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Similes
Definition of Soliloquy
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself, relating his or her innermost thoughts and feelings as if... read full definition
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself, relating his or her innermost... read full definition
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself... read full definition
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Good vs. Evil:
Given that Robinson is alone for much of his narrative, it makes sense for there to be a few soliloquies throughout the novel. Even if the narration is retrospective, Robinson reenacts a few of his conversations with himself on the island as present tense monologues. One of these is the account book of good versus evil.
Structurally, it is not simply a soliloquy, but rather an interior monologue that Robinson has taken apart and organized into the form of an account book. Referring to himself as debtor and creditor, Robinson sets up his evil thoughts against the corresponding good thoughts.
EVIL: I am cast upon a horrible desolate island, void of all hope of recovery.
GOOD: But I am alive, and not drown’d as all my ship’s company was.
EVIL: I am singled out and separated, as it were, from all the world to be miserable.
GOOD: But I am singled out too from all the ship’s crew to be spared from death; and he that miraculously saved me from death, can deliver me from this condition.
The account book continues, with four more similar sets of entries. Many sides of Robinson as a character and as a narrator are revealed when analyzing the form of this soliloquy. For example, the word "account" connotes math but also narration. The word "telling" connotes stories but also counting. Robinson remains committed to record keeping, calculation, and narration all at once.
In addition, the account book shows that even Robinson's more emotional crises are dealt with in his usual organized and rational manner. Through this soliloquy, he reminds himself that in "the most miserable of all conditions in the world," it is always possible to find some comfort "on the credit side of the accompt." He uses his pragmatic tendencies to give himself encouragement.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—God's Neglect:
After his intense bout of sickness, Robinson has a conversation with himself about his condition and God's neglect of him. Unlike most of the narrative, in which Robinson retrospectively sums up his thoughts and feelings, Defoe offers direct citations of Robinson's words in speech form. In a soliloquy, he first asks why God has given him so much suffering, then proceeds to admonish himself for blaming God and doubting his care:
Why has God done this to me? What have I done to be thus us’d?
My conscience presently check’d me in that enquiry, as if I had blasphem’d, and methought it spoke to me like a voice; WRETCH! dost thou ask what thou hast done! look back upon a dreadful mis-spent life, and ask thy self what thou hast not done? ask, Why is it that thou wert not long ago destroy’d? Why wert thou not drown’d in Yarmouth Roads? Kill’d in the fight when the ship was taken by the Sallee man of war? Devour’d by the wild beasts on the coast of Africa? Or drown’d HERE, when all the crew perish’d but thy self? Dost thou ask What have I done?
This chapter contains multiple instances of Robinson talking to himself. This makes sense, as it is the part of the novel in which Robinson finds himself at his lowest. To do away with his doubts and to find the will to go on, he talks out loud to himself. In relation to this, this part of the novel features the buildup to a turning point in Robinson's character development, when he turns to God and seeks redemption. To underline Robinson's feelings of defeat and his need for spiritual guidance, Defoe inserts multiple impassioned soliloquies in this part of the novel.
Related Themes:
