Pamela or Virtue... Reexamined

Pamela; or Virtue Reexamined

by Omar García

In this essay, I will talk about how Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), who is sometimes considered the “father of modern novelists” in English, (T. Nelson, 1890:154), reexamines the concept of virtue in his major work Pamela (1740). The book in question is an epistolary novel that some regard as the first modern novel in English. It holds, thus, an historical importance related also with literary virtuosity.

The reasons why Richardson wrote the story are explained by himself in some non-fiction letters he wrote, where he stated that he had been asked to write about 3 letters “to instruct two handsome girls who were obliged to go out of service”, and to teach them “how to avoid the snares that might be lead against their virtue” (Richardson, 1804: LIII). In addition, Richardson wrote non-fiction letters in which he plainly stated that “the author's object in Pamela is two-fold: to reclaim a libertine by the influence of virtuous affection, and to conduct virtue safe and triumphant through the severest trials, to an honourable reward.” (Idem: LIV)

Bearing this in mind, we can understand why Richardson created Pamela the way she was. By making her the protagonist, Richardson outlined a character who had the same qualities of the people to whom the message was addressed. From the beginning, she was already established in a house, Lady B. has just died, and the options of staying where she is or leaving the place to return to his parents are suggested.

Throughout the novel, we see that Pamela is deeply religious and constantly pondering about the spiritual and godly ways. The epistolary thoughts, however, are not like the Apostle Paul’s. Indeed she has the sense of searching and cultivating virtue, constantly reexamining how she could maintain it or improve it in accordance to God’s will. However, Pamela, is often in the middle of a crossroads and quandaries related to his life with Mr. B.

She feels uncomfortable at times. Specially when the man is seen as a threat to her virtue and dignity. But Pamela strives to keep herself virtuous, and ultimately attributes the highest value to her moral and emotional aspects of life.

Pamela is often seeking God’s will, whom she credits for her improvement in character throughout the novel. In the second half of the novel, we read a lot about the good qualities she has developed in the midst of her situation. Rather than letting herself to decay socially, Pamela feels her time there has taken out the best out of her and invested effort to edify her identity, which, ultimately, is rewarded in the novel.

There is a thesis which suggests the idea that because Pamela praises herself too much, she might be merely justifying her own ways and hiding her dark side. This, however, seems implausible to me, because, if such were the case, Richardson would have given someone else a voice to clarify it and explain it. Yet, he wrote clearly the purpose of the novel, and since most of the whole book is written from Pamela’s perception, we can take it as a sample of a honest and personal examination about the motifs and reasoning of a little young girl who wants to preserve her virtue, as Luebering explains (2010:85).

Stylistically speaking, Samuel Richardson’s solution to reconcile Pamela and Mr. B might be simplistic, but at the same time, is clever. When he reads her letters – the very ones we are reading too – he changes his perception, and with this, Samuel Richardson directly connects us - as readers - to the story, which is amazing.

We can, therefore, track two important features in this book. One the one hand, it was intended to be a realistic depiction of the psychological character of a female at the time and space where Samuel Richardson lived. On the other hand, Richardson, as a staunch Anglican (Black & Gregory, 1991:93), made up a principled story that intended to inculcate morals and religious virtues, as can be seen throughout the story.

   Bibliography

• Berg, Kristine Syvertsen (2011). Love and Social Differences in Samuel Richardson’s Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Department of Literature, University of Oslo https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/25304/Bergx-xmaster.pdf?sequence=1
• Black & Gregory (1991). Culture, Politics and Society in Britain, 1660-1800. Manchester University .
• Luebering, J. E. (2010). English Literature from the Restoration Through the Romantic Period. The Rosen Publishing Group
• National Cyclopaedia. (1884). The national encyclopædia. Libr. ed.
• Richardson, Samuel (1740). Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded. Project Gutenberg. E-Book released on April 23, 2009.  www.gutenberg.org/files/6124/6124-h/6124-h.htm
• T. Nelson & son. (1890). Lives of English Authors: A Biographical History of English Literature. 

