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Cutler Beckett
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- See "East India Trading Co." for the fictitious association of which this character is chairman. Read "Honourable East India Company" for England's actual trading company.
Lord Cutler Beckett is a fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. First introduced in Dead Man's Chest as a secondary antagonist and returning in At World's End as main antagonist. He is portrayed by Tom Hollander.
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Encyclopedia
- See "East India Trading Co." for the fictitious association of which this character is chairman. Read "Honourable East India Company" for England's actual trading company.
Lord Cutler Beckett is a fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. First introduced in Dead Man's Chest as a secondary antagonist and returning in At World's End as main antagonist. He is portrayed by Tom Hollander. Beckett is a character written as a ruthless, manipulative, and treacherous man harbouring genocidal hatred towards pirates. In the films, he is chairman of the East India Trading Co. (a fictitious company based heavily on the Honourable East India Company) and representative of George I, the King of England. Haughty, cultured, and sophisticated, it is Beckett's very arrogance which leads him to his death in At World's End. In the third movie, he manipulates Davy Jones into being an agent for him.
Backstory
Cutler Beckett has English origins. Beckett took employment in Great Britain's East India Trading Co. Thirteen years prior to the events of Dead Man's Chest, Beckett provided Jack Sparrow (who was under the employment of the E.I.T.C.) with the Wicked Wench as so to transport "a certain cargo" to Port Royal for the Company. On voyage, Sparrow discovered the cargo to be slaves and set them free in Africa. When Beckett received news of Sparrow's doing he became enraged. Beckett ordered the Wicked Wench sunk and branded Sparrow a pirate.( This may or may not be correct, as the Disney authorized storybook of Jack Sparrow portrays him as an "adventurer" in his younger days, having grown up in Shipwreck Cove.) The character of Beckett claims in Dead Man's Chest that Sparrow also left a mark on him. It is unknown what this mark is, and Beckett never revealed its nature. When asked by William Turner about the mark left on him by Sparrow, he changes the subject. It is also possible, from Beckett's icy demeanour and smooth-skinned appearance, as well as Jack Sparrow's own references to 'eunuchs' as an insult, that the mysterious mark is of an emasculatory nature. Though, it could also be referring to Jack Sparrow leaving an emotional mark on Beckett. Whatever it was, Jack thought it to be serious, as he surmised that the one thing Beckett wants most in the world (with regards to him using Jack's compass) is to see him dead.
At some unspecified point, prior to assuming the title of "Lord", he encountered Weatherby Swann, who he would later meet again during the events of Dead Man's Chest - "It's Lord now... actually," adds Beckett pompously. It is not stated how he acquired the title of Lord. The courtesy style "Lord Cutler Beckett" would imply that he is a younger son of a Duke or Marquess, and not a peer in his own right; if Cutler Beckett had become a peer, then he could be known as "the Lord Beckett", and "Lord Cutler Beckett" would be incorrect.
Most of the "dirty work" Beckett desires is carried out by his right-hand man, Mercer.
Appearances
The character of Cutler Beckett makes appearances only in two films of the Pirates film series. He makes no appearance whatsoever in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl—there is not even a reference to him, although it is mentioned that Jack managed to escape several agents of the East India Trading Company. In several children prequel books it states that Beckett was the man who branded his arm because Sparrow freed slaves that were on the ships.
Dead Man's Chest
Beckett makes his first appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest as Chairman of the East India Trading Co. It is in his very first scenes that the audience gets to glimpse his arrogant personality. Beckett arrives at Port Royal seemingly to set it in order under Company control after the events of The Curse of the Black Pearl. Beckett carries warrants of arrest for the people ("criminals") involved in the events; Jack Sparrow (the pirate involved); Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann (aided in his escape); and James Norrington who resigned his commission months prior and disappeared (failed to go after Sparrow immediately) - Beckett however offers a deal to Turner. If Turner successfully locates Jack Sparrow for Beckett to employ as a privateer for England with his Letters of Marque (sign by king "George") and brings back Sparrow's compass for Beckett's use; Turner and Swann will be pardoned. Beckett desires the compass (which points to the thing he wants most) to locate the "Dead Man's Chest"; whom so ever possesses Davy Jones's heart within, may dominate him by extortion (threatening to stab his heart) and thus the ocean realms. This would allow Beckett to purge the seas from Pirates en-masses. The film's plot is set in motion at this point.
After Beckett is confronted by Elizabeth and is forced at gunpoint to validate the Letters of Marque, he agrees to sign (the only way they may be validated) but adds that he still wants the compass (Swann wants the letters to free Will Turner). He later imprisons Governor Weatherby Swann for freeing Elizabeth from prison and blackmails him into using his authority as Governor and his influence in London to aid him and the Company in exchange for Swann's daughter's safety. At the end of the film, Norrington arrives at Beckett's home with his Letters of Marque and presents to him Jones's beating heart as an exchange for his "old life".
During the course of the film, Beckett has an artisan working on a massive painting of the World's map over his office's back wall. Throughout different scenes seen, the painting is slowly being completed. The producers of Dead Man's Chest use this symbolically to represent the World getting "smaller" as England's East India Trading Co. gains worldwide influence, thus leaving no more "freedom" in the world. In the script, Beckett states, "Jack Sparrow is a dying breed [a pirate]. The World is shrinking. The blank edges of the Map filled in. Jack must find his place in the new world or perish."
