MB UNIUD

Defoe, "Robinson Crusoe"

Richardson, "Pamela"

Fielding, "Tom Jones"

storyline

- it conforms to people's taste for trade and adventures (sequences on Robinson's trade and on remote adventures);

- it presents a SELF-MADE IMPROVEMENT

                  └ Middle-class

                      └ Puritanism

                      └ Enlightement

- it presents WHITE CIVILIZATION

AIM: - to justify English colonization

          - to entertain

          - to convince readers that experiences and    

               rationality are necessary to improve

storyline

the focus is not put on the plot but..

• - on the way in which events are told (correspondence reality-narration)
• - on the relationship between Pamela and her master
• - on Pamela's behaviour and kept virtue

AIM: to provide a teaching on how to write a letter

                   "       a moral education

storyline

- it conforms to people's taste for adventure

- it convinces that the world is characterized by illusions discovered by rationality

- it conveys the necessity of rationality and experiences to improve

AIM: - to show how a person can grow and can extend

          his/her knowledge thanks to experiences

          - to criticize some social vices

setting

SPACE : exotic island ↔ people's taste for the exotic

                                          sense of danger, mystery .. to

                                          emphasize R's improvement

TIME : close to readers → involvement

the setting is defined in a very detailed way, with concrete elements to give the illusion of authenticity and to let people discover places they can't reach

setting

SPACE: a lady's house

TIME : XVIII century

it doesn't strike readers' attention, concentrated on characters' personalities

setting

SPACE: on the road (mystery, unknowledge...)

TIME: different parts of the day

            es night → sense of danger

the setting involves and entertains the reader;

it is a pretext to affirm the importance of experiences and to analyse different reactions in front of the new

characters

Robinson = trademan, self-made man, rational,   

                    pragmatic, faithful in improvement, puritan

                   and colonizer

characterization: actions, abilities

he reflects the values of the Middle-class

                  the enlightened mentality

                  the puritan mentality

                  the European civilization

master-servant relationship with Friday

• - patronizing attitude
• - to justify English colonization
• - to demonstrate the necessity of European men to improve natives' conditions

characters

Pamela :  - faithful in job she wants to preserve

                - interested in a social improvement

characterization : thoughts, feelings

                             psychological aspect (complexities of

                             human nature, interior conflict)

she represents the puritan mentality : faith in progress

Master : depraved, selfish, lustful, false

he is useful to deal with Pamela's reaction and choices

the master-servant relationship : depraved

• - pretext to reflect on human nature
• - to denounce social faults

characters

Tom: rational, intelligent, full of experiences, suitable

          for adventures, attracted by knowledge, by the new

     → growth, progress (round character)

characterization: mainly actions

Partridge : superstitious, unsuitable for adventures,

                  feared by the new

     → no progress (flat character)

the master-servant relationship

• - to lower Partridge and to bring out Tom
• - to convince of the necessity of rationality

Sophia → theme of love and different ways in which passion may be lived

Sophia : no control           VS          Tom: rational control

narrator

1^st person narrator :

• - illusion of an autobiography → more realism ↔ taste for voyages
• - much involvement

narrator

1^st person narrator : Pamlela :

• - PURPOSE: to deal with Pamela's psychological aspect
• - Closer relationship between Pamela's thoughts , emotions and readers ↔ functional to speak about virtue and to reveal Pamale's inner nature
• - Readers' opinions are deeply affected, everything is filetered by her , absence of objectivity → readers have difficulty in discovering reality

narrator

3^rd person narrator

omniscient → to make comparisons between characters

                        and to reflect on humanity

intrusive → to affect readers' judgements and guide

                     them to rationality

narrative techniques

detailed descriptions and concrete elements → realism

chronological order → illusion of a real autobiography

narrative techniques

chronological order

frequent judgements → everything is filtered by Pamela

narrative techniques

interior monologues → reflections on inner aspects of

                                       characters

intrusions → to affect readers' judgements and guide

                     them to rationality

lexis connected to doubt:

• - curiosity → entertainment
• - appearance not always sure (reality or illusion) → necessity of experiences and of rationality