Duality in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Duality in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

by Omar García Pérez

"...we fairies…do run …
by the triple Hecate's team
from the presence of the sun,
following darkness like a dream..."

In this essay, I will talk about how duality and antithetical elements are portrayed in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This work is believed to have been first performed between 1595 or 1596; it is said that it was written for the celebration of a wedding (Taylor: 1973:221), and it is known that it was first published in the late 1600 (Holland, 1998:110), an epoch which, according to Jacobson (2004:7), was “a highly creative period” in Shakespeare’s career.

The play belongs to the genre of comedy, and it reflects a literary trend that incorporated many allusions and references to the social, cultural and even political heritage in Europe.

One of the most immediate references, without doubt, is The Knight's Tale, the first tale of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The direct connection between Chaucer’s tale and the work in question has been explained by authors like Halliwell (1841:11-12), and though it is not the focus of this essay to study it in detail, it is important to notice it because, one the one hand, it allows us to identify an association between the Father of the English language and the Father of the English literature, and second, it may thus suggest the idea that Chaucer’s dualism in works like Troilus and Criseyde (Lawler, 1980:143) may have had an influence of Shakespeare, who was acquainted with Chaucer’s works (Driver, 2009:232).

Having established this, the story might be seen in a dualist approach. As it has been pointed out in literature courses, the whole play is filled with biformity, and this is a feature that one can even see in the title itself. Having coined over 2,000 words to the English language, no one doubts that Shakespeare was certainly a master of morphology. If, thus, one ponders about the title of his play, from a syntagmatic semantics approach, it can be said that the root “summer…” first gives the idea of hot, whereas “night”, is inseparably associated with the notion of cold. The prefix “mid-” before “midsummer” gives a clue that the story’s plot will take place “in the middle” of a situation where different parties or antagonist paradigms are set.

Dualism gives the idea of contrariness or opposition within a same context, and, as the story goes on, we encounter this trend in every situation. But, apart from the satirical side, it would be interesting to inquire whether these dichotomies have symbolic impressions and even allegorical elements.

The most notable ones might be related to love and hate. There is a corresponded love on the part of the first couple (Lysander & Hermia) but also an unrequited attraction (Helena & Demetrius). It could be said that the first couple really felt true love, and was willing to be together and united. Then it all becomes the opposite, but the resulting situation is later referred to as an illusion. Due to magic charms and a mistake, Lysander, as well as Demetrius, are misled and fall into a false love. Their eyes are not opened, but rather, blinded. This false love is the cause of strives, even between those women who formerly were best friends and wished the best for the other; i.e. Hermia and Helena. What was formerly friendship not became enmity and jealousy.

The references to Roman characters (e.g. Venus, Diana) and Greek ones (e.g. Hercules, Amazons, Cupid), in the midst of these constant quarrels between the Athenian characters, not only demonstrate that there is a point of reference to the classics, but somehow bring to our minds the constant strives between mythological characters (in the case of an unreal realm), and the Second Macedonian Wars (in the case of an historical one). This leads to another dichotomy which has to do with the real and the unreal. Figures of European folklore like (fairies, elves) appear along real common people like weavers, joiners and tailors. Fantastic and authentic events happen in the same plane, the dream per se, and the reality of the story become one single story. The abstract is presented along with the physical. Titanian and the fairies, which are all supposed to be invisible characters, come to be seen by Bossom.

The diachronic is depicted within the synchronic. The past is presented as if it were the same time in the past. This is seen when the Duke of Athens, Theseus, (who is historically known as a past founder-hero in Ancient Greece), appears along with Philostrate, the Master of the Revels (holder of a position in the British royal household at the time of Shakespeare’s life).

What could be called “maternal love” appears along with “paternal” lovelessness. Titania (who is thought to actually be an “adoptive” mother to “the Indian boy”), is caring towards him, whereas Oberon wants the child to be his “henchman”. When Oberon, by means of the magic juice, causes Titania to fall in a false love with Bottom, Oberon takes away Titania’s maternal-like love for the Indian boy and replaces with an awful one towards an ass (Shmoop, 2014).

