Robinson Crusoe Character Analysis Essay

725 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The comparison of colonialism to Robinson Crusoe

Despite being the titular character, protagonist, and narrator of Daniel Defoe’s novel “Robinson Crusoe”, Robinson Crusoe is both a static and unlikeable character. Even after his incredibly journey through the course of the book, Crusoe shows limited to no signs of personal growth or development. It is difficult to sympathise with Crusoe even after all of the hardships he endured as he is only truly interested in furthering his own agenda. Throughout the novel Crusoe is constantly presented as a racist and self centered man. Crusoe’s negative qualities build up while he is given little to no redeeming qualities.

One of Crusoe 's most prominent personality traits is his self-centered attitude. He actively looks to pursue his own agenda, …show more content…

In what initially seems to be a selfless act, Crusoe kills two black cannibals, who he considers “savages”, who were pursuing Friday. However, Crusoe distorts his kindness by making Friday his property and taking total ownership over him. Crusoe tells him that “ his Name should be Friday, which was the Day I sav 'd his Life; I call 'd him so for the Memory of the Time; I likewise taught him to say Master, and then let him know, that was to be my Name" (Defoe 312). Crusoe dehumanizes and belittles Friday by not giving him a real name, making him call him “master”, and by treating him like …show more content…

Despite being foreign to the island, he considers himself the king and the native “savages” his subjects who “all owed their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion of it, for me" (Defoe 367). He even considers the island “my own mere property, Baso that I had an undoubted right of dominion” (Defoe 367). Crusoe takes command over the island not by merit or democracy, but because he feels he is superior to the natives. He arrogantly believes that each and every one of the natives owes him their life, and fully expects them to treat him as a king.

Crusoe proves throughout the novel that he is an unlikeable character. His self centered attitude, greed, and interactions with Friday and the other natives of the island prove that he is both a bad person and an unpleasant

Show More
Related

  • Creon in Sophocles' Antigone

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout the story of Antigone, particularly the end, Creon proposes the bad-boy in control personality. He acts as the ruler he is and puts his power to work. He fears nothing unless his family is involved. He has no mercy when it comes to the law. Additionally, he is greatly affected by the environment he creates around himself.

    Read More

  • Summary Of You Ll Never Believe What Happened By Thomas King

    1854 Words  | 4 Pages

    The story Sejosenye tells embodies a different worldview in which he is a hero for hunting in aid and defense of his people. Unlike the original Crusoe who is written into a natural racial hierarchy to lead and change the inferior people, Sejosenye’s Crusoe risks his own life to the benefit of all, asking nothing in return. This suggests a worldview that values caring for others as honorable, the stuff of legends. As the story goes on, Friedman begins acting with compassion and helps other villagers, even trying to avoid killing small mice when he can find an alternative. This shows the power of a simple story and how the values portrayed can shape of individuals see and react to the world around them. Had Friedman heard the real story it could just as easily have painted for him a quite different picture of the world. As is, he obtains meat for his grandmother and gets a bike to help her out. One day he takes it into the village to get her more supplies and is decapitated by a speeding

    Read More

  • Green Grass Running Water Analysis

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Crusoe meets Friday, he is joyous for having found someone he could finally make his slave as he had been previously. Although not fully envious of Robinson Crusoe, Friday is found stuck in between two worlds. One, where he thinks of Robinson as his friend and the other where he wonders why he is being treated as a slave, and not for his own personal benefit. Robinson’s views are purely of self-profit as he describes his dreams: “to think that this was all my own, that I was King and Lord of all this Country indefeasibly, and had a Right of Possession” (Defoe 72). This passage explains the belief of Robinson Crusoe in the feudal system and the use of hierarchy to promote bourgeois values upon a population. The character of Robinson Crusoe is then used in Green Grass, Running Water in a satirical manner when Thought Woman explains to Crusoe that Robinson Crusoe himself would not enjoy his own company as he is seen as a white supremacist with no place on native land: “But I don’t want to be Friday, says Robinson Crusoe. No point in being Robinson Crusoe all your life, says Thought Woman. It wouldn’t be much fun” (King 295). Furthermore, this remarks insists that Friday was never a true friend to Crusoe when he also states: “it has been difficult not having someone of color around whom I

