Analyse Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe Within the Matrix of Some of the Features of 18th Century English Literature, Paying Particular Attention to How the Novel’s Thematic Preoccupation Is a Recogniztion as Well as a
Robinson Crusoe is a certified novel by Daniel Defoe, written in 1719. But before going into my analysis of the novel, it is important to remind ourselves some certain things about the 18th century period.
“One thing that is certain despite the controversy that has been generated by the period is that like every succeeding period, the 18th century marks a turning point in the literary development of English Literature. Arguably it was in the 18th century in England that literature ceased to be exclusive preserve of leisured Aristocrats and Cultured gentlemen from Oxford and Cambridge as a result of these factors:
In 1700, England experienced peace for the first time since the reign of Charles1. In fact all through the 18th century, there was no treat to peace in England apart from the Jacobite uprising of 1715 and 1745 which was contained without any difficulty. The atmosphere in England was thus exclusive for expansion overseas and English men soon realized that their fortune and future was to be pursued on the sea.
This political stability in England resulted into an economic prosperity. By the first decade of the 18th century, precisely by 1710, this economic prosperity was visible for all to see in England. The obvious result of this political and economic stability is the rise of birth of a new social class (The Middle class) whose wealth is derived from commercial investment both at home and abroad from English colonies. It is in this regard that Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) has been interpreted by critics as a recognition and defence of the Middle class whose wealth is based on individual achievement rather than hereditary right. It is in this same regard that work has been interpreted as an imaginative demonstration of the colonial and plantation investment. It can be asserted that commerce in terms of trade is one of the key subjects of 18th century literature.”
“The Glorious Revolution of 1688 firmly established a protestant monarchy together
“One thing that is certain despite the controversy that has been generated by the period is that like every succeeding period, the 18th century marks a turning point in the literary development of English Literature. Arguably it was in the 18th century in England that literature ceased to be exclusive preserve of leisured Aristocrats and Cultured gentlemen from Oxford and Cambridge as a result of these factors:
In 1700, England experienced peace for the first time since the reign of Charles1. In fact all through the 18th century, there was no treat to peace in England apart from the Jacobite uprising of 1715 and 1745 which was contained without any difficulty. The atmosphere in England was thus exclusive for expansion overseas and English men soon realized that their fortune and future was to be pursued on the sea.
This political stability in England resulted into an economic prosperity. By the first decade of the 18th century, precisely by 1710, this economic prosperity was visible for all to see in England. The obvious result of this political and economic stability is the rise of birth of a new social class (The Middle class) whose wealth is derived from commercial investment both at home and abroad from English colonies. It is in this regard that Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) has been interpreted by critics as a recognition and defence of the Middle class whose wealth is based on individual achievement rather than hereditary right. It is in this same regard that work has been interpreted as an imaginative demonstration of the colonial and plantation investment. It can be asserted that commerce in terms of trade is one of the key subjects of 18th century literature.”
“The Glorious Revolution of 1688 firmly established a protestant monarchy together