What’s more interesting of all these antithetical situations is that, apparently, all the bad events and all the problems happen at night, when everything is dark. In this sense, there is a contrast between the light and the darkness.

In conclusion, the handling and recurrence to duality in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is prevailing and becomes very evident by approaching to the play from a symbolic form. Both the form and content of this work show the extraordinary ability, control and domination that Shakespeare had to master the English language as an artistic medium to express symbolically a great amount of literary knowledge and cultural erudition.

Bibliographic References

• Bristol, Michael D. (2011). Shakespeare and Moral Agency.  Continuum Shakespeare Studies. New York. A&C Black. ISBN: 9781441120472
• Driver, Martha W.; Sid Ray. Shakespeare and the Middle Ages: Essays on the Performance and Adaptation of the Plays with Medieval Sources or Setting. McFarland
• Halliwell, James Orchard (1841). An introduction to Shakespeare's Midsummer nitgth's dream by James Orchard Halliwell. London. Will. Pickering.
• Holland, Peter (1998). The Oxford Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream. The World's Classics.
• Lawler, Traugott; (1980). The one and the many in the Canterbury tales. Archon Books.a
• Leipsic, E. Fleischer, (1833). The beauties of Shakespeare, selected from his plays and poems. 6^th ed. London.
• Montangu, Elizabeth (1770). An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear:.  London. J. and H Hughs.
• Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. 10^th edition. Collins Edition. The Project Gutenberg. (2003). Accessed: August 2014 http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/2ws1710h.htm
• Shmoop. 2014. A Midsummer Night's Dream > The Challenging. Accessed: August 2014 http://www.shmoop.com/midsummer-nights-dream/changeling.html
• Taylor, Marion Ansel (1973). Bottom, Thou Art Translated: Political Allegory in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Related Literature. Rodopi.
• Vickers, Brian (2003). William Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage Volume 6 (1774-1801).  Routledge.

The role of religion in Robinson Crusoe

The role of religion in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

by Omar García Pérez

In this essay, I will talk about how Daniel Defoe (c. 1660-1731) illustrates the role of religion in his original work Robinson Crusoe (1719); a novel of historical fiction which marked the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre, and is now widely considered as the classic of survival narrative.

Like countless of other works in literature, this novel has been object to many different, and sometimes contrary interpretations. Some interpreters – like some classmates in my literature class – have affirmed, without clarification, that the novel merely deals with the topics of colonialism, a “do-it-for-yourself” philosophy, and the struggles of travel and colonial adventure (Novak, 1968). The topic of religion, they argue, should be diminished in this novel because that was just a cultural aspect, common in the books produced in the epoch, but unimportant or “irrelevant” for the plot and the author. Is that interpretation fair to Defoe’s motives? or is it actually a short-sighted misinterpretation? Does religion plays a decisive role in the plot? or is it just a scenical aspect of the story? and, moreover, what can help us understand the message the author wanted to give?

Clearly, no other person can answer these questions better than the very author, who since the Preface of the first volume, expressly wrote that one of the main reasons his book had been written for was “to justify and honor the Wisdom of Providence in all the Variety of our Circumstances, let them happen how they will” (Defoe, 1815:IV). This cannot be but a confirmation of Defoe’s desire to deal with a spiritual message in Robinson Crusoe, and it serves us to approach this book expecting a depiction of the author's religious beliefs.

Defoe was a protestant who was no sympathizer of the high-church, nor of the Dissenters (IXIX. Review, VII. 245, 246). In fact he was more in line with the low-church (evangelicalism) as he was a deeply religious presbyterian in denomination, who treasured John Bunyan’s famous Pilgrim’s Progress (Hazlitt, 1840: CXLII; Roberts, 1995:XV; Stocks, 2002:5; Books, LLC, 2010). With this influence, it is no surprise that both Bunyan and Defoe have sometimes been considered among the fathers of the modern English novel (Chapman, 1892:610), and as we notice in certain declarations of faith, Defoe was definitely influenced by Bunyan’s idea of writing an “allegorical” novel in its nature, where he could represent “Meaning in every Circumstance of Life, in every Event; to learn to understand the End and Design of Providence in every thing that happens, what is the Design of Providence in it, respecting our selves and what our Duty to do upon the particular Occasion that offers” (Defoe, 1720: 206-211).

