The Murder Rope
an analysis of my favorite piece of death foreshadowing
To start, a definition is probably in order: “The Murder Rope” is my nickname for the footrope that Silver’s gold-stealing accomplice frays in 2x08 to murder their wayward third accomplice on what he believed to be Silver’s order. The rope itself is just one part of what, in my opinion, is some of the most delicious foreshadowing I have ever seen so that’s what this post is about.
But before we get into that, let’s talk about Randall real quick for some context.
When he’s introduced in the first episode, we immediately learn that both Silver and Billy have, at various points, taken over his jobs (as cook and boatswain, respectively). People Replacement is a pretty significant theme in Black Sails and usually indicates a parallel between the person being replaced and the person doing the replacing, so Randall could be said to represent both Silver and Billy in this respect.
Furthermore, everything he does as a character involves one or both of them in some way, with his last significant action being preventing them from killing each other in 2x05. There truly is no better example of what I’m talking about here than Randall’s echoing 1x01’s “We like Randall.” back at Billy about Silver (“We like him.”) and then to Silver about Billy (“We like him too.”)
So, onto 2x08! In the scene which precedes Silver giving his accidentally-fatal “look,” he is giving a speech to the men about a hanging that he supposedly witnessed in Charles Town. The last shot of Randall alive that we ever see is over Silver mentioning “a gallows.”
Billy is also listening to this and easily clocks Silver’s story as fraudulent, re-appropriated pieces of other crewmen’s stories, but Scott replies that Silver’s power over its telling renders its truth or untruth irrelevant. And, re: Silver’s Look, we find out immediately after this that Silver’s power over the men extends beyond storytelling and that he already has the ability to move them to murder their fellows on what was thought to be his order. But, despite noting the fake story right away, Billy never learns of Silver’s part in the murder, or even that it was a murder in the first place. He’s impressed by Silver’s power over a story but fails to note the danger he poses... Pretty on-the-nose foreshadowing for the mechanism with which Silver betrays him in 4x05, I would say.
On that note, let’s talk about the death curse! The ship’s riggers refuse to touch the ropes, citing the death which has occurred as a bad omen, so Billy has to go up and fix the severed footrope himself. It’s while he’s working on this that Silver finds Randall murdered and Vane’s crew boards the ship (the scene cuts back and forth repeatedly between Billy working on the ropes, none the wiser to any danger, and Silver discovering Randall’s corpse).
Arguably then, this is the symbolic payoff for the death omen: Billy touches the rope which was (accidentally) cursed by Silver and Randall, who represents both of them, dies, the “gallows” moment being foreshadowing of this. But I’d argue that there’s even more here: Billy touched the rope, it’s his curse. So how does that pan out?
After taking the ship, Vane pulls Billy aside one-on-one to try to convince him to join his crew but Billy refuses, apparently leaving Vane with no choice but to kill him. Before this can happen however, Silver cuts the forestay, distracting Vane and buying enough time for him to see the logic in Billy’s argument, allowing the crew to live. Billy later passes this off as a much more vague situation (“If you hadn't have cut that forestay, there's an argument to be made that Vane would have set sail right away and probably killed us all.”), but, in truth, Billy’s life was the one that Silver most directly (indirectly) saved.
Additionally, Silver’s cutting the forestay could be considered the inverse of the Murder Rope: a rope tampered with to save lives rather than destroy them. And, indeed, it temporarily inverts Billy’s death curse by saving him from immediate danger.
However, the severing of the forestay being what properly kicks off Silver’s rise to power, I’d argue that it, sort of like Randall’s intervention, was only delaying the inevitable as far as Billy’s fate goes. From Scott’s telling Billy in 2x08: “At the moment [Silver] is using [his power over a story] to help the captain, but God help us if he ever realizes what else he could use it to accomplish,” to Silver’s losing his leg in the finale, the first inklings of Long John Silver were born in the last three episodes of season two.
Finally, speaking of gallows, have an excerpt from Treasure Island, as a treat:
‘When I got back with the basin, the doctor had already ripped up the captain’s sleeve and exposed his great sinewy arm. It was tattooed in several places. “Here’s luck,” “A fair wind,” and “Billy Bones his fancy,” were very neatly and clearly executed on the forearm; and up near the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging from it—done, as I thought, with great spirit.
“Prophetic,” said the doctor, touching this picture with his finger.’
