Stephen Maturin
Encyclopedia
Stephen Maturin is a fictional character
in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian
. The series portrays his career as a physician, naturalist and spy in the Royal Navy
during the Napoleonic Wars
, and the long pursuit of his beloved Diana Villiers
.
Maturin was played by Paul Bettany
in the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
and by Richard Dillane
in the BBC Radio 4
adaptations of the O'Brian novels.
. He is cousin to the historical Lord Edward FitzGerald
. As a boy he lived in Ireland, fostered by a family of pig-herders in Cahirciveen
and County Clare
, and spent his teenage years in Spain - most notably with his grandmother in Lleida
, his uncle in Barcelona
and his godfather in Ullastret
. He received a largely Benedictine education, focussing on the Classics
(he speaks Ancient Greek
and Latin
fluently, and can recite The Aeneid). He returned to Ireland in his adolescence, and performed premedical studies at Trinity College, Dublin
, and received further training in Paris
, claiming to have "dissected with Dupuytren" while there.
He was in Paris during the outbreak of the French Revolution
in 1789, of which he was at first an ardent supporter. Returning to Ireland he was a member of the "United Irishmen
". While in Ireland he became engaged to a woman called Mona, who died in unspecified circumstances. He was against the 1798 rebellion
and refused to take part.
with a patient who died there, leaving him penniless and stranded at the start of the series. A chance meeting with Jack Aubrey
gains him the position of ship's surgeon aboard HMS Sophie, a fictional brig-rigged sloop-of-war
.
As an advocate of Catalan independence
from Spain, and a resolute opponent of Bonaparte's
tyranny
, Maturin had become involved in intelligence gathering
, and eventually becomes a renowned (to those in a position to know) secret agent, though he never accepts payment for his services.
As well as his activities as a physician and agent, Maturin is a celebrated naturalist (a member of the Royal Society
) with a particular interest in birds, and the discoverer, on a remote and uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean, of the hitherto unknown species of giant tortoise Testudo aubreii.
He experiments with drugs, becoming an addict of laudanum
(in The Letter of Marque
he states his own "moderate dose" is "a thousand drops", when twenty-five drops is a usual dose for a man in pain; in Desolation Island
it is implied that he daily takes eighteen thousand drops). After overcoming his opium addiction he switches to coca
leaves, as well as khat
and tobacco
. He can play the piano
and the flute
in addition to his preferred instrument, the cello
.
He is described as short, slight, and dark-haired, with "curious" pale blue eyes and very pale skin, though he does become fairly dark-skinned when he travels to tropical climes (a result of his Hiberno-Spanish heritage and predilection for naked sun-bathing). He weighs "barely 9 stone" (126 pounds, 56 kg). Untidy or even disreputable in appearance, he spends as little as possible on clothes, and when encouraged by his particular friend Jack Aubrey wears a periwig over his sparse close-cropped hair. These habits persist despite a considerable share of prize money earned over the years, and a fortune inherited from his Catalan godfather in 1812.
He is renowned for his ability to nearly drown, and his frequent falls from every manner of ship are a bit of a running joke in the series. While fairly surefooted on land, he manages to get into mortal peril in even the calmest water - allowing Jack Aubrey to demonstrate his proficiency at diving rescues - and is prone to plunging down hatches and companionways on board ship. His clumsiness may (in part) be due to his torture by the French at Mahon, where he was subjected to the rack (among other implements), tearing his sinews.
Maturin is fluent in English, Spanish, Catalan, French, Latin, Irish, and Portuguese, and has a working knowledge of Greek, Malay, Arabic and Urdu. Sadly, he rarely seems to understand naval jargon, nor has much idea of cricket
. He is, however, excellent at hurling
.
In 1802 he meets and falls in love with Diana Villiers
, whom he eventually marries after many vicissitudes in 1813 or 1814. They have a daughter, Brigid, before Diana's death in 1815 in a coach accident. He then strikes up a relationship with fellow naturalist Christine Hatherleigh Wood, and proposes marriage, though this is unresolved by the end of the series.
