1.2The Significance of Daniel Defoe..1
1.3 The Historical Background of England in the later 18th Century.3

2. Spirit of Adventure6
2.1 Robinson’s Passion for Adventure.6
2.2 Robinson’s Resourcefulness in His Survival in the Island7
2.3 Adventurous Trip from Portugal back to England.7

3. Mercantilism9
3.1    Robinson’s Success in Brazil.9
3.2 Robinson’s Successful Selling land in Brazil...10

4 Loss and Reestablishment of Belief12
4.1 Importance of Bible .12
4.2 Powerful Pray ..13

5 Conclusion..14

Bibliography..16
 
1 Introduction:
1.1 The Significance of Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is the first novel published by the British modern novelist Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) at the age of 59. It is a universally known realistic memoir of adventure novel. The writer is inspired by a Scottish sailor who has suffered a great danger at sea. Robinson Crusoe is a broadly known and a quite influential literary masterpiece, which indicates the strong entrepreneurial spirit of bourgeoisie and the awareness of enlightenment. With vivid description, the whole virtual story line feels like real-time situation, giving a sense of reality to the entire story(常耀信，2006:137). Besides, the protagonist Robinson has also become one of the well-known literary images across the European history of literature. Up to now, the novel has almost been translated into all languages. 

1.2 The Significance of Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (1660~1731) was an English writer and journalist, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. He was notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularize the form in Britain and was among the founders of the English novel (Defoe Daniel，1975: 2). Now, Daniel Defoe is hailed as “the father of European novel”. Born in London, the capital city of Britain, Defoe had a father who was a butcher by trade, and that is why he chose to turn to business. He toured many places and made great success in business. It was during this period that he got married and started supporting his family. In his early time, he used to go to different countries of the Continent to run a wide range of business including underwear, tobacco, wine, woolen fabric and brick and tile. In the year 1684, Defoe married a wine dealer’s daughter who brought him 3700 pounds dowry. Then he cooperated with his brothers in law in sundry goods dealings. Moreover, he did wine trade in Europe to gain his wealth. Although he ran business as a “drunker”, he was actually a puritan who fought against those extremely popular gin and strong drinks in London. In 1685, he took part in the rebellion against Catholic king led by the Monmouth Duke; in 1688, William, a protestant, launched the British and inherited the king, and Defoe joined his army. In 1692, he went bankrupt and had a debt of about 17000 pounds. After that, he failed in business again and again, which compelled him to use different ways to make a living. He used to be an intelligence agent for the government, and a designer for various development businesses, and at the same time, he dedicated himself to writing. In 1698, he published his essay An Essay Upon Projects, in which he advocated building roads, establishing banks, enacting bankruptcy law, opening asylums, setting up fire and water insurance, taxing income and launching female school. In 1701, he published The True Born Englishman which was an ironical poem criticizing those noble Catholics who claimed they were racially pure and defended king, William, who is a protestant and has a foreign nationality. The poem was published in nine versions. In 1702, he published his pamphlet entitled The Shortest Way with the Dissenters. With its ironical way of writing, he opposed to Anglican Church’s repressing toward other religious groups. The words he used in the pamphlet were so witty that his real intention had not been discovered. And later, when his real intention, criticizing the Anglican Church, is recognized, he was fined and put into prison. He stayed behind the bar for 6 months and was pilloried for 3 times, yet he was regarded as a hero by citizens of London. In prison, he imitated the Greek poet, Pindar, and wrote a poem called Hymn to the Pillory (1703) to satirize the unfairness of law. In 1704, Daniel Defoe established The Review for Harry, the leader of the Whigs, to win support for Harry’ s England-Scotland Joint policy, and worked for Harry and his heir as an intelligence agent, during which he was put into prison again for his article, but had never stopped collecting intelligence and writing articles for the Whigs. Defoe started to write novel at the age of 59. In 1719, he published his first novel Robinson Crusoe, which became very popular. The novel shaped the image of an ideal capitalist, which was a pioneering step in European history and its sequel was also published in the same year.  In 1720, he published Serious Reflections during the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe: with his Vision of the Angelick World. After that, he wrote several another novels: Captain Singleton, Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack and so on. Besides,  he also wrote several biographies , like Duncan Campbell , Peter the Great  and several travelling journals, including Global Travel, Captain Roberts’ Fourth Traveling Diary and so on. Robinson Crusoe is the most popular one and regarded as his representative work. It is said that Defoe had connected with 26 magazines, thus being called “Father of the Modern News Report ". His works, including political pamphlets, total to a number of 250 kinds. All of them are catering to the needs of the bourgeois and reflect their interests and concerns. Works like Documentary of Mrs. Vail Apparitions (1706) was a report of a popular ghost story; Journal of the Plague Year (1722) vividly described the happening, the spread and the desperation of the plague of London in 1665. At that time the Black Death in Marseilles caused people’s great attention, and the work had greatly satisfied people’s curiosity toward the plague. After Robinson Crusoe, Defoe had written some other excellent works, and some of them are regarded as classics in English literature, including Moll Flanders and Colonel Jack. Crusoe’s success drove him writing a sequel of Robinson Crusoe, in which he made his hero travel around the world. Most of Robinson’s travel started from Beijing, traversing Serbia, and got his destination in Russian Arkhangelsk. Defoe had never been to China, but he mentioned Heilongjiang in the continuation, which was not known by many in Europe at that time (侯文瑞，1999:236). Defoe lived a good life at his old age and wrote several another books. Some of his creditors had already passed away, and he paid the rest of his debts by selling his small brick factory. He even bought a house not far from London. But things didn’t go that smoothly. A widow from one of his creditors filed a suit against him.  To avoid confiscation of his property, he assigned his house and belongings to one of his sons. The son was a great journalist, but also a villain. Defoe wrote that “I subject myself to him, relying on him and trusted him that he would take good care of his young siblings. But he does not have any sympathy. He torments those kids, torments his poor mother who is dying, but he himself lives a luxurious life”. To avoid creditors, the old Defoe had to hide himself from view and rent himself a room in the center of Old London. In 1731, one day , London courier carried a piece of news that, at the dusk of this Monday, the famous Daniel Defoe passed away in his apartment in the  Karnataka Avenue(李文屏，2003:337). 论《鲁滨逊漂流记》近代英国民族性的塑造(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_14169.html