As s ig n me nt

To p ic : r o b in s o n c r u s o e

Submitted to, Submitted by,

Nidhi Miss Ashna Ann Varghese
Department of English I M.A Engish
B.K College Amalagiri B.K College Amalagiri
Date:23-08-2019
 About the Author: Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe (1659-1731) is the great essayists of the earlier

years and the great novelists of the middle years of the
eighteenth century. He is one of the most voluminous of English
writers. He is a man of questionable life and character. The
English public with all its taste for biography has never taken to
him kindly. He was born in 1659 at St. Giles’ s, cripple gate in
London. Educated in a dissenting college at stoke Newington
Defoe apart from being an inexhaustible writer, was a
government agent, both for the Whigs and the Tories.
The fame of Defoe as a novelist rests on its novels like
Robinson Crusoe, (1719), captain Singleton (1720), Moll
Fanders (1722), Journal for the plague Year(1722) and Rexona
(1724). The theme of the novels of Defoe is sin committed in
difference ways, followed by punishment, repentance,
forgiveness and reconciliation Defoe is the master of both
humour and pathos like Chaucer, he possess the art pf
visualization events and characters. He has visualized the
characters of ‘Moll Flanders’and ‘ Rexona’and their amorous
advances. In Robinson Crusoe, the dangerous adventures the
perilous seas, the harrowing ship wrecks, the desolate shores, the
far- off uninhabited islands etc. Defoe shows his skills . He did
his very best literary work in his later period. At the last he
experienced some revolution of fortune and died at Moorfields
in distress in 1731.
 INTRODUCTION

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is one of the greatest and

most popular novels and can be favorably classed in this respect
with John Bunyan’ s‘ The Pilgrim’s Progress’and Jonathan
Swift’ s‘Gulliver’ s Travels ‘
.This novel is inspired by the
adventure of Alexander Selkrit who was cast at an uninhabited
island Juan Fernandez where he pinned alone for about five
years. Like Alexander, Robinson also pined alone on a desolate
island for longer span of time ,for more than twenty eight years
and led an adventurous life. There he found a mysterious
footprint which terribly confounded him. There he encountered
the cannibals and the mutinous crew .The plot of the novel is
picaresque and loose, through it possess thematic unity. It is
marred by the oppressive descriptions and the leasing moral vein.
Its charm lies in its adventurous zeal and its spiritual serenity.
Robinson Crusoe disguises, within its adventure , spiritual
titillation . It is complex and rich .It is the allegory not of one
thing or the other. It can be read on many levels .It can be read
as adventure story, as moral treatise, as religious theology , as
spiritual revelation , as material advancement ,as colonial
expansions , as the Biblical parable of the prodigal son and so
many other things.
As public hankered after facts Defoe has given only the facts.
He has created the illusion of reality. By the mere accumulation
of facts in their utter veracity, he has brought about, what
Shakespeare had done earlier, the wiling suspension of disbelief.
And this he could possibly do with the help of a welcoming
language, simple racy, colloquial and unadorned.

SUMMARY
Robinson Crusoe, as a young and impulsive wanderer, defied his parents and went to sea. He was
involved in a series of violent storms at sea and was warned by the captain that he should not be
a seafaring man. Ashamed to go home, Crusoe boarded another ship and returned from a
successful trip to Africa. Taking off again, Crusoe met with bad luck and was taken prisoner in
Sallee. His captors sent Crusoe out to fish, and he used this to his advantage and escaped, along
with a slave.

He was rescued by a Portuguese ship and started a new adventure. He landed in Brazil, and, after
some time, he became the owner of a sugar plantation. Hoping to increase his wealth by buying
slaves, he aligned himself with other planters and undertook a trip to Africa in order to bring
back a shipload of slaves. After surviving a storm, Crusoe and the others were shipwrecked. He
was thrown upon shore only to discover that he was the sole survivor of the wreck.