In The Reverse of the Medal
Stephen uses part of his fortune to buy the recently decommissioned HMS Surprise, giving its command to Jack Aubrey (who had recently been framed for stock manipulation and temporarily lost his commission) to be used as a letter of marque
. He eventually gives the Surprise to Aubrey as a gift.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
. The series portrays his career as a physician, naturalist and spy in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, and the long pursuit of his beloved Diana Villiers
Diana Villiers
Diana Villiers is a fictional character in the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. Described as beautiful, mercurial, and entirely unreliable, she is the great love and great sorrow of Stephen Maturin's life....
.
Maturin was played by Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...
in the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin and released by 20th Century Fox, Miramax Films and Universal Studios...
and by Richard Dillane
Richard Dillane
Richard Dillane is an English actor. He appeared as Merv, the husband of Margaret Humphreys in Jim Loach's fact-based movie Oranges and Sunshine, as Wernher von Braun in the BBC television docudrama Space Race, as Nero in Howard Brenton's play Paul at the National Theatre of GB and as Stephen...
in the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
adaptations of the O'Brian novels.
Early life and career
Stephen Maturin (Esteban Maturin y Domanova), a Roman Catholic, is the illegitimate son of an Irish officer serving in the Spanish Army and a Catalan ladyCatalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
. He is cousin to the historical Lord Edward FitzGerald
Lord Edward FitzGerald
Lord Edward FitzGerald was an Irish aristocrat and revolutionary. He was the fifth son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and the Duchess of Leinster , he was born at Carton House, near Dublin, and died of wounds received in resisting arrest on charge of treason.-Early years:FitzGerald spent most of his...
. As a boy he lived in Ireland, fostered by a family of pig-herders in Cahirciveen
Cahirciveen
Cahersiveen —alternate spellings Cahirsiveen, Cahirciveen or Caherciveen—is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. It is located on the Iveragh Peninsula near Valentia Island. Cahersiveen is connected to the Irish road network by the N70 national secondary route...
and County Clare
County Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...
, and spent his teenage years in Spain - most notably with his grandmother in Lleida
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
, his uncle in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and his godfather in Ullastret
Ullastret
Ullastret is a small historic village on the Bay of Emporda located some 5 km northeast of La Bisbal d'Empordà.Formerly a 3 km2 lake, known as Llac d'Ullastret or Estany d'Ullastret existed close to this town, but it was desiccated in the 19th century.It is home to ancient Iberian...
. He received a largely Benedictine education, focussing on the Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
(he speaks Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
fluently, and can recite The Aeneid). He returned to Ireland in his adolescence, and performed premedical studies at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, and received further training in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, claiming to have "dissected with Dupuytren" while there.
He was in Paris during the outbreak of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
in 1789, of which he was at first an ardent supporter. Returning to Ireland he was a member of the "United Irishmen
Society of the United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was founded as a liberal political organisation in eighteenth century Ireland that sought Parliamentary reform. However, it evolved into a revolutionary republican organisation, inspired by the American Revolution and allied with Revolutionary France...
". While in Ireland he became engaged to a woman called Mona, who died in unspecified circumstances. He was against the 1798 rebellion
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
and refused to take part.
The Aubrey-Maturin Series
In 1800 he travelled to MinorcaMinorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
with a patient who died there, leaving him penniless and stranded at the start of the series. A chance meeting with Jack Aubrey
Jack Aubrey
John "Jack" Aubrey, KB , is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his rise from Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The twenty -book series encompasses Aubrey's adventures and various commands along...
gains him the position of ship's surgeon aboard HMS Sophie, a fictional brig-rigged sloop-of-war
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
.
As an advocate of Catalan independence
Catalan independentism
Catalan independentism is a political movement, derived from Catalan nationalism, which supports the independence of Catalonia or the so-called Catalan countries from Spain and France...
from Spain, and a resolute opponent of Bonaparte's
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
tyranny
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...
