Balti state university a. Russo chair of english philology

ROBINSON CRUSOE 
(1719) 
This book appeared as a feedback to an adventure story published in R. Steele‟s magazine 
The Englishman. It was an article about Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch sailor, who went on sea and 
after a quarrel with the captain of the ship was put ashore on a deserted island. The man had 
lived there during four years and four months quite alone. D. Defoe was greatly touched by this 
brave man and it supplied to him the plot for his novel Robinson Crusoe, which brought fame 
to the writer.
The original title of Robinson Crusoe has an unusual form which is not common for the  
modern reader. It sounded as follows: 
The life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight 
and twenty Years, All alone in an uninhabited Island on the Cost of America, Near the Mouth of 
the Great River of Oroonoque; Having Been Cast on the Sore by Shipwreck, Wherein all the 
Men Perished but Himself, With an Account How He Was at last Strangely Delivered by 
Pirates..  
The novel as a whole is a praise to human labour and the triumph of man over nature, 
which was studied and described by the writers of the age. Labour and fortitude, courage and 
enthusiasm helped Robinson, the main character of the novel, to endure hardships, saving him 
from despair and perishing. 

---

78 
78 
Defoe was a great master of realistic detail. He describes all the adventures of Robinson on 
the island as if he himself experienced them. The contact of Defoe with the reader is felt in the 
clarity of his style. 
Characters 
Robinson 
The charm of the novel lies in Robinson, the central character. At the beginning he is an 
inexperienced youth, a frivolous boy who later changed into a strong willed man, able to 
overcome all the calamities of his unusual destiny. He never gave way to despair, self-pity or 
fear. The author presents him as a real optimist. His guiding principle in life became: “never say 
die “and “in trouble be troubled is to double your trouble”. He was self-confident and very 
ingenious, showing a practical approach to every difficulty he encountered on the island. 
For the first time in English literature the problem of slavery and race discrimination is 
touched upon. As soon as Friday appears, Robinson becomes his master, considering himself 
superior. He does not loose his qualities of a bourgeois though living for twenty years far from 
being a bourgeois. As soon as other people appear on the island he organized a colony and 
introduced class relations. When Robinson needed money he sold Friday without hesitation. He 
did it to the man who at first was his friend, then turned him into a servant. 
Friday
The other central character of the book is Friday. Defoe makes the reader sympathize with 
Friday. He is intelligent, brave, generous, and skilful. Crusoe manages to teaches him English 
and he starts to master it rather quickly. Defoe for the first time depicts a Negro as an able, 
pleasant human being. Usually they were regarded as “ready mercantile commodity” (a 
profitable article for trade). 
Robinson Crusoe is a glorification of practicalness and energy. According to Defoe man 
can live by himself comfortably and make all the things he needs himself without having 
someone to assist him. This is an optimistic novel that inspires the reader the feeling of self-
concern and the assurance in his own forces. It is a study of man, of his abilities to survive in 
extreme situations. The man is shown in relation to nature, to civilization, as well as in relation 
to labour and private property. This was the first noel in English literature which has characters 
which whom the reader could actually identify. 

---

79 
79