Crusoe made immediate plans for food, and then shelter, to protect himself from wild animals.
He brought as many things as possible from the wrecked ship, things that would be useful later to
him. In addition, he began to develop talents that he had never used in order to provide himself
with necessities. Cut off from the company of men, he began to communicate with God, thus
beginning the first part of his religious conversion. To keep his sanity and to entertain himself, he
began a journal. In the journal, he recorded every task that he performed each day since he had
been marooned.

As time passed, Crusoe became a skilled craftsman, able to construct many useful things, and
thus furnished himself with diverse comforts. He also learned about farming, as a result of some
seeds which he brought with him. An illness prompted some prophetic dreams, and Crusoe began
to reappraise his duty to God. Crusoe explored his island and discovered another part of the
island much richer and more fertile, and he built a summer home there.

One of the first tasks he undertook was to build himself a canoe in case an escape became
possible, but the canoe was too heavy to get to the water. He then constructed a small boat and
journeyed around the island. Crusoe reflected on his earlier, wicked life, disobeying his parents,
and wondered if it might be related to his isolation on this island.

After spending about fifteen years on the island, Crusoe found a man's naked footprint, and he
was sorely beset by apprehensions, which kept him awake many nights. He considered many
possibilities to account for the footprint and he began to take extra precautions against a possible
intruder. Sometime later, Crusoe was horrified to find human bones scattered about the shore,
evidently the remains of a savage feast. He was plagued again with new fears. He explored the
nature of cannibalism and debated his right to interfere with the customs of another race.

Crusoe was cautious for several years, but encountered nothing more to alarm him. He found a
cave, which he used as a storage room, and in December of the same year, he spied cannibals
sitting around a campfire. He did not see them again for quite some time.

Later, Crusoe saw a ship in distress, but everyone was already drowned on the ship and Crusoe
remained companionless. However, he was able to take many provisions from this newly
wrecked ship. Sometime later, cannibals landed on the island and a victim escaped. Crusoe saved
his life, named him Friday, and taught him English. Friday soon became Crusoe's humble and
devoted slave.

Crusoe and Friday made plans to leave the island and, accordingly, they built another boat.
Crusoe also undertook Friday's religious education, converting the savage into a Protestant. Their
voyage was postponed due to the return of the savages. This time it was necessary to attack the
cannibals in order to save two prisoners since one was a white man. The white man was a
Spaniard and the other was Friday's father. Later the four of them planned a voyage to the
mainland to rescue sixteen compatriots of the Spaniard. First, however, they built up their food
supply to assure enough food for the extra people. Crusoe and Friday agreed to wait on the island
while the Spaniard and Friday's father brought back the other men.

A week later, they spied a ship but they quickly learned that there had been a mutiny on board.
By devious means, Crusoe and Friday rescued the captain and two other men, and after much
scheming, regained control of the ship. The grateful captain gave Crusoe many gifts and took
him and Friday back to England. Some of the rebel crewmen were left marooned on the island.

Crusoe returned to England and found that in his absence he had become a wealthy man. After
going to Lisbon to handle some of his affairs, Crusoe began an overland journey back to England.
Crusoe and his company encountered many hardships in crossing the mountains, but they finally
arrived safely in England. Crusoe sold his plantation in Brazil for a good price, married, and had
three children. Finally, however, he was persuaded to go on yet another voyage, and he visited
his old island, where there were promises of new adventures to be found in a later account.
 THEMES

The Ambivalence of Mastery

Crusoe’ s success in mastering his situation, overcoming his obstacles, and controlling his
environment shows the condition of mastery in a positive light, at least at the beginning of the
novel. Crusoe lands in an inhospitable environment and makes it his home. His taming and
domestication of wild goats and parrots with Crusoe as their master illustrates his newfound
control. Moreover, Crusoe’ s mastery over nature makes him a master of his fate and of himself.
Early in the novel, he frequently blames himself for disobeying his father’ s advice or blames the
destiny that drove him to sea. But in the later part of the novel, Crusoe stops viewing himself as a
passive victim and strikes a new note of self-determination. In building a home for himself on the
island, he finds that he is master of his life—he suffers a hard fate and still finds prosperity.

