Law, Crime, Morals, and Sense of Justice in Treasure Island

Iker Nabaskues

doi:10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-0983

Authors

Iker Nabaskues

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-0983

Keywords:

Treasure Island, The Persons of the Tale, Stevenson, sense of justice, pirates, Long John Silver, Jim Hawkins

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the legal, ethical and moral complications shown in Robert Louis Stevenson´s masterpiece, Treasure Island and the short story The Persons of the Tale. At first glance the romance is associated with ethical Manichaeism and puerility. Nothing could be further from the truth. The sympathy towards the criminals and the dislike towards the representatives of the order, betrayal and loyalty, rigor of the legal system and personal gain... All of them are characteristic features of the novel. This analysis shows a shifting moral landscape where the characters of the plot make ethical choice out of the moral and social conventions of society. Of particular interest is the reflection about the function of the representatives of the legal order in the novel. There are not legal institutions on the island. But we are reminded of the presence of the rule of law at all times. Stevenson uses this particular scenario to express a special and suggestive moral code where ambiguity, paradox and contradiction are the dominant pattern. Loyal to his legal and moral roots of Scottish Enlightenment as well as to an Aristotelian framework, Stevenson shows the connection between morals and action.

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Author Biography

Iker Nabaskues

Iker Nabaskues is PhD in Philosophy of Law in the Department of Administrative Law, Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law of the Faculty of Law (University of Basque Country, Spain). He worked at Public Administration in Social Services with young offenders and their social insertion for a decade. He specialized in welfare politics and he is author of some books, about the impact of globalization on local policies, among others, Globalization and New Local Policies (2003), published by the Basque Institute of Public Administration. He nowadays teaches Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law at the Faculty of Law in the city of San Sebastian (Basque Country).

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