Discuss with detailed reference to two works, the discrepancy which there appears to

be between Defoes declared serious moral purpose and the content of the works
themselves.
Although most of Defoes works are supposed to be true life accounts narrated by
the characters themselves these characters seem to have been used as a disguise of
Defoe himself in his effort to convey his moral beliefs indirectly. What is interesting
is that there appears to be an internal conflict in the texts which derive from his
puritan background, on the one hand, and his belief in the importance of the trade and
economy on the other. Because of the former it could be said that the events in the
novels, which occur in a horiontal socio!temporal background, are subordinated into
a vertical temporality characterised by a timeless religious morality. "he latter,
however, makes him stray from his original intention towards a mixed doctrine that
tries to compromise religion with newly emerging socio!economic factors such as
trade which leads society towards economic individualisation. Apart from the above
considerations, this essay will attempt to consider whether it is possible for authors to
control the meaning of their work and whether the narrative method adopted by Defoe
can be conducive towards a serious moral purpose.
As for Defoes intended moral purpose this can be traced in his #reface to Moll
Flanders where he claims that it is $chiefly recommended to those who know how to
read it, and how to make good use of it. %ore importantly he goes on to say that $it is
to be hoped that such readers will be more pleased with the %oral than the &able '
and with the (nd of the Writer than with the life of the #erson written of. &inally, he
hopes that from every part of the book $something may be learned and some )ust and
religious inference is drawn. &rom all this it can be deduced that Defoes intended
purpose is to guide the reader towards a specific religious reading.
"his religious element is evident in his most of his works. *n Robinson Crusoe, for
example, the narrator, who sees things in retrospection, sees himself as a kind of a
$#rodigal +on whose first going on board a ship is seen as $a breach of ,his- duty to
.od and ,his- father. "here are also often!repeated references to #rovidence and fate
where the narrator thinks that everything that has happened to him was predetermined
so that he could find his true self through repentance. &or example, after having
survived the wreck in his first attempt to go to sea he does not heed the captains
advice not to pursue this profession because he will suffer. What is more, most of the
things that happen are attributed to divine intervention. "he sudden appearance of
corn, for example, makes him believe that $.od had miraculously caused this grain to
grow and from that moment he starts searching for other signs of this divine
providence.
What is more important, perhaps, is that even psycho!somatic phenomena like his
dream of the man coming down in flames and accusing him of not having repented
yet are seen in a strictly religious light. *t comes as no surprise then the fact that after
this dream /rusoe says his first prayer, he starts reading the Bible adopting the habit
of opening it at random and catching the first phrase that he sees using it as words of
advice directly spoken to him by .od. 0e also comes to believe that deliverance has
to do with conscience rather than physical limitations and that he can be happier in the
$prison of the island than in the freedom of the familiar world. Despite all this, the
fact that he returns to the familiar world is strongly suggested to have been effected
through his sincere repentance.
1otwithstanding the moral intentions of the text, there are certain elements in the
content which contradict it. &irst of all the breach of his duty to his father, which he
mentions as the cause of his misfortunes, should be considered in respect to the
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$doctrine of the middle state of life. +ince the narration is done in retrospection and
the fact that the narrator himself considers his misfortunes as a means for achieving
repentance f or not heeding his fathers in)unctions it should be expected that he has
eventually reconsidered his whole life. /onse2uently, the narrative should normally
focus on his 2uiet, middle!of!state life. 0owever, /rusoe disposes of his family life in
a paragraph where we are informed that he married, he had three children and
following his wifes death he concludes the paragraph with his decision to go to sea
again. What this seems to suggest is that he has not truly repented for his misfortunes,
which should remind us that his so called repentance was achieved when he was
seriously ill and he was afraid of dying, making the issue of his change rather
ambiguous.
/onsidering the above it should come as no surprise that what probably /rusoe is
most remembered for is not for dubious repentance but for the adventures he had and
his resourcefulness which enabled him to survive. We remember things like his
attempts to make a boat out of a single tree, his realising how difficult it is and what
work is involved in the making of bread and household things like pieces of furniture
and his failure to make a cask. (vents like his witnessing of cannibalism and his
eventual escape leave a lasting impression on the readers mind. &inally, what perhaps
has the stronger effect on the reader is the fact that out of all his misfortunes he
manages to ac2uire financial success which makes him a respectable member of
society. "he irony behind this is that he has managed to climb higher in the social
ladder than his fathers middle state of life, which makes the contradiction between
Defoes intention and the actual treatment and content of the novel even more
ambivalent.