    Read More

  • Robinson Crusoe

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the beginning of some life, people make many choices that affect their personal growth and livelihood, choices like what they should wear and/or what they should do. Even the littlest choices that they make could make a big difference in their lives. In the book, Robinson Crusoe retold by Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, while on the island, made many choices, big and small, that affected his personal growth and contributed to why he survived for so long. On the island he made a lot of smart decisions of what to do in order to stay a live. On his second day he made a choice to go back to the ship to explore what was there. He spent a lot of time building his home when he could have done something more important. He also took a risk and helped out a person that he did not know. These were some of many choices that Robinson Crusoe made throughout his many years on the island.

    Read More

  • Servantship in Robinson Crusoe and The Tempest

    1664 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the work by Defoe, Crusoe comes from a middle class family wanting to explore the world. His father wants him to pursue law but Crusoe goes against his father’s wishes and goes out to sea. Crusoe later colonizes an island, where he is destined to meet a man who would become his faithful servant and slave named Friday. When Friday first encounters Crusoe, Crusoe saves him from being eaten by other cannibals: “[…] and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every Ten or Twelve steps in token of acknowledgement for my saving his Life.” (Defoe, 223) Although they have a master-servant relationship, their bond is unique. Friday seems to be very grateful to Crusoe for saving his life and willingly becomes a servant to Crusoe. This will also affect their relationship later in the story. Crusoe stated that Friday “kneeled down to me, seeming to pray me to assist him, […] and he became my servant.” (Defoe, 218) Crusoe’s attitude towards Friday is warm and inviting “I smiled at him and looked pleasantly, a...

    Read More

  • Comparing the Character of Creon in Oedipus and Antigone

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Creon does not learn a lesson from Oedipus' accusatory behavior. Instead he adapts this bad personality trait. Throughout Antigone, he accuses everyone who tries to give him advice of betraying him. Whereas, in Oedipus, he is falsely accused by Oedipus of trying to take over the throne. This paper will compare and contrast his behavior and evaluate if he learned anything from one play to the next.

    Read More

  • Self-interest and Greed in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

    1032 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the very beginning of the novel, Robinson Crusoe has this battle in his head about if he should take his father’s advice to not go on a voyage, or if he should go just because he wants to experience it. Robinson Crusoe being the self-centered, naïve character that he is goes on the journey and regrets it in no time. As the weather begins to worsen Crusoe says, “and in this agony of mind I made many vows and resolutions, that if it would please God here to spare my life this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again while I lived; that I would take his advice, and never run myself into such miseries as these any more” (Defoe, 10). This is the first example where we see a naïve Robinson Crusoe make a selfish decision and immediately regret it. Crusoe’s vows and promises did not last long.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Individualism In Treasure Island

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perceptions of exceptionalism are embedded throughout countless works of literature, encouraging readers to take strides against the institutions holding them back and to develop a stronger sense of individualism. Order and rebellion, and the balance between them, play significant roles in molding exceptional individuals apart from the society that shaped them. The ideal “exceptional individual” is depicted through characters such as Robinson Crusoe in Daniel Defoe’s novel, Robinson Crusoe, and Jim Hawkins of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. These characters dare to disobey others, seek greatness, and challenge the suffocating societies they came from. Both Crusoe and Jim manage to defy societal and class expectations and achieve their

    Read More

  • Religion Vs. Self-interest in Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

    2558 Words  | 6 Pages

    This paper is an attempt to examine the seeming opposition of religion vs. self-interest with respect to the character of Robinson Crusoe. I will venture to demonstrate that in the novel, Defoe illustrates the contradictions with which Crusoe must contend as he strives to please God while ensuring his own survival in the world. In part, I will endeavor to show that a distorted sense of Puritanism as well as the existing colonial mindset exacerbated this opposition, and resulted in what I propose to be Defoe's (possibly retroactive) imposition of a religious justification for Crusoe's actions.

