Hanoi open university
Faculty of English and Modern Languages

Assignment on
English and
AmericanLiterature
Title: “Robinson Crusoe – A
Representative of the English
Bourgeoisie in the early 18
th
century”
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Hanoi, 2009
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PART A: INTRODUCTION
The 18
th
century saw Great Britain rapidly growing into a capitalist
country. While in France the bourgeoisie was just beginning its struggle
against feudalism, the English bourgeoisie had already become one of the
ruling classes. In reality, the phenomena” land hedging and soil plundering”
occurred. Farmers were driven out of their own lands and fields were turned
into pastures for sheep-raising and wood-making industries. They had to join
the force of cheap labor and working in such factories. England became a
typical example of initial accumulation of capitalism. Holding power in
economics, the English bourgeoisie further encroached on the politic field.
They became the driving force in the English society. After actually
overthrowing the feudalism and establishing the Institutional Monarch system,
they led the country to the capitalist path and at that time, compromised with
the feudal class.
Together with the dragging state in terms of politics, economic

The Enlightenment epoch in English literature may be divided into
three periods: Early Enlightenment, Mature Enlightenment, and Late
Enlightenment . However, in the study, the English literature in the early 18
th
century or in the early Enlightenment will mostly be concentrated. This period
saw the flourishing of journalism. Numerous journals and newspapers not
only acquainted their readers with the situation at home and abroad, but also
helped to shape the views of people. Most popular were the satirical
moralizing journals. The Tatler , The Spectator, The Englishman edited by
Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. In their essays, these two writers touched
on various problems of political, social and family life. The essays paved the
way for the realistic novels brought into English literature by Daniel Defoe
and Jonathan Swift.
Furthermore, at that time, there appeared numerous works about
voyages and all kind of adventures that became popular. People who liked to
reach and explore remote land like Robinson Crusoe in the same-named novel
by Daniel Defoe became typical form of people at that time.
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Daniel Defoe was born in London in 1660. His father , whose name
was Foe, wanted him to become a priest, but he decided to engage in
bussiness.His father was wealthy enough to give Defoe a good education and
future. It was Defoe’s cherished desire to become a rich merchant , but his
bussiness was not unsuccessful and he went bankrupt more than once. As a
result, he was always in debt. The only branch of business that he proved quite
successfully is literature. His first literary works were satirical poems dealing
with the urgent problems of the time. Daniel Defoe is also rightly considered
the father of the English and the European novel. His first and most popular
novel “ The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe” or
“ Robinson Crusoe” in short was written in 1719 when Defoe was about 60. It
was followed by Captain Singleton, Moll Flanders, Roxana and some other

different parts of the worlds. The British bourgeoisie was always sensible to
make and accumulate money as well as property. This would somehow lead
them to have quite poor spiritual lives because they were only concerned
making money.
However, the English bourgeoisie in the early 18
th
century had such
good qualities as optimism, industriousness, human strength, courage, and so
on. In conclusion, the English bourgeoisie in the 18
th
century was profoundly
influenced by the socio-political background of the time.This class was indeed
a complicated entity characterized by progressive and regressive features
mixing and confining to one another as well.
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