Dr. Livesey
Dr. Livesey, the neat, bright physician with powder as white as snow and bright, black eyes, is introduced as the local doctor and magistrate who first confronts the old buccaneer Billy Bones at the Admiral Benbow Inn. His decisive significance lies in his dual role as healer and enforcer of law, which he carries from the quiet English coast to the lawless shores of Treasure Island, where he becomes the strategist whose foresight and medical skill preserve the loyal party and secure the treasure.
Identity and Introduction
Dr. Livesey first appears late one afternoon at the Admiral Benbow Inn, called to attend Jim Hawkins's dying father. He is described as a neat, bright doctor, with powder as white as snow and bright, black eyes, and pleasant manners, contrasting sharply with the filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of a pirate, Billy Bones, who sits far gone in rum. When the captain begins his eternal song, "Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest," and demands silence, Dr. Livesey alone continues his conversation, drawing briskly at his pipe. When Billy Bones threatens him with a sailor's clasp-knife, the doctor does not move but calmly promises, "If you do not put that knife this instant in your pocket, I promise, upon my honour, you shall hang at the next assizes." He then reveals that he is not only a doctor but also a magistrate, and warns that he will have an eye upon the captain day and night, and will take effectual means to have him hunted down and routed out of the district if he catches a breath of complaint. This confrontation establishes Dr. Livesey as a man of unshakeable nerve and moral authority, one who wields the law as effectively as the lancet.
Medical Authority and the Diagnosis of Billy Bones
After the fight between Billy Bones and Black Dog, Dr. Livesey arrives to find the captain collapsed on the floor. He immediately diagnoses a stroke, not a wound, and declares, "The man has had a stroke, as I warned him." He then performs a bloodletting, opening a vein with his lancet, and exposes the captain's tattooed arm, which bears the words "Here's luck," "A fair wind," and "Billy Bones his fancy," as well as a sketch of a gallows and a hanging man, which the doctor calls "Prophetic." He addresses the captain as "Mr. Bones," a name the captain denies, but the doctor insists, saying it is the name of a buccaneer of his acquaintance. He warns that one glass of rum won't kill him, but if he takes one he'll take another and another, and stakes his wig that if he doesn't break off short, he'll die. He concludes, "the name of rum for you is death." Later, when Jim Hawkins brings the captain a glass of rum against the doctor's orders, the captain quotes the doctor's own words that one glass wouldn't hurt him, showing the doctor's medical authority is both respected and manipulated. Dr. Livesey's diagnosis proves accurate, as Billy Bones dies of a stroke after receiving the Black Spot, and his medical skill is later crucial in treating the wounded during the mutiny.
Role in the Voyage and the Council of War
Dr. Livesey is one of the three gentlemen who open the oilskin packet from Billy Bones's sea-chest, revealing the treasure map. He is cautious, warning Squire Trelawney to hold his tongue, and insists that Jim and he stick together until they get to sea. On board the Hispaniola, he is the ship's doctor, and he is present when Captain Smollett voices his misgivings about the crew and the cruise. When Jim Hawkins overhears Long John Silver's plot in the apple barrel, it is Dr. Livesey who calls Jim to his side and, with a pretence, arranges for the council of war in the cabin. There, Jim tells the whole details of Silver's conversation, and the doctor, along with the squire and captain, drinks Jim's health for his luck and courage. Dr. Livesey is also the one who suggests that Jim can help them more than anyone, as the men are not shy with him. In the council, he agrees with Captain Smollett's plan to lay to and keep a bright lookout, and he is counted among the seven reliable men, with the grown men on their side being six to the mutineers' nineteen.
The Abandonment of the Ship and the Stockade
When the mutiny breaks out, Dr. Livesey is instrumental in the decision to abandon the Hispaniola. He and Hunter go ashore in the jolly-boat to reconnoitre, and he discovers the stockade, a stout log-house with a spring of clear water, loopholed for musketry, and a palisade six feet high. He recognizes its defensive value and returns to the ship to propose moving the loyal party there. He helps load the jolly-boat with powder, muskets, biscuits, pork, cognac, and his invaluable medicine chest, and he makes several trips to provision the block house. During the first day's fighting, he fires at the mutineers, and when Tom Redruth is mortally wounded, he attends to him, telling him, "Tom, my man, you're going home." He also observes the captain's actions with admiration, saying, "That man Smollett is a better man than I am." After the battle, he tends to the wounded, including Captain Smollett, whose shoulder-blade is broken and lung touched, and he patches up Jim's cut knuckles, pulling his ears for him into the bargain.
The Secret of Ben Gunn and the Strategy for the Treasure
Dr. Livesey's most significant strategic move comes when he learns from Jim about Ben Gunn, the marooned pirate. He immediately sees the potential of this ally, and he carries a piece of Parmesan cheese in his snuff-box, which he intends for Ben Gunn, knowing the man's craving for cheese. On the afternoon of the attack, he goes to see Ben Gunn and worms from him the secret that he has already found and moved Flint's treasure to a cave on the two-pointed hill. The next morning, seeing the anchorage deserted, he goes to Silver, gives him the now-useless chart, and gives him the stores, for Ben Gunn's cave is well supplied with goats' meat salted by himself. He does this to get a chance of moving in safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, there to be clear of malaria and keep a guard upon the money. He later explains to Jim that it went against his heart, but he did what he thought best for those who had stood by their duty. He also warns Silver, "look out for squalls when you find it," and promises to do his best to save Silver if they both get alive out of the wolf-trap, short of perjury.
The Ambush and the Aftermath
Dr. Livesey, with Gray and Ben Gunn, ambushes the treasure-hunters at the pit, firing three musket-shots that kill George Merry and the man with the bandage, and routing the others. He then leads the party to the boats, demolishes one gig with a pick-axe, and they all sail to North Inlet, where they find the Hispaniola cruising by herself. He is present when the squire confronts Silver, calling him a prodigious villain and imposter, and he later treats the sick mutineers, even offering to leave the camp to take them his skill, though Silver dissuades him. After the treasure is loaded, he is one of those who decides to desert the three surviving mutineers on the island, leaving them stores and a present of tobacco. He also connives at Silver's escape, as Ben Gunn later confesses, and he is pleased to be so cheaply quit of him. Dr. Livesey's actions throughout the adventure demonstrate his unwavering commitment to duty, his medical compassion even for enemies, and his strategic brilliance, making him the true hero of the expedition alongside Jim Hawkins.