    Read More

  • Spiritual Insights in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    If the book is not holding the reader's attention because of the suspense, then it is held by the profound spiritual insight that Defoe includes within the pages of his work. This was the biggest surprise to me of all. For example, in chapter 12, Robinson Crusoe states: "From this moment I began to conclude in my mind that it is possible for me to be more happy in this forsaken solitary condition, that it was probable I should ever have been in any other particular state in the world, and with this thought I was going to give thanks to God for bringing me to this place." Crusoe was convinced that the reason for all of his calamities was the result of his disobeying the counsel of his father. The theological discussions with Friday are wonderful. Indeed, every Christian can relate to Crusoe's wrestling with faith and fear. I finished the book with the conclusion that this book should be standard reading for every Christian, particularly preachers. Preachers will find a wealth of sermon illustrations in Robinson Crusoe.

    Read More

  • Visions of Utopia in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe

    1901 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Daniel Defoe achieved literary immortality when, in April 1719, he published Robinson Crusoe" (Stockton 2321). It dared to challenge the political, social, and economic status quo of his time. By depicting the utopian environment in which was created in the absence of society, Defoe criticizes the political and economic aspect of England's society, but is also able to show the narrator's relationship with nature in a vivid account of the personal growth and development that took place while stranded in solitude. Crusoe becomes "the universal representative, the person, for whom every reader could substitute himself" (Coleridge 2318). "Thus, Defoe persuades us to see remote islands and the solitude of the human soul. By believing fixedly in the solidity of the plot and its earthiness, he has subdued every other element to his design and has roped a whole universe into harmony" (Woolf 2303).

    Read More

  • Robinson Crusoe And Friday

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    Crusoe resembles a big brother trying to teach a younger sibling how to talk or comprehend what’s going on. He say’s “Made it my business to teach him everything that as proper to make him speak, and understand me when I spake.” Crusoe takes on the role of the big brother, and Friday takes on the role as the younger brother. Younger brothers usually look up to their big brothers and want to be just like them. I believe this is why Crusoe wants to teach Friday. It gives Crusoe the feeling of being greatly admired.

    Read More

  • Faith, Religion and Conflict in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel Robinson Crusoe was written in 1719 by Daniel Defoe in London. It can be separated into three parts that include Crusoe’s life before the shipwreck, the twenty-eight years that he was stranded on an island, and his experiences after being rescued from the island. The first section of the book is basically about how Crusoe didn’t take his father’s advice in not pursuing a life at sea. He goes out to sea anyway and at first has some successes, but by the third time, his luck had run out. Most of the book focuses on his time stranded on an island off the coast of Venezuela. Throughout his time on the island, Crusoe is able to start a life for himself and become stronger in faith. The last section of the book is about his escape from the island when he learns he isn’t the only one there. There are also cannibals living on the island. Luckily, he is able to find another native man named Friday, and rescues him from the cannibals. He teaches the man his skills and converts his religion. After much trial, they are able to leave the island and escape to En...

    Read More

  • Realism In Robinson Crusoe

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...nson Crusoe because they can empathize with the issue Crusoe is facing of trying to find his place in society.

    Read More

  • Dealing With the Consequences of Life in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, Robinson faces the biggest and longest challenge of his life. As Robinson attempts to find his role in life, he travels around the world to experience what he might deem worthy to live for. He takes comfort in material things such as wealth and possessions, which is what gets him in trouble over time. Robinson was told to take the middle path in life, but choosing the high path instead, Robinson was separate from everything considered materialistic in his social life. Robinson Crusoe has to face the consequences of his self-created ordeal and handle any challenges that face him.

    Read More

More about Robinson Crusoe Character Analysis Essay

Open Document