Caleb Williams and Robinson Crusoe

A detailed Summary of Caleb Williams and Robinson Crusoe

The Progression of the Eighteenth Century Novel Shows How Society Takes Over the Role of God

The progression of the Eighteenth Century novel charts the transformation of the role of God into the role of society. In Daniel Defoe's early Eighteenth Century novel, Robinson Crusoe, God makes the laws, gives out the punishments, and creates the terror. By the end of the century, the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror announce to the world that society is taking over the role of God and now people will make laws, give out punishments, and incite terror.

Early Eighteenth Century novel, Robinson Crusoe, shows the development of a new self, one conflicted with the idea of both relying on God's Providence while also realizing their own power to make things happen. The novel shows the development of Homo Economico, the economic man. With the voyages to the new colonies, many lower and middle class men prove able to create their own fortunes overnight. The concept of the Great Chain of Being becomes lost when members of the lower classes become wealthier than many of the upper class aristocrats. Now many men from the lower classes buy land and/or titles. When lower class members become landowners, the idea of Divi

Godwin sees the transformation from God to society thus causing him to write the novel Caleb Williams so that he may "expose the evils which arise out of the present system of civilised (sic) society, to disengage the minds of men from presupposition, and launch them upon the sea of moral and political enquiry" (xi). Godwin sees no reason as to why either God or the aristocrats should behave as a tyrant, and he uses Caleb Williams as a voice to support his beliefs in French Revolutionary ideas.

While the early Eighteenth century novel shows a man losing faith in God and beginning to rely more on the ability of human actions, William Godwin's late Eighteenth Century novel, Caleb Williams, shows a society that replaces God with society. The aristocrats now play the role of God. Mr. Tyrrel inflicts terror when he announces to Mr. Hawkins, "I made you what you are; and if I please, can make you more miserable than you were when I found you" (73). The aristocrats take over the role that God once played. Before, if crops flourished or declines, farmers believed that their crops production represented the will of God. Mr. Tyrrel now takes over the role of God, when he declares to Mr. Hawkins that he can make Mr. Hawkins' life good or miserable. Mr. Tyrrel proves he is a man of his word when Mr. Hawkins does not obey Mr. Tyrrel's request b

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Approximate Word count = 916
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English