Moral ambiguity

After devouring all four seasons of the show Black Sails, I reread Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel, Treasure Island. Set in the mid-1700s, Treasure Island tells the story of a boy Jim Hawkins and a pirate Long John Silver. Jim and Silver clash in their hunt to recover the infamous pirate Captain Flint’s buried gold. Black Sails is a prequel to Treasure Island, telling the story of Captain Flint and Long John Silvers twenty years before the novel.

Black Sails and Treasure Island confront the realities of moral ambiguity. Moral ambiguity occurs when there is a lack of clarity on whether something is right or wrong. At every turn, the characters must choose between the treasure, saving their own lives, and doing what is right.

Much like pirates hunt treasure, we all chase goals of our own interest. As we pursue these goals, we often find ourselves in gray areas—situations without a clear answer to what is right and what is wrong. These situations force us to decide what we value and who we want to be.

Life is a series of treasure hunts, but it is the moral ambiguity we face along the way that unearths us.