Daniel Defoe

daniel defoe

baioni, midolo, miserocchi, mughetti, santangelo, ventrone

START

his life

Daniel Defoe was born in London in 1660 into a family of Dissenters and he was educated at Newington Green. He became a merchant and an excellent economic theorist.

He wrote from 1704 to 1713 The Review, the main government organ.

He worked for the government as a secret agent.

After this experience he understood the life of outcasts of society and he wrote pamphlets, the most ex. The Shortest way with the dissenters in 1702.

In 1692 Defoe went bankrupt.

his life

HIS LIFE

9. Successful novels

10. Financial troubles

9. Secret agent

8. Renounces Whig ideas

7. Appearances in the pillory

6. Conflict with the Queen

5. Fama and success

- First-person narration - Extremely difficult situations - Physically or socially isolation - Common people - Survive

His novels:

- Defoe is the father of the English novel - He represents the middle class in his works - Fiction and realism - He never planned or revised his works

- A Journal of the Plague Year (fear and death) - Colonel Jack (repentance and redemption) - The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders (poverty, crime and redemption) - The Storm (divine warning and catastrophic natural events) - Robinson Crusoe - The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton (piracy) - Lady Roxana ( no redemption or repentance)

His WORKs:

- novels, essays and pamphlets on topics of political, social and economic interest,

PLOT of Robinson Crusoe:

• When Defoe was writing the novel he was of inspired by the other history of Selkirk, a sailor who managed to survive alone on an island for 5 years.

• The protagonist is Crusoe, he's the son of a strict father who wanted him to become a lawyer but Robinson is passionate about sea life...

• Robinson decide to embark but he will be caught by pirates.

• Later he managed to escape from pirates with Xury, an arabian boy. The two characters find a portuguese captain and the protagonist sells Xury to him.

• With the captain's help Robinson procures a plantation in Brazil. Years later Robinson go on an expedition to take slaves from Africa.

PLOT of Robinson Crusoe:

• Unfortunately the ship his destroyed by a storm and crsoe is the only survivor.

• The protagonist takes many tools from the ship. He builds a fenced-in habitat near a cave which he excavates and later he creates a calendar post to keep track of time.

• He will be able to hunt animals and he also starts reading Bible and becomes more religious.

• Crusoe discovers a group of cannibals who sometimes visit the island to eat prisoners.

• When a prisoner of the cannibals escapes Crusoe decides to help him, naming his new company "Friday".

• Crusoe converts Friday to Christianity.

• After that more cannibals arrive on the island Robinson and friday kill most of them and save two prisoners.

• Later the group discover an english ship, on this ship sailors have organised a munity against their captain and wanted to leave him and still loyal sailor on the Crusoe's island.

• Robinson decides to help the captain and they manage to retake the ship. Rebels sailors decided to stay on the Crusoe's island.

• Robinson manages to return in England and he learns that that thanks to his plantation he has become very rich

PLOT of Robinson Crusoe:

Robinson Crusoe can be conidered a complex character. This because he can be rebel. Due to this the protagonist decided to become a member of a ship without without the permission of his father. Robinson wanted to find his own identity as an alternative. This charachterisation will place Robinson in a situation of separation... The time that the protagonist spent on the island develops the question about man and society.

THE HERO:

• Friday is one of the main characters in the novel
• Robinson Crusoe is an English boy from a good family animated by a great spirit of adventure.
• In Robinson Crusoe, Xury is a young slave under the same ownership as Crousoe.

• Portuguese captain who saves Crusoe from the loss of a boat at sea.

The settings of most of the story is the desert island. It is the ideal place for Robinson to prove his qualities and to demostrade that that He deserved to be saved by God’s Providence. The setting is a primitive empire on the island, and that becoming the prototype of the english coloniser

setting

character

& symbols

Themes &

• Calendar post: Crusoe marks the days on a post on the beach where he first landed, symbolising his connection to time and civilization while providing a sense of sanity and grounding during his isolation on the island.

• Self-reliance: the protagonist relies on his wits, self-reliance, and resourcefulness to escape captivity, build a plantation, and survive on a deserted island using limited materials to create a secure and comfortable home.

• Civilization: Crusoe, guided by European concepts of civilization, imposes his customs on Friday without adopting any native practices, despite recognizing that cannibalism is part of the natives' culture.

& symbols

Themes &

• Tools: Tools symbolize Crusoe's progress and ability to shape his environment on the island, as his discovery of a valuable carpenter's chest and the tools he makes highlight his self-sufficiency and adaptability.
• Boat: Ships and smaller boats symbolize progress, escape from danger, and freedom for Crusoe, allowing him to break free from his family ties, slavery, and his isolation on the island.

• Nature: In Robinson Crusoe, nature plays a pivotal role in shaping the plot, as it both saves and challenges Crusoe by causing his shipwreck, providing resources for survival, and demonstrating the dual potential for bounty and destruction, ultimately leading him to see nature as a manifestation of God's will.
• Progress: On the island, Crusoe advances from mere survival to prosperity by farming, domesticating animals, crafting tools, and forming a small colony, demonstrating a level of progress and mobility uncommon in his time.

& symbols

Themes &

• Guns: Crusoe’s gun symbolises his power and control over the island, representing his ability to survive and dominate his environment while also reflecting his fear of cannibals and his enjoyment of the shock it evokes in others.

• Christianithy: Crusoe relies on and strengthens his faith in God during his time on the island, believing he has a divine purpose for surviving the shipwreck, and he teaches this faith to Friday, which ultimately deepens his own understanding, yet he decides against resettling in Brazil due to his reluctance to live among Catholics.