, Maturin had become involved in intelligence gathering
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, and eventually becomes a renowned (to those in a position to know) secret agent, though he never accepts payment for his services.
As well as his activities as a physician and agent, Maturin is a celebrated naturalist (a member of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
) with a particular interest in birds, and the discoverer, on a remote and uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean, of the hitherto unknown species of giant tortoise Testudo aubreii.
He experiments with drugs, becoming an addict of laudanum
Laudanum
Laudanum , also known as Tincture of Opium, is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight ....
(in The Letter of Marque
The Letter of Marque
The Letter of Marque is an historical novel by Patrick O'Brian set during the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published by HarperCollins in 1988 and is the twelfth book in the Aubrey-Maturin series, concerning the adventures of naval commander Jack Aubrey, and his friend, ship's surgeon, naturalist...
he states his own "moderate dose" is "a thousand drops", when twenty-five drops is a usual dose for a man in pain; in Desolation Island
Desolation Island
Desolation Island is a name that has been used for several islands. The largest and best known is Kerguelen Island in the Indian Ocean.-Places:* Desolación Island, Chile.* Desolation Island ....
it is implied that he daily takes eighteen thousand drops). After overcoming his opium addiction he switches to coca
Coca
Coca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
leaves, as well as khat
Khat
Khat, qat, gat or Waquish Spoken from true Yemeni, is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....
and tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
. He can play the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and the flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
in addition to his preferred instrument, the cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
.
He is described as short, slight, and dark-haired, with "curious" pale blue eyes and very pale skin, though he does become fairly dark-skinned when he travels to tropical climes (a result of his Hiberno-Spanish heritage and predilection for naked sun-bathing). He weighs "barely 9 stone" (126 pounds, 56 kg). Untidy or even disreputable in appearance, he spends as little as possible on clothes, and when encouraged by his particular friend Jack Aubrey wears a periwig over his sparse close-cropped hair. These habits persist despite a considerable share of prize money earned over the years, and a fortune inherited from his Catalan godfather in 1812.
He is renowned for his ability to nearly drown, and his frequent falls from every manner of ship are a bit of a running joke in the series. While fairly surefooted on land, he manages to get into mortal peril in even the calmest water - allowing Jack Aubrey to demonstrate his proficiency at diving rescues - and is prone to plunging down hatches and companionways on board ship. His clumsiness may (in part) be due to his torture by the French at Mahon, where he was subjected to the rack (among other implements), tearing his sinews.
Maturin is fluent in English, Spanish, Catalan, French, Latin, Irish, and Portuguese, and has a working knowledge of Greek, Malay, Arabic and Urdu. Sadly, he rarely seems to understand naval jargon, nor has much idea of cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. He is, however, excellent at hurling
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
.
In 1802 he meets and falls in love with Diana Villiers
Diana Villiers
Diana Villiers is a fictional character in the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. Described as beautiful, mercurial, and entirely unreliable, she is the great love and great sorrow of Stephen Maturin's life....
, whom he eventually marries after many vicissitudes in 1813 or 1814. They have a daughter, Brigid, before Diana's death in 1815 in a coach accident. He then strikes up a relationship with fellow naturalist Christine Hatherleigh Wood, and proposes marriage, though this is unresolved by the end of the series.
In The Reverse of the Medal
The Reverse of the Medal
The Reverse of the Medal is a historical novel by Patrick O'Brian set during the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published by HarperCollins in 1986 and is the eleventh book in the Aubrey-Maturin series, concerning the adventures of naval commander Jack Aubrey, and his friend, ship's surgeon,...
Stephen uses part of his fortune to buy the recently decommissioned HMS Surprise, giving its command to Jack Aubrey (who had recently been framed for stock manipulation and temporarily lost his commission) to be used as a letter of marque
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
. He eventually gives the Surprise to Aubrey as a gift.