The Reasons Why Peter Pan Is A Villain
Everyone probably knows the innocent fairy-tale of Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up, taking children at night to a magical land called Neverland where all young one's dreams come true. The story was originally written by James Matthew Barrie in 1904 but through generations, the story has been told slightly differently being twisted to that what was appropriate of the time. But still today, the darkest and subliminal scenes of the fairy-tale have been kept as part of the story, revealing us the real truth of how evil and dark Peter Pan really is. The aim of this persuasive piece is to prove that Peter Pan is the true villain of the story.
Firstly, for quite some time Peter Pan stalked a little British girl whom we get to know and love as Wendy, one of the main characters of this horrific fairy-tale story. In the very opening of the tale the readers find Peter and his small fairy friend, Tinker bell searching for Pan’s shadow in Wendy’s house. One can only expect that his shadow escaped as he was given an opportunity of freedom to flee the clutches of Pan, having had seen all the terrible things that Peter has done. Sadly, Peter Pan mislead poor, confused Wendy into thinking she was doing the right thing by helping Pan recover his shadow and stitching the harmless creature to his feet, to prevent it from ever getting away. He at that point uncovered that he already knew her and her brother’s names, usual whereabouts and daily activities. Watching someone without the person's knowledge and consent for a lengthy period of time and knowing their usual activities is the exact definition of the word stalking and is not an action performed by a normal, good person which is labelled as a hero in a fairy-tale.
A second key reason why Peter Pan is the villain is that he snatches young, children for amusement. Once Pan and Tinker bell finally finished introducing each other to Wendy and her two brothers, Pan forcibly grasped Tinker bell demanding that she enabled the kids to fly. Then he asked his newest targets to fly away with him to a mysterious land called Neverland, made for children, without their carers agreement or even waiting for a response before taking off. If you think about it, this is just a magical form of a disturbing man tempting little children into his car with possibilities of receiving a huge surprise like sweets or toys but instead leads them to their doom. Obviously, if the children have only known Peter Pan for not even a minute and get convinced to be taken away to a strange place, there must be bad intentions involving them. This part of the story is just teaching children to trust strangers who ask them to go somewhere with them. That's why parents should know that Pan is pure evil and be there to explain to their children that trusting strangers is never the right thing to do and should always be taken with caution as you don't know their intentions.
Another key reason why Pan is the villain is that he is a very controlling person. Little is known about The Lost Boys except that they have been Pans friends for a very long time. All of the boys wear bizarre costumes of animals like squirrels, racoons, foxes and skunks, much more noticeably different from Pans own garments, a small probable sign of cultish activity. As he wears something different from the boys it may show that he is the leader of the group and his ‘friends’ all wear similar costumes which may indicate that they are Pan’s little minions as they are dressed in uniform. Evidence for this cultish activity is that once the British children were presented to the lost boys, they instantly tried to teach them lines to what obviously sounded like a cultish chant or ritual. The main lyrics of the chant were ‘We’re following the leader’. Through analysing the story, we find that Peter Pan is the leader of the lost boys and since the enchanted land of Neverland grants immortality, meaning that there will on no occasion ever be an alternative leader besides Peter Pan. Pan tries to control every single action of the children, not caring of their opinions or wants, like the way he asked if Wendy and her siblings wanted to go somewhere magical but didn’t even wait for a response before flying off.
The fourth and final reason why Peter Pan is the Villain is that he is a sociopathic maniac. Nearer the end of the story, Peter Pan sits down on some logs with Wendy and the lost boys. He starts telling them stories including one which was about how he removed Captain Hooks' hand and tossed it to a crocodile. Pan not only did such a dreadful thing to a person; he obviously loved removing Hook’s hand, by the way, he glorified the story and even managed to somehow get the children to cheer about these actions. Captain Hook is pictured as the villain but only acts like that because he wants revenge for all the pain and grief Pan has caused him for cutting off his hand. Due to Pan cutting off Hook’s hand and throwing it to a crocodile so he could devour it, the same crocodile has been chasing Hook in the slight chance he could eat the rest of his body. Pan does not have any remorse for all the evil things he's done and, somehow finds enjoyment from his actions.
In conclusion, it's clear that there are many arguments on why Peter Pan should be listed as the Villain of the story. There have been examined Peter Pan’s worrying stalker-ish behaviour, his enjoyment of kidnapping children, his addiction to power and his similar traits of a sociopathic maniac. Listing Peter Pan as a hero is a huge error humanity has overlooked and from now on should start acknowledging this serious matter to make a safer environment for the future generations of children to come.
Sources
- Google.com, Vox.com, Britannica.com, Wikipedia.com, all-about-fairies.com, gamespot.com, Peter Pan 1953 Disney Movie, Peter Pan and Wendy by JM Barrie Novel (ISBN – 0 340 24629 4)
