Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson, has delighted readers for generations with

its exhilarating adventure, rich action, and complex characterization. Kidnapped is the

story of young David Balfour, an orphan, whose uncle Ebenezer cheats him out of his

inheritance and makes plans to have him kidnapped and sold into slavery. David’s Uncle

Ebenezer is a very money hungry man as are many of the other people David encounters

on his journey. Many of the people David encounters on his journey including Uncle

Ebenezer, Captain Hoseason and his crew, David’s first guide to Torosay, and even

David’s close companion, Alan Stewart, all have greedy intentions at times. They act

innocent at first, and even if they are, they can’t help trying to get the best of David to

obtain more money. One of the themes in Stevenson’s Kidnapped is that often people go

to extremes to satisfy their greed for money.

In the beginning of the novel, David Balfour is traveling to the house of Shaws to

give his Uncle Ebenezer Balfour a note from his deceased father. The note tells Ebenezer

it is the time to give David his rightful share of the estate left to Ebenezer. Ebenezer told

David the money was intact, but it was in a chest at the top of a stair-tower at the far end

of the house. David crawled up the dark stairs and as he was reaching what he thought

was the top, he realized that the stairs went up no farther. There was a huge drop down.

David was so angry, because his own uncle had tried to kill him just to keep his share of

the money. When Ebenezer’s plan didn’t work, he realized he had to do something else.

Ebenezer arranged to have David kidnapped by Captain Hoseason and his crew and to

have him sold into slavery in the Carolinas. Ebenezer Balfour went to all of the trouble of

trying to kill and have kidnapped his only nephew, just to indulge his greedy desires.

Ebenezer paid a man named Captain Hoseason to kidnap David and sell him into

slavery. Captain Hoseason had struck David unconscious and tied him up in the dark belly

of his boat named the Covenant. The captain beat up and kidnapped a young, innocent

boy just to earn a little extra money. The crew of the Covenant stole most of David’s

money while he was unconscious. A week or so later, the Covenant crashed into a smaller

boat and sunk it. The only survivor was a man named Alan Stewart. He came on board

and offered the captain sixty guineas if he would take him to Linnhe Loch. The captain

agreed, but David later overheard him making a plan to get a pistol and kill Stewart and

take all of his money. The captain and his crew were going to murder an innocent man and

greedily steal all of his money for no reason at all. Alan Stewart had done nothing except

be kind and polite, but all Captain Hoseason cared about was getting his money.

On David’s journey to Torosay, he met a man who agreed to guide David to

Torosay for five shillings. In the course of their journey, the man suddenly pretended he

didn’t know how to speak English anymore, and spoke only in Gaelic. Only when David

offered him two more shillings did he agree to guide him the rest of the way to Torosay. A

few miles later, the man once again pretended not to be able to speak any English. David

got fed up with his greediness. He had already given him more than enough money, and

the miserly man kept trying to cheat him out of more. His greedy desire for money got the

best of him, and it turned out getting him nowhere but stuck in the middle of the woods,

disarmed and alone.

Even Alan Stewart, David’s newfound companion, displayed his greed for money

at one time. Alan and David stayed in Cluny Macpherson’s house for several days in order

for David to get well enough before setting back out on their journey. On one of the days,

while David was semi-conscious, Alan had asked David to loan him some money, and he

had unknowingly agreed. When David awoke a few days later, Alan admitted to David

that he lost all of his and David’s money in a card game. Alan took chances with the only

money he and David had, and lost it all. David was furious that his own friend would put

their survival at stake just to satisfy his greedy desires to win.

Throughout Kidnapped, Stevenson exemplifies what it is to be “money hungry”

through some of his characters. He shows the extremes people will go to in order to

satisfy their greed for money. It is human nature to be greedy and to desire wealth, but it is

abnormal and unhealthy to be greedy enough to commit murder, to kidnap, and to slyly

cheat people out of their rightfully owned and hard
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