The Spectre of Bloody Morgan: Ian Fleming's Use of the Pirate Motif

This article explores Ian Fleming's use of the pirate motif within several of his James Bond novels and short stories and argues that the figure of the pirate serves as a prototype for some of Fleming's most important characters - both Bond's allies and adversaries. Moreover, I contend that the pirate motif is integral to epistemological decodings of the moral and ethical politics of the Bond character himself, and that the relationship between Bond and piracy draws implicit attention to the ways in which Bond's legal transgressions are often overlooked or ignored.