Referat Defoe
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Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731), English novelist and journalist, whose work
reflects his diverse experiences in many countries and in many walks of
life. Besides being a brilliant journalist, novelist, and social
thinker, Defoe was a prolific author, producing more than 500 books,
pamphlets, and tracts.
Defoe was born in London about 1660, the son of a candle merchant named
Foe. Daniel added “De†to his name about 1700. He was educated for
the Presbyterian ministry but decided in 1685 to go into business. He
became a hosiery merchant, and his business gave him frequent
opportunities to travel throughout western Europe.
An opponent of the Roman Catholic King James II, in 1685 Defoe took an
active part in the unsuccessful rebellion led by the Duke of Monmouth
against the king. In 1692 his business went into bankruptcy, but
subsequently he acquired control of a tile and brick factory. He
obtained a government post in 1695 and the same year wrote An Essay upon
Projects, a remarkably keen analysis of matters of public concern, such
as the education of women. Especially noteworthy among his writings
during the next several years was the satiric poem The True-born
Englishman (1701), an attack on beliefs in racial or national
superiority, which was directed particularly toward those English people
who resented the new king, William III, because he was Dutch.
The following year Defoe anonymously published a tract entitled The
Shortest Way with the Dissenters, which satirized religious intolerance
by pretending to share the prejudices of the Anglican church against
Nonconformists. In 1703, when it was found that Defoe had written the
tract, he was arrested and given an indeterminate term in jail. Robert
Harley, the speaker of the House of Commons, secured his release in
November 1703, probably on the condition that he agree to become a
secret agent and public propagandist for the government.
During his imprisonment Defoe s business had been ruined, so he turned
to journalism for his livelihood. From 1704 to 1713 he issued a
triweekly news journal entitled The Review, for which he did most of the
writing. Its opinions and interpretations were often independent, but
generally, The Review leaned toward the government in power. Defoe wrote
strongly in favor of union with Scotland, and his duties as secret agent
may have entailed other activities on behalf of union, which was
achieved in 1707. In 1709 he wrote a History of the Union.
Defoe s first and most famous novel, The Life and Strange Surprizing
Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner, appeared in 1719, when
he was almost 60 years old. The book is commonly known as Robinson
Crusoe. A fictional tale of a shipwrecked sailor, it was based on the
adventures of a seaman, Alexander Selkirk, who had been marooned on one
of the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile. The novel, full
of detail about Crusoe s ingenious attempts to overcome the hardships of
the island, has become one of the classics of children s literature.
More novels followed, including Memoirs of a Cavalier (1720), Captain
Singleton (1720), and The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders
(1722), the adventures of a London prostitute, which is regarded as one
of the great English novels. Among his other important writings are A
Journal of the Plague Year (1722), Colonel Jack (1722), Roxana (1724), A
Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-1727), A General
History of the Pirates (1724-1728), and The Complete English Tradesman
(1725-1727).
From Robinson Crusoe
By Daniel Defoe
It happen d one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceedingly
surpriz d with the Print of a Man s naked Foot on the Shore, which was
very plain to be seen in the Sand: I stood like one Thunderstruck, or as
if I had seen an Apparition; I listen d, I look d round me, I could hear
nothing, nor see any Thing; I went up to a rising Ground to look
farther; I went up the Shore and down the Shore, but it was all one, I
could see no other Impression but that one, I went to it again to see if
there were any more, and to observe if it might not be my Fancy; but
there was no Room for that, for there was exactly the very Print of a
Foot, Toes, Heel, and every Part of a Foot; how it came thither, I knew
not, nor could in the least imagine. But after innumerable fluttering
Thoughts, like a Man perfectly confus d and out of my self, I came Home
to my Fortification, not feeling, as we say, the Ground I went on, but
terrify d to the last Degree, looking behind me at every two or three
Steps, mistaking every Bush and Tree, and fancying every Stump at a
Distance to be a Man; nor is it possible to describe how many various
Shapes affrighted Imagination represented Things to me in, how many wild
Ideas were found every Moment in my Fancy, and what strange
unaccountable Whimsies came into my Thoughts by the Way.
