The aim of this study is to explore the role of Providence in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) in light of the novelist’s Dissenting education and affiliation with Dissenting academies. More in detail, the relationship between the allegorical interpretation of Robinson Crusoe’s shipwrecks and Adam’s Fall in John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667, 1674) is investigated to observe whether Defoe was influenced by Milton in matter of puritan protestant theology while writing his most famous novel. To begin with, the historical and the cultural scene in which Daniel Defoe was born and educated is provided, focusing on the instruction received at Charles Morton Academy, one of the best Dissenting academies in England in the years of the Restoration (Novak 2001). These kind of academies were meant to afford the children of protestant families, who refused to conform to the rules imposed by the Church of England, a solid education in keeping with modern times. In the course of the years spent at Morton's Academy, the young Defoe had the chance to get in touch with authors whose works were strictly forbidden in traditional academies, and John Milton was among them (Bignami 1984). Thus, Robinson Crusoe and Milton’s Paradise Lost are compared with a view to identifying common themes and stylistic influences that Milton’s poem might have exerted on Defoe’s novel. The comparison is further based on non fictional works written by Milton, such as Christian Doctrine and Areopagitica, together with The Political History of the Devil, a non fictional pamphlet written by Defoe, and published some years after his famous novel in 1726. The analysis combines literary criticism with corpus stylistics methodology for the study of words and language patterns in literary texts (Mahlberg 2015) to support textual interpretation and to try and bring to the fore every theological reference that occurs throughout the plot of Robinson Crusoe.
Lo scopo di questo studio consiste nell' analizzare il ruolo della Provvidenza in Robinson Crusoe alla luce dell'educazione ricevuta da Daniel Defoe nell' accademia dissenziente che lo scrittore ha frequentato in gioventù. Più specificamente, lo studio si concentra sull'interpretazione allegorica del naufragio di Robinson Crusoe e sulla caduta dell'Adamo miltoniano nell'opera Paradise Lost, con l'obiettivo di verificare in che misura Daniel Defoe ha subito l'influenza del poeta John Milton in relazione della presenza di elementi tipici della teologia puritana protestante nel suo celebre romanzo. Si illustra in primo luogo il contesto storico e culturale in cui è nato Daniel Defoe, con particolare attenzione all'educazione ricevuta dallo scrittore nell'accademia dissenziente fondata da Charles Morton, una delle migliori accademie dissenzienti di Inghilterra negli anni della Restaurazione (Novak 2001). Queste nuove accademie erano pensate per fornire un'educazione moderna e completa ai giovani appartenenti a famiglie protestanti che non si riconoscevano nelle regole imposte dalla Chiesa Anglicana. Nel corso dei suoi anni di studio all'accademia di Morton, il giovane Defoe ha la possibilità di conoscere autori le cui opere erano severamente vietate nelle accademie tradizionali, e tra questi c'è anche John Milton. (Bignami 1984) Robinson Crusoe e Paradise Lost vengono quindi analizzati con lo scopo di individuare temi comuni alle due opere e le influenze stilistiche che il poema di Milton può aver esercitato sul romanzo di Defoe. Il confronto è inoltre realizzato sulla base di opere in prosa scritte da Milton, tra cui Christian Doctrina e Areopagitica, insieme a The Political History of the Devil, un pamphlet scritto da Defoe e pubblicato nel 1726, qualche anno dopo rispetto a Robinson Crusoe. Lo studio combina l'approccio della tradizionale critica letteraria con la metodologia introdotta dalla stilistica dei corpora, la quale si basa sullo studio delle parole e dei pattern linguistici all'interno dei testi letterari (Mahlberg 2015) a supporto dell'interpretazione letteraria del testo con l'obiettivo di mettere in evidenza tutti i riferimenti teologici presenti in Robinson Crusoe.
"Providence and the fall of man in Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe": a literary and stylistic analysis "
MALATERRA, CLAUDIA
2015/2016
Abstract
The aim of this study is to explore the role of Providence in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) in light of the novelist’s Dissenting education and affiliation with Dissenting academies. More in detail, the relationship between the allegorical interpretation of Robinson Crusoe’s shipwrecks and Adam’s Fall in John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667, 1674) is investigated to observe whether Defoe was influenced by Milton in matter of puritan protestant theology while writing his most famous novel. To begin with, the historical and the cultural scene in which Daniel Defoe was born and educated is provided, focusing on the instruction received at Charles Morton Academy, one of the best Dissenting academies in England in the years of the Restoration (Novak 2001). These kind of academies were meant to afford the children of protestant families, who refused to conform to the rules imposed by the Church of England, a solid education in keeping with modern times. In the course of the years spent at Morton's Academy, the young Defoe had the chance to get in touch with authors whose works were strictly forbidden in traditional academies, and John Milton was among them (Bignami 1984). Thus, Robinson Crusoe and Milton’s Paradise Lost are compared with a view to identifying common themes and stylistic influences that Milton’s poem might have exerted on Defoe’s novel. The comparison is further based on non fictional works written by Milton, such as Christian Doctrine and Areopagitica, together with The Political History of the Devil, a non fictional pamphlet written by Defoe, and published some years after his famous novel in 1726. The analysis combines literary criticism with corpus stylistics methodology for the study of words and language patterns in literary texts (Mahlberg 2015) to support textual interpretation and to try and bring to the fore every theological reference that occurs throughout the plot of Robinson Crusoe.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/6272