ROBINSON CRUSOE : A RECONSIDERATION

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  • 「ロビンソン・クルーソー」再考
  • ロビンソン クルーソー サイコウ

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Abstract

The full title of Robinson Crusoe runs as follows : The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner : who lived eight and twenty years, all alone in an uninhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the great river of Oroonoque;... Are there no contradictions between "all alone in an uninhabited island" and "the great river of Oroonoque"? The valley of "the great river of Oroonoque" is closely related to El Dorado where Sir Walter Ralegh led his five ships to explore gold, and also to the colony of Guiana where the 17th-century English merchants sold the surplus wool of England. Thus the main scene of Robinson Crusoe was set in the area of the activities of the 16th-century colonists and the 17th-century mercantilists. Robinson Crusoe, the hero of this novel, however, is not a colonist nor a mercantilist. His stay in the island lasts about twenty-eight years, but he never deals with gold nor wool; Crusoe is, in general, not aggressive, but defensive. He endures solitude, and manages to preserve his life; he is not a 16th-century colonist, nor a 17th-century mercantilist. Why is there such a contradiction between the setting and the character in Robinson Crusoe? This is one of the most important points to be solved in order to arrive at the true meaning of Robinson Crusoe. Encountering the death of Queen Anne and the succession of George I in 1714, Defoe realized that his days were over. He was clever enough to see that the political and moral climate had changed. It was inevitable for Defor to make public that he was not a die-hard, collective colonist, but that he was ready to adjust himself to the new regime. It is, however, quite natural that he could not discard all the older elements at a stroke; and some of the older elements remained in the setting of the novel. Hence in Robinson Crusoe the older elements and the newer elements exist side by side. Thus Robinson Crusoe is not a myth, nor an allegory, but is Daniel Defoe's manifesto of his new decision to adjust himself to the new regime after 1714.

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