When I came to my Castle, for so I think I call d it ever after this, I
fled into it like one pursued; whether I went over by the Ladder as
first contriv d, or went in at the Hole in the Rock, which I call d a
Door, I cannot remember; no, nor could I remember the next Morning, for
never frighted Hare fled to Cover, or Fox to Earth, with more Terror of
Mind than I to this Retreat.
I slept none that Night; the farther I was from the Occasion of my
Fright, the greater my Apprehensions were, which is something contrary
to the Nature of such Things, and especially to the usual Practice of
all Creatures in Fear: But I was so embarrass d with my own frightful
Ideas of the Thing, that I form d nothing but dismal Imaginations to my
self, even tho I was now a great way off of it. Sometimes I fancy d it
must be the Devil; and Reason joyn d in with me upon this Supposition:
For how should any other Thing in human Shape come into the Place? Where
was the Vessel that brought them? What Marks was there of any other
Footsteps! And how was it possible a Man should come there? But then to
think that Satan should take human Shape upon him in such a Place where
there could be no manner of Occasion for it, but to leave the Print of
his Foot behind him, and that even for no Purpose too, for he could not
be sure I should see it; this was an Amusement the other Way; I
consider d that the Devil might have found out abundance of other Ways
to have terrify d me than this of the single Print of a Foot. That as I
liv d quite on the other Side of the Island, he would never have been so
simple to leave a Mark in a Place where twas Ten Thousand to one
whether I should ever see it or not, and in the Sand too, which the
first Surge of the Sea upon a high Wind would have defac d entirely: All
this seem d inconsistent with the Thing it self, and with all the
Notions we usually entertain of the Subtilty of the Devil.
Abundance of such Things as these assisted to argue me out of all
Apprehensions of its being the Devil: And I presently concluded then,
that it must be some more dangerous Creature. (viz.) That it must be
some of the Savages of the main Land over-against me, who had wander d
out to Sea in their Canoes; and either driven by the Currents, or by
contrary Winds had made the Island; and had been on Shore, but were gone
away again to Sea, being as loth, perhaps, to have stay d in this
desolate Island, as I would have been to have had them.
While these Reflections were rowling upon my Mind, I was very thankful
in my Thoughts, that I was so happy as not to be thereabouts at that
Time, or that they did not see my Boat, by which they would have
concluded that some Inhabitants had been in the Place, and perhaps have
search d farther for me: Then terrible Thoughts rack d my Imagination
about their having found my Boat, and that there were People here; and
that if so, I should certainly have them come again in greater Numbers,
and devour me: that if it should happen so that they should not find me,
yet they would find my Enclosure, destroy all my Corn, carry away all my
Flock of tame Goats, and I should perish at last for meer Want.
Thus my Fear banish d all my religious Hope; all that former Confidence
in God which was founded upon such wonderful Experience as I had had of
his Goodness, now vanished, as if he that had fed me by Miracle
hitherto, could not preserve by his Power the Provision which he had
made for me by his Goodness: I reproach d my self with my Easiness, that
would not sow any more Corn one Year than would just serve me till the
next Season as if no Accident could intervene to prevent my enjoying the
Crop that was upon the Ground; and this I thought so just a Reproof,
that I resolv d for the future to have two or three Years Corn
beforehand, so that whatever might come, I might not perish for want of
Bread.
How strange a Chequer-Work of Providence is the Life of Man! and by what
secret differing Springs are the Affections hurry d about as differing
Circumstances present! To Day we love what to Morrow we hate; to Day we
seek what to Morrow we shun; to Day we desire what to Morrow we fear;
nay even tremble at the Apprehensions of; this was exemplify d in me at
this Time in the most lively Manner imaginable; for I whose only
Affliction was, that I seem d banished from human Society, that I was
alone, circumscrib d by the boundless Ocean, cut off from Mankind, and
condemn d to what I call d silent Life; that I was as one who Heaven
thought not worthy to be number d among the Living, or to appear among
the rest of his Creatures; that to have seen one of my own Species,
would have seem d to me a Raising me from Death to Life, and the
greatest Blessing that Heaven it self, next to the supreme Blessing of
Salvation, could bestow; I say, that I should now tremble at the very
Apprehensions of seeing a Man, and was ready to sink into the Ground at
but the Shadow or silent Appearance of a Man s having set his Foot in
the Island.