But this theme of mastery becomes more complex and less positive after Friday’ s arrival, when
the idea of mastery comes to apply more to unfair relationships between humans. In Chapter
XXIII, Crusoe teaches Friday the word “ [m]aster”even before teaching him “ yes”and “ no,”and
indeed he lets him “know that was to be [Crusoe’ s] name.”Crusoe never entertains the idea of
considering Friday a friend or equal—for some reason, superiority comes instinctively to him.
We further question Crusoe’ s right to be called “
[m]aster”when he later refers to himself as “
king”over the natives and Europeans, who are his “ subjects.”In short, while Crusoe seems
praiseworthy in mastering his fate, the praiseworthiness of his mastery over his fellow humans is
more doubtful. Defoe explores the link between the two in his depiction of the colonial mind.

The Necessity of Repentance

Crusoe’ s experiences constitute not simply an adventure story in which thrilling things happen,
but also a moral tale illustrating the right and wrong ways to live one’ s life. This moral and
religious dimension of the tale is indicated in the Preface, which states that Crusoe’ s story is
being published to instruct others in God’ s wisdom, and one vital part of this wisdom is the
importance of repenting one’ s sins. While it is important to be grateful for God’
s miracles, as
Crusoe is when his grain sprouts, it is not enough simply to express gratitude or even to pray to
God, as Crusoe does several times with few results. Crusoe needs repentance most, as he learns
from the fiery angelic figure that comes to him during a feverish hallucination and says, “ Seeing
all these things have not brought thee to repentance, now thou shalt die.”Crusoe believes that his
major sin is his rebellious behavior toward his father, which he refers to as his “ original sin,”
akin to Adam and Eve’ s first disobedience of God. This biblical reference also suggests that
Crusoe’ s exile from civilization represents Adam and Eve’ s expulsion from Eden.

For Crusoe, repentance consists of acknowledging his wretchedness and his absolute dependence
on the Lord. This admission marks a turning point in Crusoe’ s spiritual consciousness, and is
almost a born-again experience for him. After repentance, he complains much less about his sad
fate and views the island more positively. Later, when Crusoe is rescued and his fortune restored,
he compares himself to Job, who also regained divine favor. Ironically, this view of the necessity
of repentance ends up justifying sin: Crusoe may never have learned to repent if he had never
sinfully disobeyed his father in the first place. Thus, as powerful as the theme of repentance is in
the novel, it is nevertheless complex and ambiguous.

The Importance of Self-Awareness

Crusoe’ s arrival on the island does not make him revert to a brute existence controlled by animal
instincts, and, unlike animals, he remains conscious of himself at all times. Indeed, his island
existence actually deepens his self-awareness as he withdraws from the external social world and
turns inward. The idea that the individual must keep a careful reckoning of the state of his own
soul is a key point in the Presbyterian doctrine that Defoe took seriously all his life. We see that
in his normal day-to-day activities, Crusoe keeps accounts of himself enthusiastically and in
various ways. For example, it is significant that Crusoe’ s makeshift calendar does not simply
mark the passing of days, but instead more egocentrically marks the days he has spent on the
island: it is about him, a sort of self-conscious or autobiographical calendar with him at its center.
Similarly, Crusoe obsessively keeps a journal to record his daily activities, even when they
amount to nothing more than finding a few pieces of wood on the beach or waiting inside while it
rains. Crusoe feels the importance of staying aware of his situation at all times. We can also
sense Crusoe’ s impulse toward self-awareness in the fact that he teaches his parrot to say the
words, “ Poor Robin Crusoe. . . . Where have you been?”This sort of self-examining thought is
natural for anyone alone on a desert island, but it is given a strange intensity when we recall that
Crusoe has spent months teaching the bird to say it back to him. Crusoe teaches nature itself to
voice his own self-awareness.

Christianity
Crusoe relies on God to take care of him and also fears God's punishment for abandoning his
family and for his lack of faith and gratitude on past occasions. He finds his quality of life
improves as his faith in God becomes stronger, and this motivates him to continue. He begins to
believe that God has placed him on the earth for a reason, and he initially thinks that because he
alone (of all the crew and passengers on the two ships) has survived shipwrecks that God must
therefore have some purpose for him. Later in Chapter 18, as he tries to encourage the English
captain to take action to recover his ship, Crusoe asks, "And where, sir ... is your belief of my
being preserved here on purpose to save your life?"

