks a somber toast to their fallen captain, Elizabeth silently agonizes over betraying Jack. Believing that Elizabeth now loves Jack, a despondent Will comforts her, prompting Tia Dalma to ask if they would all be willing to sail to World's End to bring Jack and the Pearl back. When all say aye, Dalma says they will need a captain who knows those waters. Incredibly, a very alive Captain Barbossa descends the stairs.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Elizabeth joins Will, Barbossa, Tia Dalma, and the Black Pearl crew on a journey to Singapore to seek a navigational chart belonging to Sao Feng, the pirate lord of the South China Sea. Jack, Barbossa, Sao Feng, and the other six pirate lords have been summoned to a Brethren Court at Shipwreck Cove to address Lord Beckett's assault on piracy. Jack, lacking a successor, must also attend. Feng agrees to hand over the chart that leads to World's End and Davy Jones's Locker where Jack Sparrow is eternally imprisoned aboard the Black Pearl. Sao Feng also provides a ship, but only after Will negotiates his own secret deal with him: Jack Sparrow in exchange for the Black Pearl. However, they are overheard by EITC agent, Mercer, whose men attack the bathhouse.
The crew escapes and sails for World's End. During the voyage, Will and Elizabeth remain estranged; he believes she loves Sparrow, while she harbors her guilty secret of sacrificing Jack to the Kraken. They reach World's End and sail over an enormous waterfall into Davy Jones' Locker. There they find Jack, but he refuses to crew with them, claiming that four of them tried to kill him and one (Elizabeth) succeeded. Only then does Will understand Elizabeth's despair and later confronts her for lacking faith in him. As Jack and Barbossa squabble over who is the Black Pearl's captain, the crew navigate their way back to the living world. Before escaping the Locker, Elizabeth sees her father's soul being ferried to the "next world," murdered by Cutler Beckett. Distraught that she is unable to retrieve him, Elizabeth vows to avenge his death.
Back in the living world, Will's bargain with Sao Feng is exposed, although Feng has made another deal with Beckett, who double-crosses him. When Feng tells Barbossa he wants Elizabeth in exchange for the Pearl, Elizabeth agrees, angry at Will's deceit and to protect the crew; Jack throws Will into the brig. Soon after, Feng is fatally wounded when his ship, the "Empress", is attacked by the Dutchman. Believing that Elizabeth is the sea goddess, Calypso, bound in human form, Feng bequeaths her his ship, making her captain and Pirate Lord of the South China Sea. Elizabeth and her new crew are taken prisoner aboard the Flying Dutchman where she is reunited with Admiral James Norrington. She berates him for serving Beckett and wrongly accuses him of being involved in her father's death; Norrington denies this helps Elizabeth and the crew escape, although he is killed by the addled "Bootstrap" Bill as they make their way to the towed Empress.
The Black Pearl and the Empress head to Shipwreck Island for the Brethren Court. Elizabeth learns that Will was tossed overboad by Jack and rescued by Beckett's ship. Unable to agree on what action to take against Beckett's approaching armada, the lords attempt to elect a pirate king, but each lord only votes for themselves. Knowing Elizabeth wants to fight, Jack breaks the stalemate by voting for her, although he has an ulterior motive. Elizabeth declares war.
During a parley session with Beckett and Jones, Will is exchanged for Jack. Just prior to the climatic battle, Tia Dalma is revealed as the real Calypso, betrayed by Davy Jones who, believing she scorned him, showed the first Brethren Court how to imprison her in human form. When the current pirate lords refuse to release her, Barbossa cleverly obtains their "pieces of eight" insignias to free her in a ritual. When Will tells Calypso her betrayer was Davy Jones, her fury unleashes a raging maelstrom.
Will proposes to Elizabeth during the climatic battle, and Barbossa marries them amidst the fighting. As the Pearl and the Dutchman clash, Elizabeth and Will board Jones' ship. Jones attacks Elizabeth, knocking her unconcsious. Will saves her, only to be fatally stab by Jones. As Will lies dying, Jack relinquishes his bid for immortality to instead save Will, guiding his hand to stab Jones' heart, killing Jones. "Bootstrap" Bill carves out Will's heart and places it in the Dead Man's Chest. Jack and Elizabeth escape as the Dutchman is sucked into the huge whirlpool. The ship quickly resurfaces with the resurrected Captain Will Turner at the helm and the crew restored to human-form. With the Flying Dutchman now their ally, the pirates destroy Cutler Beckett's ship, and the armada retreats. Although Will's life has been saved, he is bound to serve for ten years aboard the Dutchman as the ferryman for souls lost at sea, allowed to step on land for only one day. Will and Elizabeth spend it on an island where they consummate their marriage. Will returns to the Dutchman at sunset, but before leaving gives Elizabeth the Dead Man's Chest containing his beating heart for safekeeping.
[edit] After World's End
Following the end credits, an "Easter Egg" scene set ten years later shows Elizabeth and her young son atop a cliff looking out to sea. A green flash fills the sky and the fully-restored Flying Dutchman appears on the horizon with Captain Will Turner at the helm.
[edit] Other appearances
Elizabeth Turner appears in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, Port Royal, of the Disney/Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts II, voiced by Eliza Schneider in the English version (like the other original actors, Keira Knightley was unavailable due to filming Dead Man's Chest) and by Saori Yumiba in the Japanese version. Schneider also performs the voice of Elizabeth Turner again in the video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow and in the video game adaptation of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The character also appears in Pirates of the Caribbean Online.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
