Name:- Dave
Mayuri P.
M.A. Sem:- 1
Paper no:- 2 The
Neo classical literature.
Roll no:-
15.
Topic name:-
Robinson Crusoe as a Mythmaker.
Submitted by:- Department of English. M.K.B.U.
Robinson
Crusoe as a Mythmaker:-
Introduction:- Robinson Crusoe is novel written by Daniel Defoe, first
published on 25 April 1719.This first edition credited the works fictional
protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author leading many readers to believe he
was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incident. It was published
under the considerably longer original title. The life and strange surprising
adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York years all alone in an un-inhabited island
on the great river of Oroonoque having been cast o shore by shipwreck, where
in all the men perished but himself.
With a account how he was at last as strangely delivered by pirates.
Epistolary, confessional and didactic in form the book is fictional
autobiography of the title Character a who spends years o a remote tropical
island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives and mutineers before
being rescued.
The story widely perceived to have been
influenced by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish cast way who lived for
four years on the Pacific island called in 1966 its name was changed to
Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile. Defoe was inspired by Latin or English
translations of Ibn Tufails Harry ibn yadhan.
Despite its simple Narrative style
Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world and is often credited
as marking the beginning of realist fiction as a literary genre.
Robinson
Crusoe as a Mythmaker:-
The novel protagonist and narrator Crusoe
begins the novel middle as a young middle-class man in York in search of a
career he father recommended the law but Crusoe yearns for a life at sea, and
his Subsequent rebellion and decision to become a merchant is the starting
point for the whole adventures that followers. His vague but recurring feelings
of guilt over his disobedience color the first part of the first half of the
story and show us how deep Crusoe’s religions fear is. Crusoe is steady and
Plodding In everything he does and his perseverance ensure his survival through
Strom, enslavement and a twenty eight year isolation on a desert island.
While he is no flashy hero
grand epic adventure Robinson Crusoe displays character traits that have won
him the approval of generations of readers. His Perseverance in spending months
making a canoe and practicing pottery making until he gets it right is
Praiseworthy. Additionally his resourcefulness in building a home, dairy, grape
arbor country house and goat stable for practically nothing is clearly
remarkable.
The Swiss Philosopher
Jean –Jacques Rousseau applauded Crusoe’s do-it yourself independence and In
his book on education Emilee he recommends that children be thought to imitate
Crusoe’s hands on approach to life. Crusoe’s business instincts are just as
considerable as his Survival instruct he manages to make a fortune in Brazil
despotic a twenty eight years absence and even leaves his island with nice
Collection of gold. Morever Crusoe is never interested in Portraying himself as
a hero in his own narration. He does not boast of his courage in quelling the
maternity and he is always ready to admit un heroic feeling of fear or panic as
when he finds the foot print on the beach Crusoe Prefers to depict himself as
an ordinary sensible man never as an exceptional hero.
But Crusoe’s admirable qualities
must be weighed against the flaw in his character Crusoe seems incapable of
deep feelings as shown by his cold account of leaving his family he worries
about the religious consequences of disobeying his father but never displayed
any emotion about leaving. Though he is generous toward people as when he gives
gifts to his sisters and Captain Crusoe revels very little tender or sincere
affection in his dealing with them. when Crusoe tell us that he was gotten
married and that his wife has died all within the Same sentences his
indifference to her seems almost Cruel.
Moreover as an individuality Crusoe is
rather dull. His Precise and deadpan style of narration works well for
recounting the Process of Canoe building but it tends to drain the excitement
from events that should be thrilling. Action packed Scenes like the conquest of
the cannibals become quite humdrum when Crusoe narrates them giving us a
detailed inventory of the cannibals in list from for example.
His instance on dating events makes
Sense to a Point but it ultimately ends up seeming obsessive and irreverent
when he tells us the date on which he grinds his tools but neglects to tell us
the date of a very important event like meeting Friday. Perhaps his impulse to
record facts carefully is not a survival skill, but an irritating sign of his
neurosis.
Finally while not boasting of
heroism Crusoe in nonetheless very interested in Possession power and prestige.
When he first call himself king of the Island It seems jocund but when he
describes the Sapphire as his subject we must take his really does consider
himself king.
His teaching Friday to call him
‘master’ even before teaching him the words for yes or no seems, obnoxious even
under the racist standard of the day as if Crusoe needs to hear ego-boosting
words spoken as soon as Possible.
Overall, Crusoe’s virtues tend to be
Private his industry, resourcefulness and solitary courage makes him an
exemplary individual. But his vices are Social and his urge to subjugate other
is highly objectionable. In bringing both sides together into one complex
character Defoe gives us fascinating glimpse into the successful, failures, and
contradictions of modern man.
The
necessity of repentance:-
Crusoe’s experiences constitution not
simply an adventure story in which thrilling happen but also a moral tale
illustrating the right and wrong ways to live one’s life. This moral tale
illustrating the right and wrong ways and religions dimension of the tale is
indicated in the Crusoe’s story is being Publish to instruct other in gods
wisdom and one vital part of this wisdom is for gods miracles as Crusoe is when
his grain Sprouts it is not enough simply to express gratitude or even to pray
to god as Crusoe needs repentance most as he learns from the fiery angelic
figure that comes to him during a furnish hallucination and says:
“Seeing all these things
Have not brought thee to
Repentance,
now thou
Shall die.”
Crusoe believes that his major sin in his
rebellious behavior towards his father which he refers to as his Adam and Eve
first disobedience of god. This biblical reference also suggests that Crusoe
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 views of the necessity of repentance ands up
justifying sin: Crusoe may never have learned to repent if he had never
sinfully disobeyed his father in the first place. Is In the novel, it is
nevertheless complex and ambiguous.
The cross:-
Concerned that he well
“lose reckoning of time” in chapter, Crusoe makes the passing of days “with
knife upon a large post in capital letters and making it into a great cross…..
set it up on the Shore where he first landed…”the large size and capital
letters show us how important this cross is to Crusoe as a timekeeping device
and thus also a way of relating himself to the larger social world where dates
and calendar still matter but the cross is also a symbol of his own new life in
Christ after baptism an immersion in water like Crusoe’s shipwreck experience.
Yet Crusoe’s large cross seems somewhat blasphemous in making no reference to
Christ. Island it is a memorial to Crusoe himself, underscoring how completely
he has become the center of his own life. 