One of the more provocative chapters in the text (Chapter 15) has Crusoe teaching this faith to
Friday, who is a quick study, and soon seems to become as devoted a Christian as Crusoe. But
Friday also asks questions that Crusoe finds difficult to answer. Friday asks, "Why God no kill
the devil, so make him no more do wicked?" Crusoe stumbles over the answer but continues his
teaching. In the end he realizes that in teaching Christianity to Friday, he has become a better and
more understanding Christian himself. However, at the end of the novel he decides against
resettling in Brazil, in part because he does not wish to live among Catholics.

Nature

In Robinson Crusoe, nature is one of the chief actors in guiding the plot. It is nature that blows
Crusoe's ship onto the sand near the island and that casts Crusoe alone of all the men on that ship
onto the shores of the island. It is nature that provides calm seas so Crusoe can salvage all the
tools, food, and other supplies from the wrecked ship. It is nature that wrecks the Spaniard's ship,
and later on that sends the wolves and bear to attack Crusoe's party as they journey to England. It
is also nature that provides all the plenty that Crusoe enjoys on the island, from the goats that
nourish him to the parrot that keeps him company to the seeds that grow and become the source
of much of his food during his years on the island. Crusoe learns during the novel that nature can
provide bounty if cultivated—or destruction, if not treated with caution. Crusoe discovers that
even his most diligent work cannot overcome some of the forces of nature, which he comes to
believe strongly over the course of his time on the island is God's hand at work.
CRITICAL APPRECIATION
Robinson Crusoe, like Swifts Gulliver’ s Travels , is a book
of adventure . On the surface it is a tale of adventures and the
voyages on the tempestuous seas, the shipwreck and the soul
shocking encounters with the cannibals , the mutinous crew and
the hundred ferocious wolves .But ,the intrinsic value of the
book is for deeper like ‘ The Piligrims Progress ,a book of the
spiritual voyage .There are weakness in the novel .Sometimes
the descriptions are oppressive so that the tale seems to be
limping E. Albert has observed that the story is marked in pair
the quality by long and tedious narration of the other hands. If or
Evans has remarked that the dullest part of the work lies in the
religious and moral reflections. The plot is picaresque and
loosely spun .These may be the weakness but the realistic
picturization is one of the major virtues of the novel.
Defoe had caught the pulse of his public and
wrote specifically for the middle class puritan public .He chose
only those themes which public wanted just as Shakespeare did
with the introduction of supernatural elements. Like Milton,
Defoe is also a blend of the renaissance and puritan elements.
Though Defoe feeds on other writers, his original genius
reflected through this novel in many aspects .Even though his
characters are few he has immortalized them. For the first time
in English fiction, we can see humour and pathos in this novel.
He has also created the illusion of reality in this novel.
The plot of Robinson Crusoe is loosely constructed.
It is episodic and picaresque. One episode in the novel leads o
another even if any episode is dropped still story will run
smoothly without any loss or trouble. It is not closely
interwoven. W.H Hudson has remarked that no attempt is made
in the novel towards the organization of material into a
systematic plot. Plot of the novel was loosely spun. Second has
also observed that Robinson Crusoe imitates life in its very
shapelessness. The novel seems to be a heap of broken images.
Story is spatial and not integrated. He does not possess structural
unity in this novel but the thematic unity. In the great works of
some writers possess such unity. Milton’ s unity was by showing
justification of god’s ways to man and Dickens achieves it by
the love for children. Defoe achieves it especially in Robinson
Crusoe by the ideas of sin, repentance, forgiveness out
reconciliation. Replying to the structure of second, Paul Hunter