At World's End
Tom Hollander returns as Lord Cutler Beckett for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End; in this film he has been appointed representative of the King of England. Beckett's ambitions now turn to discovering the Brethren Court and eliminating it, thus rendering pirates worldwide leaderless, allowing Beckett to exterminate them entirely. After a mass hanging at the gallows of people being convicted as pirates or being associated with them, Hoist the Colours is sung by the masses, and thus the Brethren is called out - as planned by Beckett. Meanwhile, the seas are being terrorized by the Flying Dutchman(now under Company control), which is destroying pirate ships mercilessly and leaving none alive. This annoys Beckett, who needs prisoners to interrogate. He later has Governor Weatherby Swann assassinated by Mercer after being told he "knows too much" and places Admiral Norrington in charge of the Dutchman. Beckett then sails his ship-of-the-line, the Endeavour, to Singapore, where he learns that the Brethren will meet.
By the middle of the film, Beckett acquires the Black Pearl in Asian seas through trickery and deception onto Sao Feng who was originally promised the ship by Beckett. When he encounters Jack Sparrow for the first time since their branding, Beckett learns that the Brethren are meeting at Shipwreck Cove and makes a deal with Sparrow. If Jack brings the Brethren and pirates out from the Cove (a nigh-impregnable fortress) to him, Beckett will keep Sparrow from Jones's judgment and will let him live. Sparrow however flees with the Pearl. After finding Will Turner adrift at sea, Beckett, Turner, and Jones sail to Shipwreck Cove using Sparrow's compass. They arrive with an E.I.T.C. armada encompassing of hundreds of ships (to the Brethren's dismay which was indeed lured out to war by Sparrow). During their parley with Elizabeth, Barbossa, and Jack, Beckett calls Jack out as the "grand architect" of their plan and betrays their deal by giving him to Jones.
After the epic battle between the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl, Beckett unbelievably sees the Pearl awaiting in front of the Endeavour and so he sends it forward to eliminate the Pearl. He mockingly apologizes by saying, "Nothing personal Jack... It's just good business". The Dutchman however resurfaces and both it and the Pearl advance to surround Beckett on either side; Beckett becomes stunned, unable to believe that the Dutchman has turned against him. When the Pearl and Dutchman begin to fire all of their cannons against the Endeavour, Beckett, in a stupefied state, fails to give orders to his subordinates, even the order to return fire. As the Endeavour begins to splinter brutally around him, he realises that his schemes have failed, musing softly to himself 'It's just...good business'. Still in shock, he descends the stairs to the Main Deck of the Endeavour as his subordinates are either killed or abandon ship. The twin broadsides penetrate the Endeavour's powder magazine and Beckett becomes engulfed with fire in the resulting explosion, blasting the ship apart. As it sinks, his corpse falls onto the burnt and fallen East India Trading Co. flag; symbolizing its downfall and Beckett's loss.
Character personality and symbolism
Cutler Beckett is a character portrayed as highly ruthless to those around him, and displays a willingness to use others in order to gain power and wealth, or to destroy anyone or anything that proves to be an obstacle. Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, James Norrington, Davy Jones and Weatherby Swann are examples of people he has manipulated. Throughout the series, Beckett is a skilled manipulator and strategist (not unlike his nemesis Jack), and unlike Davy Jones and Hector Barbossa, he presents himself in a cultured and sophisticated manner, drinking tea on board his ship, the Endeavour, before going into battle. In contrast to the honorable Norrington, Beckett is a cruel and remorseless man, mercilessly using brutal measures against the defenseless for his purposes. He is written to show disregard for both human life and civil liberties, willing to execute innocents en masse (including children), not only to provoke the Brethren Court to battle, but also to instill terror and therefore civil obedience. He has displayed Machiavellian tendencies in regards to his connections with others, an example being his lack of concern for the deal he made with Jack Sparrow when it no longer served his interests, stating "Nothing personal - it's just good business" when he is about to destroy the Black Pearl. According to the Pirates of the Caribbean: Visual Guide, the toy soldiers and battle ships atop Beckett's desk are "cunningly disguised torture devices", showing the kind of control he wishes to exert over the world.
Beckett and his Company are symbolism for the "shrinking" of the world. Indeed, the main theme of the Pirates of the Caribbean films is the upcoming of industrialization and imperialism (e.g. England's actual Honourable East India Company and Imperialism) and showing how the "Pirates" are dealing with it—producers of the series have constantly expressed this. In the script for At World's End, Beckett states, "The Brethren [pirates] know they face extinction. All that remains is for them to decide where they make their final stand." The series often emphasizes pirate freedom as well, character Jack Sparrow being the prime example, But then there is Lord Cutler Beckett in the Pirates world, out to exterminate the pirates and dominate the seas for optimum trading. Beckett's lines are written to further stress his obsession towards eradicating piracy and "freedom", something which he says rather mockingly and distastefully in Dead Man's Chest.
W. Wesley Pue of the University of British Columbia writes that "the excesses of duly constituted authority" is "personified in Lord Cutler Beckett and his officers" in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Pue sees this excess as potentially paralleling a modern administration during the War on Terror. Pue writes, "As in Lord Cutler Beckett’s administration, the measures are temporary, limited to the duration of a ‘war’ on terror." Pue subsequently asks, "Who, we wonder, can protect us from modern-day Lord Cutler Becketts?"
Merchandise
There has been little merchandise for Beckett. Zizzle finally made him into an action figure for their toy line, but the figure saw a limited release and became highly sought after.
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