Indeed, whoever reads the original version of the novel, can realize how much it is full with religious symbolisms, biblical allusions, Christian moral messages, and theological perspectives. 

This is why, a number of authors have interpreted it as a spiritual biography (Starr, 1965) or, like Juan Antonio Ortega y Medina, as a Puritan allegory in which “God's hands are manifested everywhere; providential and mysterious decrees operating all around, urging Robinson to undertake his duties and letting each action being properly judged and rewarded if applicable” (1976:6).

As we begin the analysis of the story in its entirety, Robinson Crusoe’s brief life in England, somehow resembles the biblical Adam, inasmuch as he had experienced felicity, safety and rest in a paradise where he had at hand everything he needed. Like Adam too, Robinson was  disobedient to his father’s warnings, and this brought the fall as a result. In Chapter XIV, Robinson would recall this: “my original sin, my subsequent mistakes of the same kind had been the means of my coming into this miserable condition”. He was tempted by the idea of reaching higher benefits and profit through sailing and trading, pursuing colonial prosperity on board of "a slave-gathering expedition to West Africa”. But as a result, Robinson was punished with vicissitudes and his fate was to be thrown into places where, ever after, he had to win his food through painful toil and win the food by the sweat of his brow, (all as in Genesis 3:18-19).

Reaping what he sow, Robinson was enslaved for 24 years, until he escaped (Ch. II). In those moments he was not concerned with God, since we are told that had a “wicked and hardened life past”, never having thanked God or mentioned his name “unless it was to swear by, and blaspheme it“(Ch. IX). His current situation, however, moves him to pray for the first time in his life (Ch. VI), and he did so because he was spiritually and physically shipwrecked. Robinson had been warned in a dream that he had to repent, or die, and the castaway was convicted of his past’ wickedness and cried out to God asking for help. He later comments that thanks to this retired part of his life, he began to read The Bible like never before, and only then was he “capable of understanding enough his duty of sincere repentance for his sins” before God (Ch. XV).

He comes to experience “thankfulness for [his] condition” because in his adversity, he had been kept alive even though he did not deserve it. In this way, Crusoe perceives God’s mercy and gradually experiments a serious religious conversion. Thenceforth the focus of the book, like that of Pilgrim’s Progress, turns to "describe the difficulties attending a Christian convert before he reaches final deliverance” (Hunter, 1966:178).

First he saves a “savage” that was about to die eaten by his enemies. The victim as a result submits himself to Crusoe in gratitude for his deliverance. Crusoe names him Friday; and takes him as his servant. (But note that he is taken as a servant, not as a slave). The difference is important as several editors have pointed out (Evans, 2010:28; Carey & Festa, 2009:125; Owens, 2009:42). Slaves were forced to work, they were violently treated, and they were kept as “property” by coercion, whereas servants were voluntary employed, they retained their certain freedom, they received payment, and humane treatment. Robinson never hurts or disparages Friday and he refuses to force him to do things without his consent (Defoe, 1840:361). He governs him with respect and concern for the state of his soul. In the novel, Crusoe first sought colonial prosperity in a ship of slavery, but then the ship sank and he was punished for that. After his conversion, he kept Friday as a servant, but there is a moment of reflection when he realizes that, on the inside, natives are equal to the civilized people inasmuch as they have “the same powers, the same reason, the same affections, the same sentiments of kindness and obligation, the same passions… the same sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the capacities of doing good, and receiving of doing good that God has give to us.” (Ch. X). All this certainly reflects a position impressed in the poem "Reformation of Manners" (1702), where Defoe protested against the mistreatment of people kept in slavery and said: "I abhor the principles of slavery, let them come form, or be professed by, whom they will." (Devis, 2010:26). Notably, Friday will not only be referred to as a faithful servant but as a good “companion”, and even a friend, who ends up going home with Crusoe.