observes that he ignores the thematic structure set up.
The character in the novel is not dynamic or
living but a two-dimensional. Robinson the protagonist himself
does not change. He remain at the end of the novel as what he
was in the beginning, a restless fellow for wondering on the wild
seas. He does not have a life of his own. He is not a living
character. He can be seen as a self of Defoe himself. He
possesses the art visualizing his characters in one stroke.
“
The Boy smiled in my face and spoke so sweetly that
I could not mistrust him”
The narrative skills of Defoe are also visible in this
novel. Critics have profusely admired him for his narrative
brilliance. G.H Mair observes: “ His gift of narrative and
description is masterly” . I for Evans praises him and remarked;
“ There exists in him a talent for organizing his material into a
well conducted narrative.’ ’Robinson’ s venture on his canoe on
the sea across the island is a specimen of Defoe’ s wonderful art
of description and narration, rich with emotion zest and
liveliness. It fills our mind with curiosity, anxiety and thrilling
sensations. The seizing and the restoring of the ship from the
mutinous crew is thrilling, this whole episode is colorful and
picaresque. The narration of Robinson’ s encounters with
cannibals and the wolves is full of suspense and thrill.
The theme of this novel is sin followed as a
consequence, by punishment, suffering, repentance and the
ultimate reconciliation with the almighty. As sin is related to the
ethics of conscience, the moral element spontaneously the
unseperable part of the sin themes. Robinson commits sin,
manifested in different ways. He commits the sin of disobeying
the instructions of his father and disregarding the blessing of god,
of breaking his vows, like the heroes of Marlow, embracing the
immoderate passion. Ignoring his father’ s advice and other and
other sinful expedition was the sin committed by him. Even after
being imprisoned on the desolate island for twenty-eight he
bides himself his time at the opportunity of deliverance, and
delays his release from that place. He is first warned by the
punishment when his ship bound to London is tossed in waves.
But he ignored it, consequently meets the first punishment. He is
reduced to a mere slave at salle. Still he repeats his sin and didn’
t repent thus he was confined on the disolate island. First the
feels indignant at his severe punishment, then he accepts the
indignation of god. He prays and repented and thus restored. He
feels that punishment is less in compare to his sin and he thanks
god for casting him on the island which becomes a place of
redemption because there is no lust of flash, no lust of eyes and
no pride. He is ultimately reconciled to the affections bestowed
upon him by god.
Robinson Crusoe is mostly considered as an
allegory just as Milton’ s paradise lost .But it is more than an
allegory. In an allegory two things run on parallel lines, one
standing for the other whereas paradise lost or Gulliver’ s travels
can be studied on two levels, This one shows several layers. It
can be studied as autobiographical story of Defoe, as the parable
of prodigal son, as a spiritual voyage etc so it is not just an
allegory this novel. These are so many scenes where we can see
his skill. When Robinson shoots a kid Friday his chest is
wounded is a good example of evoking humour.
Defoe had peculiar capacity in creating the illusion
of reality. In this novel he made fiction seem like truth like
fiction. His homely, colloquial and easy style also lends itself
admirably to his purpose of creating illusion of reality. E.Albert
rightly observes that his realism is brought about by his swift
and matter of fact, style that lays incredulity asleep. Other
notable factors in Robinson Crusoe are its romantic adventure
and pictorial quality. The style of colloquial vocabulary makes it
homely and simple. The adventure, romance and spiritual
titillation makes Robinson Crusoe become most popular among
every class of readers. Rightly I for Evans observes;
“The combination of these qualities has given Robinson
Crusoe its immediate and continuous appeal.’’
CHARACTER SKETCH

