Emily Ball Midterm Blogpost H1 (1/4)

Goodness Shall Never Be Achieved

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“Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you are living?” As many people may know, this quote was said by Bob Marley. More often than not, we are all looking for something bigger than ourselves that will make us a “better” person. Many philosophers argue that there are guidelines to constitute a good or moral person. I have begun to realize that I do not believe that any person should be considered good or bad. Each person has certain traits that make them both “good” and “bad”. However, many people would disagree. In today’s society, everyone is given titles to determine their self-worth. Everyone has reasons behind their actions. “We are driven by fear of death and the hope of personal gain.” This quote by Thomas Hobbes can possibly explain why so many people act as they do. The idea of a morally “good” person is often a controversial topic. There are many different ideas of what a good person should be. Each philosopher has his or her own idea on the definition of a “good” person.
      For my midterm blog series, I am going to be discussing the morality of each main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series. I will discuss the philosophical opinion and society’s opinion. Philosophy has been described as, “The study of the costs and benefits that accrue when you take up a certain position.” I want to prove that it can be possible for a typical “bad” person to also be seen as a good person. I believe that Confucius had it right when he stated, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Each person has their own vices, but that is what makes life interesting. If everyone were perfect, why would we want to live?

       The struggle between good and evil is a battle many characters face in the movies. In the first movie, we are introduced to four main characters, Elisabeth Swan, Jack Sparrow, William Turner, and Captain Barbosa. From the start, the characters are doing things that might make them seem morally or philosophically wrong. In the very first scene, Elisabeth Swan acts on her emotions and does not turn in Will Turner. She knows that the penalty for piracy is death, so after finding a pirate medallion around his neck, she wanted to protect him. Instead of following Kant’s philosophy, she took the medallion and spared Will his life. Originally, Will was a blacksmith in the town and helped out in the royal governor’s house quite often. After losing his true love to the “bad” pirates, he joins forces with Jack Sparrow to save Elisabeth. Some people may consider this act to be morally wrong because he is working with the pirates. Other people would consider this to be morally right, because he is trying to save someone he loves. Even Hobbes knew that every human is driven to commit acts simply because the reward is personal gain. As humans, we can’t be morally correct in everything that we do. We are all greedy, and there is nothing that will change that fact. In the first movie, Jack Sparrow is seen as a bad person in many people’s opinions. He is constantly switching sides from royal, to Captain Barbosa, to Will and Elisabeth. Jack does all of this constant switching of sides to try and better himself to get the Black Pearl. Jack is not experiencing an identity crisis; he is simply doing what he has to do in order to better himself. He will find his happiness in staying alive and having his ship returned to him, so he will do anything necessary to make that happen. Leibniz stated, “Indeed in general I hold that there is nothing truer than happiness and nothing happier and sweeter than truth.” Jack is gaining his happiness while being true to himself. He knows that he is not the best person, but he is striving to reach true happiness in any necessary means. The only monsters in this story are the internal “monster” each person faces. They are each trying to be better people by helping each other, but the only way to become a “good” person in society’s eyes is to become completely cleansed. I will close my first post with a quote from Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He said, “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.”
Until next time,
Emily Ball