The portrayal of religious conviction in the novel
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Critics argue about Robinson Crusoe’s faith based convictions, nevertheless they generally go along that Crusoe’s faith begins when he appreciates that his sins can be a major source of his island captivity. Over and above that, opinions diverge. Karl Marx writes that Crusoe’s beliefs include “pleasure” and “recreation” and reflect not any genuine piety. This dissertation argues that Crusoe’s religious conviction is usually sincere, because evidenced simply by his Biblical references, difference in attitude, and mission to convert Fri.
Just before his acknowledgement of Christianity, Crusoe seems wretched and ashamed: “I left those to mourn more than my Folly, and now I actually am still left to mourn under the effects of it, We refus’d their particular help and Assistance would you have lifted me in to the World, and wou’d have made every Thing easy for me” (p. 67). His most eager hope is good for deliverance from the island, certainly not coincidentally, major Bible pathways he states is Psalms 50: 12-15: “‘Call in me in the Day of Trouble, and i also will deliver, and thou shalt glorify me'” (p. 69). Crusoe then becomes very sick and tired and believes his inability to glorify God is definitely the cause of the sickness: “Now I look’d back upon my past life with such horrour, and my personal sins appear’d so terrible, that my own Soul searched for nothing of God, nevertheless Deliverance from your Load of Guilt that bore straight down all my comfort” (p. 71).
The illness catalyzes Crusoe’s religious conversion. He knows that through faith in God his solitude can become more bearable. Indeed, he comes to view the island less a prison but since a empire God desires him to rule: “There was my Majesty the Prince and Lord of the whole isle, I had the lives coming from all my subject matter at my complete command” (p. 108). Crusoe willingly welcomes the part and commits himself to serving The almighty: “[God] surely could deliver me, that in the event he did not think fit to do it, ’twas my unquestion’d duty to resign myself absolutely and entirely to his Will: and the other hand, it was my own Duty also to hope in him, pray to him, and quietly to go to the Requires and Directions of his daily Providence” (p. 114).
Crusoe comes to depend on God pertaining to comfort. For example , he becomes afraid when he sees the footprint and realizes he is not alone. He opens his Bible to Psalms twenty seven: 14: “Wait on the God, and be of good Cheer, and he shall strengthen thy Heart, hang on, I say, for the Lord” (Defoe 114). As a result of his trust in his faith, Crusoe will be able to find a lighter outlook in the situation also to retain his sanity.
We see just how significant Crusoe’s conversion has been when we notice his determination to convert Friday, portrayed as a savage, to Christianity as well. Crusoe “¦seriously interceded to Our god that he’d enable me to instruct savingly this poor Savage, aiding by his Spirit the Heart from the poor ignorant Creature, to receive the Light of the Knowledge of God in Christ, reconciling him to him self, and could guide me to speak to him in the Word of God, while his Conscience might be convinc’d, his Eye open’d, and his Soul sav’d” (p. 158-159). His prefer to convert Friday shows that Crusoe has become a devoted Christian who believes this noble to assist others discover God as well.
Crusoe’s faith will not dissolve when he is rescued. As he leaves the island, Crusoe states: “I forgot not to lift up my cardiovascular in Thankfulness to Bliss, and what Heart may forbear to bless him, who had with a miraculous manner provided for one in this kind of a Wilderness, and in this kind of a desolate condition, but from who ever Deliverance must always be acknowledged to proceed” (p. 197). An individual with only superficial religious conviction, or one designed only to manage a difficult situation (i. e. isle captivity), will not have troubled with happy prayers afterward.
In the novel’s bottom line, Crusoe runs on the Biblical meaning to suggest that he feels the struggles he experienced would allow him to lead an improved life than previously (p. 205). He has become a more simple person who acknowledges the value of assisting others (i. e. Thursday and the sea captain) and placing a person’s faith in a higher electricity. His experience of religion can be sincere, not a “mockery” nor for “pleasure” as Marx would have this. Defoe’s novel is a testament to the redemption power of religious conviction.
Works Mentioned:
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Ed. Michael Shinagel. Ny: W. T. Norton Organization, 1994.
