 Act I opens with sailors merrily preparing the ship for the arrival
of Sir Joseph, Lord of the Admiralty, who is to inspect the ship and
become a suitor to the Captain's daughter. But secret sorrows darken
the merriment. Ralph, a deckhand, loves the Captain's daughter; Buttercup hints that she is concealing something; Josephine, the Captain's daughter, confesses to a secret love, a common sailor; and the Captain secretly
fears that Josephine will reject Sir Joseph. Besides, Dick Deadeye, ill-natured as well as ill-favored, predicts misfortune. When Sir Joseph arrives, accompanied by his cousins, sisters, and aunts who follow him wherever he goes, he further complicates the situation with his belief
that the English sailor is inferior to no one--except himself. Encouraged
by Sir Joseph's words, Ralph proposes to Josephine, is rejected, and then accepted when he threatens suicide. The sailors' joy in Ralph's success
ends the act.
When Act II opens, the Captain is confessing his sorrow, in song,
to the moon. Buttercup comforts him and predicts a change in his
fortune. Both are attracted to each other but are kept at a distance
by social rank. Shortly after this, the Captain tells Sir Joseph,
who complains of Josephine's coldness, that perhaps Josephine feels
inferior because of his exalted rank. Sir Joseph proclaims that love
knows no rank. His words to Josephine to this effect speak for his rival as
well as for himself, and with the sympathetic support of the crew and
cousins, Josephine and Ralph steal away to marry. Warned by Dick Deadeye,
who is somewhat a philosopher and a realist, the Captain intercepts the
elopers and says 'Damme' in anger. He is reprimanded by Sir Joseph for
his harsh language and sent to his cabin. But when Sir Joseph discovers that
Josephine was eloping with Ralph, he orders Ralph sent to the dungeon.
Buttercup then confesses her error in the past: she had been the nurse
of Ralph and the Captain when they were babes and mixed them up; Ralph
should be the Captain and the Captain, Ralph. This reversal in social
rank makes possible the marnage of Ralph and Josephine, the former
Captain and Buttercup. And Sir Joseph--long pursued by Cousin
Hebe--resigns himself to marrying her.
That the Captain and Ralph are the same age and that Buttercup,
the former nurse, has long loved the Captam are the final absurdities
meant to satirize the absurdities in opera. Class distinctions are
made fun of throughout the play, though they are maintained at the
end. In its comedy, satire, and music, H. M. S. Pinafore continues
to delight the world.
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