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%ore or less the same tension between Defoes purpose seems to apply to Moll
Flanders as well. Apart from the things mentioned above concerning Defoes #reface
he also stresses the fact that $the original of this +tory is put into new words and that
all $possible /are ' has been taken to give no lewd *deas strongly suggests that %oll
is a disguise for Defoe, which enables him to pursue his own interpretation of the
story. /onse2uently, it should come as no surprise that the text is permeated with
religious, moralistic comments and events are interpreted in such a light. "here is, for
example, %olls attempt to attribute everything that befalls her to her being tempted
by the devil. While she is courted by the elder brother of the family she lives with she
uses the .arden!of 3(den imagery where the $apple is transformed into a note.
%oreover, when she has married the younger brother, 4obin, although she does not
love him, she believes that she committed adultery and incest in her mind every day.
0er first theft is also described in such a way as if the devil himself has prompted her
to do it. &inally, there is the issue of her true repentance, which is supposed to be the
culminating point of the novel. After that her fortune changes completely enabling her
to live a respectable life and find happiness with her fourth thief!husband, who has
truly repented as well. &rom all this, Defoe seems to suggest that people, at some
point of a ma)or crisis in their lives, should seriously reconsider their past action and
truly repent according to the precepts of /hristian ideology.
0owever, Defoes treatment of the issue of repentance is rather dubious. &irst of
all, %olls repentance, which is miraculously followed by the reprieve, comes
immediately after the sudden repentance of the .overness and more importantly at a
time when she knows that she is about to be executed. "his, of course, makes it
somewhat ambivalent because %oll repents when she has come to believe that there
are no other alternatives for her. "he horror of death leaves her no other choice.
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Another important issue is that her future happiness consists of material wealth as
well 3 )ust like in the case of 4obinson /rusoe. *t is no coincidence that her husband
truly repents when he learns from %oll that they are going to be comfortably off.
What Defoe seems to suggest is that true repentance can provide happiness not only in
the afterlife but in this world as well, which consists of financial affluence. *n other
words, Defoe seems to consider poverty and happiness incompatible, which, of
course, is not very compatible with the essence of the /hristian doctrine which
preaches humbleness. "his could be accounted to the fact that Defoe strongly believed
in the significance of economy in a social and an individual level.
Another discrepancy has to do with the fact that %oll, )ust like /rusoe, is mostly
remembered for her eventful life and especially her career as a thief, which brings us
to the issue of Defoes narrative method.
Defoes narrative method is focused in the representation of extraordinary events
snatched at random from the temporal process of the characters lives. *t is no
coincidence that phrases like $it happened that, $suddenly are very common in both
novels because this kind of narration develops mainly adventure time. Defoes
intention could be better accomplished through representations of intense internal
conflict. *n both novels, however, the main esoteric struggles revolve around
repentance presented in religious terms. 5ther kinds of conflict are either very scarce
or hardly existent. &or example, when /rusoe mentions that he underwent an intense
internal conflict after his fathers in)unctions not to go to sea and ruin his life, he does
not feel any need whatsoever to narrate it. As far as %oll is concerned, her internal
struggles have mainly to with her doubts of marrying 4obin and the revelation of
incest to her mother and her brother6husband, which are not treated fully and, anyway,
they are lost in the thread of the eventful episodes.
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*n conclusion, it could be said that the incongruity between Defoes moral
intentions and the content of his novels seems to derive from his own ambiguity
concerning his beliefs. 5n the one hand, he appears to suggest that humanity has lost
its way, which can be corrected through sincere repentance. *n other words, the
change that humanity has to undergo is to reac2uire a lost ideal, which is based on the
/hristian ideology. 5n the other hand, however, he has to admit that worldly matters
like material wealth are essential. As a result the image of humanity that Defoe
presents is rather ambivalent. (ven if both /rusoe and %olls status changes rapidly,
they themselves seem to have remained unchanged.
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