The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719, is almost a universal title

The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719, is almost a universal title. Its reach extends so far and wide that even those who are not English native speakers and have not read the novel have some knowledge of the titular character and his desolate island ordeal. The figure of the man with the goat skin clothes starring at the beach, heavily armed with guns and with a naked sword at his side make an impression on the imagination of all those who came into contact with it in one form or another. Its reach and status is such that it was widely considered during Victorian times to be the best book one could give a child for its imaginative power and ‘good’ morals, being canonised by many as a timeless masterpiece with no boundaries. Yet, Robinson Crusoe is the product of a very specific time in British history; better yet, it was a product of a particular individual in a very specific historical context. This paper will briefly describe the historical context at the time of the book’s publication. It will then analyse the different aspects of Defoe’s view of religion, politics, and economics in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, and examine how they surface in the novel. Concluding upon the contradictions and enduring nature of this text.