Religion in Robinson Crusoe free essay sample

After sailing around for a while, he makes a bit of money in trade, but then is caught and made into a slave off the coast of Africa, and then he escaped with a friend. On a voyage he gets shipwrecked and he left alone on a deserted island. Crusoe finds strength in God, which he has been reacquainted with while on the shoals of secularism he meets with Friday, a native man whom he is able to rescue from the cannibals. Crusoe teaches Friday English and converts him to Christianity. The two become like father and son (more or less). Friday and Crusoe also rescue a Spaniard and Fridays father from a different group of cannibals. Crusoe then returns to Europe with Friday, where he comes into a great deal of money from his sugar plantations. Crusoe gets married and eventually revisits the island in his late years. The novel ends with promise of more adventures for him in the sequel. My argument will be about â€Å"the religion†. How does Crusoe use the religion? Crusoes conversation with his father about leaving home can be interpreted from a religious perspective as well from an economic perspective. Crusoe repeatedly refers to leave home without his fathers permission as his original sin. He does not only associate God and his father but also regards his sin against his father as a sin against God; also on the other hand he teaches Friday about religion and he helps Friday’s father when he is sick, but also Crusoe does wrong decision when he sent Friday’s father away and took Friday away from his family instead of staying with them and help them. Sometimes I think that Crusoe has some problems in his mind because he read the bible but he didn’t know what the religion wanted him to do! The father is a truly prophetic character, perhaps in a lesser parallel of Gods omniscience: he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless me, and I would have leisure to reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my recovery. The plotline of a son leaving the home of his father is a traditional one, and is paradigmed by the biblical story of Adam and Eves departure from Eden. Crusoes father describes their living situation as a paradise- the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness. Crusoe, like Adam and Eve, is tempted by the Tree of Knowledge: a yearning for adventure and a thirst for the exotic. When he left his home, he was fallen in a religious sense. Even after Crusoe was shipwrecked on the island and fall ill, he describes a superficial religiousness: all this while I had not the least serious religious thought, nothing but the common, Lord ha mercy upon me; and when it was over, that went away too. In this novel, Crusoe refers to God many times. Crusoe narrates his life story long afterward, and from the beginning of his tale Crusoe presents events not only from his view point as a youth but also from a Christian perspective; he looks at his past through the eyes of the convert who now constantly sees the working of providence. Crusoe exhibits a pretense of piousness. He is devout only in times of convenience. After his dreams and by the beginning of his regeneration, he understands and senses of God deepen. Crusoe turns to the Bible; studying it reveals Gods word and will to him, and he finds comfort, guidance, and instruction in it. For the first time in many years he prays, and he prays, not for rescue from the island, but for Gods help, Lord be my help, for I am in great distress. After thinking about his life, he kneels to God for the first time in his life and prays to God to fulfill his promise that if I called upon Him in the day of trouble, He would deliver me. Crusoe shares his religion with Friday. He is able to admit, humbly, that Friday is the better Christian â€Å" why it has pleased God to hide the like saving Knowledge from so many Millions of Souls, who if I might judge by this poor Savage, would make a much better use of it than we did†. When he is delivered from the island by the English captain, he acknowledges Gods Power and Providence and forgot not to lift up my heart in thankfulness to Heaven; and what heart could forbear to bless Him. Crusoe even seems to brag about his newly-found religious toleration: My man Friday was a protestant, his Father was a pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a papist: However, I allowed Liberty of Conscience throughout my Dominions . Crusoe emphasizes that, although he had complete control over these people, he did not force Christianity on them. As the absolute ruler of the island, Crusoe has reached the final stage in the evolution of political religion, by finding a resolution between the personal and the public religion; essentially, there is no public religion on his island. It is understandable that the unregenerate Crusoe is willing to pass as a catholic in Brazil; however, what explains his behavior after his conversion, when he seriously considers returning to Brazil and passing as a catholic again, in order to regain his estate, he finally began to regret my having professed myself a papist, and thought it might not be the best religion to die with. But still, his main reason for not going to Brazil is that he doesnt know what to do with the wealth he has accumulated in Portugal. Although Crusoe proudly reports that he allows freedom of religion on his island, giving him the right to practice their own faiths, he generally show religious tolerance, but insist on Friday’s Protestantism.