Midshipman Plunkett

Character Analysis

Star-Crossed

Young Plunkett's timeline comes in right after the narrator's first encounter with the ghost of his father. It's probably not a coincidence that echoes from the past should be so neatly juxtaposed in the work: Major Plunkett's search for his ancestry and purpose in life mirrors the narrator's own efforts to find direction.

When we first see Midshipman Plunkett, he is a young military man trying to get ahead by performing a risky task for the British government by spying on the Dutch, who are suspected of supporting the French (who support the Americans) in the Revolutionary War.

He's a clever lad of nineteen, but as a character, he's kind of like the red shirts in a Star Trek episode: created only so bad things can happen to him. Midshipman Plunkett represents the tragedy and randomness of war—even a war that appears to have a purpose. He dies in the most meaningless way possible, getting impaled on his own sword as he rushes up a ladder of a ship and then drowning in bilge water. Double insult.

Heir, Apparently

When Major Plunkett discovers his young relative, his penchant for making sentimental connections kicks into overdrive. His research on the Battle of the Saints, meant for Helen's benefit, turns into a personal quest.

The Major has no son and no idea why he suffered the brutality of war, so when he sees young Plunkett's name and manner of death written in a ledger, he knows that he's found both a son and the answer to his larger questions about war. But this doesn't stop his heartache: "He would keep the namesake from Maud./He thought of the warm hand resting on the warm loaf/of the cannon. And the crown for which it was made" (XVII.iii.94). Okay, so there's really no reason for his sorrows, but so it goes with feelings sometimes—they just happen.

But the discovery and loss of Midshipman Plunkett in the same instant does something else for Major Plunkett: It sets him on a path to healing, moving him past his obsessive desire to write a history for the island. Young Plunkett may have died a stupid death, but his legacy proves to be valuable for a troubled descendant.