The Application of Biblical Symbolism in Robinson?Crusoe

鄭席曦

摘要：As the most precious cultural heritage in human history， the Bible has a profound impact on British and American literary works. There are plenty of characters， materials and works which are in the name of the Bible in many British and American literatures. With an overview of biblical symbolism study， it can be clarified that biblical allusions are skillfully applied and imbedded in British and American literatures to demonstrate relevant significance. Through analyzing the image of light， water， sheep， grapes in Robinson Crusoe， this paper will further explore the application of biblical symbolism， which will enlighten the comprehension， appreciation and thorough research of British and American literatures.

關鍵詞：Bible; symbolism; Robinson Crusoe; image

1. Introduction

Robinson Crusoe is one of Defoes famous masterpieces， which is written in the form of a diary in English in 1719. The greatest achievement of this book is to create the first idealized positive bourgeois image， which becomes the representative of small and medium-sized bourgeoisie. Another achievement of this famous work is its authenticity and concreteness. Because Defoe is familiar with the Bible， many biblical prototypes manifested in his works to serve his stories and shaped a unique symbol system. So， its clear that we can work through Daniel Defoes famous work -- Robinson Crusoe to study the application of biblical origin.

2. Literature review

2.1 The complex understanding of ‘Bible in literature works

The core idea of the Bible is Covenant， which is to build up the responsibility and benefits to the development of the society. The Bible enjoys a wide range of readers in Britain and the United States， the biblical story or allusions are more likely to be accepted by readers， which also can enrich connotation and deepen the theme. Considering that， many British and American writers might always conscious or unconscious to make good use of the Bible to paraphrase biblical allusions in a way or another when creating their work.

Through exquisite description of Defoe， people can see how smart the hands of the human that create by the God in the novel. With a pair of flexible hands， Robinson made every effort to come back to the stranded vessel that ruined by the storm， and found something for his present subsistence. Then he managed to create a raft by using the objects that had left in the ship to carry many things that he foresee would be very necessary himself and landed safe on shore. Those available items can be shipped to the island， including food， grain and wine， clothing， a dog and cats that can accompany with him， tool ，such as saws， an ax， hammers， and the Bible which can helped him to reflect keep purify in such a solitude island. The reason why Robinson was able to complete the historic creation is that he has been always keeping two materials resources in himself： eight guns and a bible.

2.2 The language features of ‘Bible

A large number of the writing materials of the British and American literature works come from the Bible. There are so many genres to tell the story， covering the myths， legends， fables， poetry， essays， letters， speeches， and sermons. etc. Technique of expression is more rich than colors， from metaphor and symbol， exaggerated to irony， pun and so on， which is difficult to list. Just as many critics put it， the Bible is no more than a literary book， which has a very high literary value. Biblical allusions and idioms are applied frequently by large quantities of distinguished writers and poets all over the world. Frequent application of these allusions and idiom by us， the offspring， is also a great language feature of the Bible.

The language feature of the bible is serious， rich connotation， and persuasive. Many British and American writers are intended to quote some allusions and idioms from the Bible， which is seen as a raw material waited people to carve. Such as Beowulf，which is as the oldest long poems in the history of English literature. In this poem where was refer to the god， even quote a chapter from the Genesis.

3. Analysis of biblical symbolism in Robinson Crusoe

3.1 The image： light

As a common image in 17th century， light has the profound religious connotation. In view of the symbolic meaning of righteousness， the 17th century British poems， songs of the light not only succeed in the Bible， but also in the new connotation. So that we could reveal the symbol of light from the Bible in the 17th century the British poems song and learn the traditional inheritance and development of it.

It is believed that both in the East culture and in the Western art， light dark is often used to express the meaning to against the dark. Light is the first material created by the god， and we can see the light image in the British poetry everywhere in 17th century. Light is considered as an important support tie in both the Holy Bible and the 17th century English poetry system.

3.2 The image： water

The image--water is accompanied with Robinsons life in the isolated island. The story is narrative mainly by the image water. Water， flood， the image of the sea appeared in many places in the Bible. The Genesis makes the flood to be a disaster image. However， water remains has its save meaning， which depends on the point of view of what. The sea not only is seen as a disaster image， but also a live image. In the Bible， for Israel， those who want to out of Egypt through the red sea is to save， while， for the pursuer of Egypt is a devil. Just as chapter 5 of the Old Testament， Amos section 24， said， "The right goes rolling on like waters， righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Gods justice is righteousness will represent like monstrous flood washing dirty and evil in the world， the metaphorical theme is a classic expression in the Genesis， the flood myth. So when it comes to the flood， people will naturally associated it with the righteousness of god， or a kind of peculiar harsh penalty to human who crime. Just as Noahs flood， Moses led Israel through the baptism of the red sea， which occurred frequently in the New Testament; Robinson confronted with the death and was saved eventually.

3.3 The image： sheep

According to statistics， Goats were mentioned more than thirty times in the Robinson Crusoe and in the Bible， different kinds of class， age and gender of the goats and sheep are mentioned more than five hundred times. From the data， we can receive the information that sheep is one of the most significant original image. Sheep provides necessary for life： milk， meat， leather， and wool; sheep horn can be used to make musical instruments and containers of oil; sheepskin can be used to make clothes. In the fiction Robinson Crusoe， the sheep plays the same role above mentioned for Robinson. In the beginning， Robinson catches sheep and eats their meat; later， he began to keep sheep and began to drink milk， and even make umbrella with sheepskin.

3.4 The image： grapes

The image of grapes is mentioned in the Robinson Crusoe for many times. One day after reaching the island for ten months， he walked along a valley， and at the end of the valley， he found a place， where is also a rich source for his life. Even when saved Fridays father and the Spanish， and they have enough labor to grow crops， they still want to go there to pick a bunch of grapes， because " Grapes， like bread， is our staple food， also can say for sure， this is a good thing in everyday life..." Daniel Defoe uses a large amount of grapes image in the novel， illustrates the god did not abandon Robinson， he is still the gods people， and the god still remember him.

The symbol of hope--grape： as is recorded in the Old Testament on King James Bible chapter13： god gives people blessed land of Canaan， Moses sent messengers to find out， angel back a bunch of grapes， and told Moses， and said： "We came unto the land whither thou sentest us， and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it." In the biblical allusions， grape is a symbol of fertility and hope.

So does the Robinson Crusoe. In my opinion， the symbol of the toiling masses and the symbol of hope are both showed in Daniel Defoes work. The god didnt abandon Robinson， and Robinson didnt give up himself either.

4. Conclusion

The content of the Bible is rich and colorful; every story contains profound thoughts， enlightens the human thought， and also gives many writers writing literature material characters and story. As we know， a large number of British and American literatures refer to the biblical implication and proverbs. When enjoying these literary works， we also can have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding about the Bible.

References

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