ROBINSON CRUSOE

Robinson is the protagonist and the narrator of the novel. He is

individualistic, self-reliant, and adventurous. He continually
discounts the good advice and warnings of his parents and others,
and boldly seeks to make his own life by going to sea. He is at
times overly ambitious and is unable to remain content with a
comfortable life (whether in England or Brazil). Trapped on his
island, he learns to survive all alone and also ends up becoming
a devout Christian, repenting for his past sins and gaining a
newfound confidence in God and his divine plan of providence.
Robinson's extreme individualism is at times heroic, but also
leads him to disregard others. While he values the loyal friends
he finds over the course of his journeys (repaying and rewarding
the captain's widow and the Portuguese captain, for example), he
sells Xury into a kind of slavery or indentured servitude and
treats Friday as an inferior servant. His self-reliance can also
shade into narcissism, reflected in his narration's focus on
himself and disregard for others: most of the other characters in
the novel don't even get a name. But in spite of any of these
faults, Defoe presents Robinson as the novel's intrepid hero, who
draws on reserves of ingenuity and bravery to survive incredibly
against the whims of nature and fate.

FRIDAY

Friday - A twenty-six-year-old Caribbean native and cannibal

who converts to Protestantism under Crusoe’ s tutelage. Friday
becomes Crusoe’ s servant after Crusoe saves his life when
Friday is about to be eaten by other cannibals. Friday never
appears to resist or resent his new servitude, and he may
sincerely view it as appropriate compensation for having his life
saved. But whatever Friday’ s response may be, his servitude has
become a symbol of imperialist oppression throughout the
modern world. Friday’ s overall charisma works against the
emotional deadness that many readers find in Crusoe.
PORTUGUESE CAPTAIN
The sea captain who picks up Crusoe and the slave boy Xury
from their boat after they escape from their Moorish captors and
float down the African coast. The Portuguese captain takes
Crusoe to Brazil and thus inaugurates Crusoe’ s new life as
plantation owner. The Portuguese captain is never named—
unlike Xury, for example—and his anonymity suggests a certain
uninteresting blandness in his role in the novel. He is polite,
personable, and extremely generous to Crusoe, buying the
animal skins and the slave boy from Crusoe at well over market
value. He is loyal as well, taking care of Crusoe’ s Brazilian
investments even after a twenty-eight-year absence. His role in
Crusoe’ s life is crucial, since he both arranges for Crusoe’ s new
career as a plantation owner and helps Crusoe cash in on the
profits later.
SPAINARD
One of the men from the Spanish ship that is wrecked off Crusoe’
s island, and whose crew is rescued by the cannibals and taken
to a neighboring island. The Spaniard is doomed to be eaten as a
ritual victim of the cannibals when Crusoe saves him. In
exchange, he becomes a new “ subject”in Crusoe’ s“ kingdom,”
at least according to Crusoe. The Spaniard is never fleshed out
much as a character in Crusoe’ s narrative, an example of the odd
impersonal attitude often notable in Crusoe.
XURY
A nonwhite (Arab or black) slave boy only briefly introduced
during the period of Crusoe’ s enslavement in Sallee. When
Crusoe escapes with two other slaves in a boat, he forces one to
swim to shore but keeps Xury on board, showing a certain trust
toward the boy. Xury never betrays that trust. Nevertheless,
when the Portuguese captain eventually picks them up, Crusoe
sells Xury to the captain. Xury’s sale shows us the racist double
standards sometimes apparent in Crusoe’ s behavior.
THE WIDOW
Appearing briefly, but on two separate occasions in the novel,
the widow keeps Crusoe’ s 200 pounds safe in England
throughout all his thirty-five years of journeying. She returns it
loyally to Crusoe upon his return to England and, like the
Portuguese captain and Friday, reminds us of the goodwill and
trustworthiness of which humans can be capable, whether
European or not.
 CONCLUSION

Robinson Crusoe follows the adventures of the

imaginary character; Robinson Crusoe through its outer layer. In
deeper level it is much complex yet entertaining. We can see it
as a spiritual autobiography, a moral fable, parable of prodigal
son, relationship between man and nature, everything is there in
this novel. The loose, colloquial style, adventures and the
romances made it popular. Though Defoe shares serious themes
he expresses it in a very excellent way by evoking humour and
pathos together throughout the novel. Even he wrote it for the
public of 18th century but it hasn’t limited the effect of Defoe’
s
originality and popularity. In the matter of characterization,
storytelling, humour, pathos, the illusion of reality and many
other aspects Robinson Crusoe is still one of the best examples
of the time.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Albert, Edward. A Short History of English Literature. Mark
Publishers, 2009.
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Barnes & Noble Classics,
2005.
Evans, Ifor. A Short History of English Literature. Penguin
Books, 1967.
Mair, G. H. Modern English Literature. OUP, 1960.