The conversion of Friday to Christianity himself is also of great importance. Modern versions have greatly misrepresented or taken away this essential element of the novel (See the Appendix). However, Friday’s openness and inquiries about Robinson’s religion in the novel, mark more the beginning of a change especially for the native, who is moralized and civilized, an evangelist duty Defoe almost unmistakably wanted to depict for the civilized man.

The way in which Robinson overcomes the tests of Providence and his struggles (with faith, gratitude and hard work) resembles the manner in which the biblical Job was tested and strengthened; so much that Robinson, states: “indeed, that the latter end of Job was better than the beginning” (Ch. XIX), ends up with a former fortune kept by a widow, and he was blessed with prosperity in the colonies. 

In conclusion, Robinson Crusoe contains religious references because the story itself is deeply based on religious concepts. One of this is the symbolism of the cross, impressed in the identity of the protagonist, who is named Robinson Kreutznaer, (a German word which resembles the word “Cross”). In the Christian religion, this symbol captures the sacrifice of Jesus, but also implies the death of the human’s sinful nature, and the beginning of a death to this world. By linking this symbol with the last name of the protagonist, Defoe suggests that it was part of Robinson’s destiny to be redeemed, and by erecting the cross on the island the date of his arrival, Robinson’s act seems to mark a symbolical beginning of such a change, even though Robinson’s conversion seems to have been progressive, rather than immediate.

Other books deal with the role of religion in society, but by setting all events in an island near Trinidad – or near the Trinity -, this novel deals instead with the personal impact of religion in an individual’s domain. Not of any individual, but of someone who have been lost and shipwrecked. This is why, in my very view, Robinson’s Crusoe does not embodies an apology of colonialism whatsoever, but instead, an religious illustration or spiritual journey -- of repentance, conversion, change and search -- of a civilized colonial man, and his black native faithful servant. 

Bibliography

• Books, LLC, (2010). English Presbyterians:. General Books LLC
• Carey, Daniel, Festa Lynn (2009). The Postcolonial Enlightenment : Eighteenth-Century Colonialism and Postcolonial Theory. Oxford University Press.
• Chapman, J. (1892). The Westminster Review, Volume 138.
• Defoe, Daniel. (1815). Crusoe, written by himsel. Oxford University.
• Defoe, Daniel. (1720). Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe With his Vision of the Angelic World. W. Taylor.
• Defoe, Daniel; Ed. by Davis, Evan (2010). Robinson Crusoe. Broadview Press.
• Defoe, Daniel; Ed. by Hazlitt, William (1840). The Works of Daniel Defoe: With a Memoir of His Life and Writings. Volume 1. J. Clements,
• Defoe, Daniel. Ed. by Prince, David. (1996). The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. London. Seeley, Service & Co. Limited. Access date: September 2014. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/521/521-h/521-h.htm
• Defoe, Daniel; Ed. by Roberts, Doreen (1995). Robinson Crusoe. Wordsworth Editions.
• Defoe, Daniel; Ed. by Grandville. The life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe: With a memoir of the author. Willoughby
• Josbd.com (2013). Robinson Crusoe is a religious or spiritual allegory.
• Access date: September (2014): http://josbd.com/robinson_crusoe.html
• Hunter, J. Paul. (1966). The reluctant pilgrim: Defoe's emblematic method and quest for form in Robinson Crusoe. Johns Hopkins Press.
• Infinity Plus One. (2004). Does Robinson Crusoe Improve as a Person?. Fiction Press. Acces: September 2014
• https://www.fictionpress.com/s/1769850/1/Does-Robinson-Crusoe-Improve-as-a-Person
• Maximillian E. Novak. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. Vol. 67, No. 1 (Jan. 1968). Access date: September 2014
• http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/27705499?uid=3738664&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104717122113
• Ortega y Medina, Juan Antonio (1976).  Discurso de Recepción. Academia Mexicana de la Historia. Access date: September 2014
• http://www.acadmexhistoria.org.mx/pdfs/discursos/SILLON_11_ORTEGA_MEDINA.pdf
• Owens, W.R. (2009). London: Pickering & Chatto. The Novels of Daniel Defoe. London. Pickering & Chatto
• Shmoop University (2014). Robinson Crusoe: Themes: Religion. Access date: September 2014
• http://www.shmoop.com/robinson-crusoe/religion-theme.html
• Starr, George A. (1965). Defoe & Spiritual Autobiography. Gordian Press, Inc. Princeton University Press
• Stocks, Tiphanie N. (2002). Daniel Defoe and the Reform of the English Nation: An Examination of His Moralistic Writings. ProQuest. ISBN 9780549726012
• Todd, Dennis; Wall, J., Cynthia; Hunterm, Paul. (2001). Eighteenth-century Genre and Culture. University of Delaware Press.

