Robinson Crusoe is a novel which is written by Daniel Defoe. In this novel, the protagonist is Robinson Crusoe. He is a rebellious, disobedient and thrill-seeker young man. He lives with his parents, However, he has a profound desire for sailing. He tells his father about his desire/ or passion. His parents, especially his father, stand out against Robinson’s desire and warn his beloved son.
Robinson was so overwhelmed with his passion that, no matter what his father says, he disobeyed his father and then sailed. This was the beginning of a long and spiritual journey for Robinson Crusoe. We can not separate faith and the novel from each other. This novel is full of lots of religious messages about faith, religion, Christianism and finding faith. Also, we should take Daniel Defoe’s life into consideration in order to understand and analyse this masterpiece. Daniel Defoe was a deeply religious presbyterian in denomination who treasured John Bunyan’s famous work of art: Pilgrim’s Progress.
It is possible to say that Daniel Defoe was impressed a lot by John Bunyan’s idea of writing an allegorical novel. We can easily realise this fact since the novel has many religious symbolisms, biblical allusions and moral messages that affected by Christianity. In the novel, Robinson Crusoe’s religious opinions change radically throughout his journey. At the beginning of the novel he had nothing to feel for God and religion. After the accident, he blamed God and then he realised that God protected him and finally he got religion. As I mentioned before, at the beginning of the novel, Robinson Crusoe was not a believing man. He had nothing to do with religion and religious life.
Robinson had everything in his life in England. He had a loving family, safety and peace. However, all these blessings were not enough for him. His goal was to reach high benefits and profit through sailing and trading. He had further dreams and sailing was the most important dream and obsession of him. Even though his father did not give his blessings, he made his choice and sailed.
In this respect, we can say that Robinson Crusoe resembles Adam. Just like Adam in Bible, Robinson Crusoe disobeyed his father and his warnings, too. As a result of Robinson’s disobedience, he experienced terrible things. For this reason, it is possible to say that Robinson’s father acts as a figure of God.
When Robinson rebelled his father, he also rebelled against God. After the shipwreck, he was angry and upset as he tought that God did forsake him with this unfortunate accident and the accident’s results. He tought that God punished him just because he was not a believer. During his life on the isolated island, he reflected on God and religion.
Then, he began to realise that this accident was not a punishment for him. Rather than a punishment, it was God’s will. God had pity on him. God wanted him to not only be a good believer, but also find his way to providence. Therefore, he experienced these tribulations. Moreover, when he tought about why he was the only survived one, he got the feeling that he had been kept alive even though he did not deserve to be.
Also, he had lots of things to be alive and healthy. That was a factor that makes him more closer to God and religion, as well. Another factor which makes Robinson Crusoe more religious is his illness. At the beginning of the chapter which focuses mainly on his life on the island, he has a fever dream or hallucination. When he hallucinates, he sees an hallucination of a wrathful angel figure. This hallucination and angel figure affect him highly. This wrathful angel figure says him that he is not regretful his sins and attempts to kill him.
This wrathful angel figure and hallucination is a major event for his spiritual and religious life. By the same token, The Bible has a big impact on his spiritual journey. While he is searching for food and any workable equipment in the ruined ship, he finds The Bible. He begins to read The Bible like never before. He comes to experience thankfulness for his living conditions. In this way, Robinson Crusoe perceives God’s mercy and icreasingly experiences a serious religious and spiritual conversion.
To sum up, there are several factors and moments which makes Robinson Crusoe closer to God and religion. Throughout his life, he experiences different events such as disobeying his father, sailing, the shipwreck, being lonely and the only one on an island, and after all these experiences, finding his way to faith and religion. If we examine the novel throughly, we can see that Robinson Crusoe undergoes a radical change in terms of spirit and religion. First, we see a careless Robinson. He was careless of religion and God.
On the other hand, when we continue to read, we see that Robinson changes gradually. He becomes a faithful man as a result of his life on the island. Thanks to Robinson Crusoe, it is possible to say that people may change when they experience inexpressible events.