Such is the uneven State of human Life: And it afforded me a great many
curious Speculations afterwards, when I had a little recover d my first
Surprize; I consider d that this was the Station of Life the infinitely
wise and good Providence of God had determin d for me, that as I could
not foresee what the Ends of Divine Wisdom might be in all this, so I
was not to dispute his Sovereignty, who, as I was his Creature, had an
undoubted Right by Creation to govern and dispose of me absolutely as he
thought fit; and who, as I was a Creature who had offended him, had
likewise a judicial Right to condemn me to what Punishment he thought
fit: and that it was my Part to submit to bear his Indignation, because
I had sinn d against him.
I then reflected that God, who was not only Righteous but Omnipotent, as
he had thought fit thus to punish and afflict me, so he was able to
deliver me; that if he did not think fit to do it, twas my unquestion d
Duty to resign my self absolutely and entirely to his Will: and on the
other Hand, it was my Duty also to hope in him, pray to him, and quitely
to attend the Dictates and Directions of his daily Providence.
These Thoughts took me up many Hours, Days; nay, I may say, Weeks and
Months; and one particular Effect of my Cogitations on this Occasion, I
cannot omit, viz. One Morning early, lying in my Bed, and fill d with
Thought about my Danger from the Appearance of Savages, I found it
discompos d me very much, upon which those Words of the Scripture came
into my Thoughts, Call upon me in the Day of Trouble, and I will
deliver, and thou shalt glorify me
Upon this, rising chearfully out of my Bed, my Heart was not only
comforted, but I was guided and encourag d to pray earnestly to God for
Deliverance: When I had done praying, I took up my Bible, and opening it
to read, the first Words that presented to me, were Wait on the Lord,
and be of good Cheer, and he shall strengthen thy Heart; wait, I say, on
the Lord: It is impossible to express the Comfort this gave me. In
Answer, I thankfully laid down the Book, and was no more sad, at least,
not on that Occasion.
In the middle of these Cogitations, Apprehensions and Reflections, it
came into my Thought one Day, that all this might be a meer Chimera of
my own; and that this Foot might be the Print of my own Foot, when I
came on Shore from my Boat: This chear d me up a little too, and I began
to perswade my self it was all a Delusion; that it was nothing else but
my own Foot, and why might not I come that way from the Boat, as well as
I was going that way to the Boat; again, I consider d also that I could
by no Means tell for certain where I had trod, and where I had not; and
that if at last this was only the Print of my own Foot, I had play d the
Part of those Fools, who strive to make stories of Spectres, and
Apparitions; and then are frighted at them more than any body.
Now I began to take Courage, and to peep abroad again; for I had not
stirr d out of my Castle for three Days and Nights; so that I began to
starve for Provision; for I had little or nothing within Doors, but some
Barley Cakes and Water. Then I knew that my Goats wanted to be milk d
too, which usually was my Evening Diversion; and the poor Creatures were
in great Pain and Inconvenience for want of it; and indeed, it almost
spoil d some of them, and almost dry d up their Milk.
Heartning my self therefore with the Belief that this was nothing but
the Print of one of my own Feet, and so I might be truly said to start
at my own Shadow, I began to go abroad again, and went to my Country
House, to milk my Flock; but to see with what Fear I went forward, how
often I look d behind me, how I was ready every now and then to lay down
my Basket, and run for my Life, it would have made any one have thought
I was haunted with an evil Conscience, or that I had been lately most
terribly frighted, and so indeed I had.
However, as I went down thus two or three Days, and having seen nothing,
I began to be a little bolder; and to think there was really nothing in
it, but my own Imagination: But I cou d not perswade my self fully of
this, till I should go down to the Shore again, and see this Print of a
Foot, and measure it by my own, and see if there was any Similitude or
Fitness, that I might be assur d it was my own Foot: But when I came to
the Place, First, It appear d evidently to me, that when I laid up my
Boat, I could not possibly be on Shore any where there about. Secondly,
When I came to measure the Mark with my own Foot, I found my Foot not so
large by a great deal; both these Things fill d my Head with new
Imaginations, and gave me the Vapours again, to the highest Degree; so
that I shook with cold, like one in an Ague: And I went Home again,
fill d with the Belief that some Man or Men had been on Shore there; or
in short, that the Island was inhabited, and I might be surpriz d before
I was aware; and what course to take for my Security I knew not.
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