Appendix 

Many modern retellings of Robinson Crusoe have taken some religious aspects away, and added some contrary elements instead. This appendix takes as an example the 1997 film version of the story. If we only compare this contemporary remaking to Defoe’s original book, we see these major differences that alter the meaning of the story and completely change the approach towards religion in general, and Christianity in particular.  

Daniel Defoe’s novel (1719)	1997 movie
Robinson is enslaved for 24 years (Ch. II).	Robinson is never enslaved.
Robinson experiences a religious conversion, a vision dream in which he is told to repent.	Robinson does not experience a conversion whatsoever.
Friday escapes and Robinson shoots his persecutors, injuring one and resultantly killing the other. Friday kills the injured native.	Robinson kills the natives with a gun and only then can Friday escape.
Friday willingly vows in gratitude to Robinson.	Friday is forcibly chained by Robinson.
Robinson takes Friday as a servant.	Robinson takes Friday as a slave.
Robinson’s attitude toward Friday is loving, monitored and fatherly (Ch. XIV). Friday is loyal to him.	Robinson’s attitude towards Friday is first rude, irritate, and harsh. Friday leaves him because of it.
As Robinson instructs Friday “in the knowledge of the true God”, the native shows himself cheerful and deeply interested. He “listened with great attention, and received with pleasure the notion of Jesus Christ being sent to redeem us” (Ch. XV).	Robinson fanatically and intolerably preaches to Friday about the Creator. Friday seems rather puzzled and confused by Robinson’s preaching, and he informs from the beginning that he dislikes Robinson’s religion.
Friday concludes the Christian God must be “a greater God than their Benamuckee”, since pagan priests say the cannibal’s god is not supposed to listen in the ground unless they climb to the mountain.   Nature assists Robinson’s arguments to evidence to Friday “the necessity of a great First Cause” (Ch. XV).	Friday reacts negatively to Robinson’s idea of God and he conclusively states “I don’t like your God.”    He informs he prefers the cannibal’s pagan crocodile god who is said to hear cannibals even in the trees and in the water.
Friday becomes a Christian and ends up accepting Robinson’s lifestyle. Robinson comments: “this savage was now a good Christian, a much better than I” (Ch. XVI).	Robinson ends up accepting Friday’s cultural lifestyle and somehow forsakes his Christianity.
Robinson ponders whether killing natives goes against the principles of his religion. Friday tries to convince Robinson to Christianize and civilize other cannibals in the island, asking him to “teach wild mans be good… tell them know God, pray God, and live new life” (Ch. XVI). Friday shows himself enthusiastic about it.   They both end up in England.	Robinson and Friday go against the enemy cannibal tribe. Robinson fanatically appears to  believe himself to be superior, he becomes a Lord, a swordman and kind of a warrior against natives. He also fights Friday and, at the end, Friday is murdered on the island.

“The writing of history reflects the interests, predilections, and even prejudices of a given generation” said John Hope Franklin, and the writing of this story is not the exception. In the space and time in which Defoe lived, Christianity was more favored and was generally viewed with more public sympathy, whereas today, it is approached with contempt by many circles in mainstream media. This movie version greatly misrepresents the original story especially in what concerns to the role of religion: it disfavors what Defoe wanted to favour, and replaces his religious sentiment with elements adverse to it, turning a justification of “the Wisdom of Providence in all the Variety of our Circumstances”, into an attack against it.