[ اللغة الانجليزية ] : المستوى الثالث سنه ثانيه للمتعثرات والمحولات

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Robinson Crusoe

by
Daniel Defoe

SETTING

When the story begins, the setting is England. Some of the action thereafter takes place at sea in various ships. Once the pirates capture Crusoe, the action moves to Sallee, a port in Morocco. After Crusoe's escape from there, the setting moves to the Canary Islands, until a Portuguese ship arrives. For the next few years, the novel is set in Brazil. Then Crusoe embarks on his ill-fated voyage. After the shipwreck, Crusoe washes ashore on an uninhabited island, where Crusoe spends the next twenty-eight years of his life; most of the novel takes place on the island during these years. After Crusoe is rescued from the island, the setting moves to England, via Lisbon and the land route through Spain and France to Calais.

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PLOT

Robinson Crusoe, born in York, is the third son in his family. His parents wish to make a lawyer out of young Crusoe, but Crusoe has other plans. His one great desire is to become a sailor and go to sea. The first foreshadows what lies ahead for the hero. Although his father refuses to give him permission to go to sea, Crusoe runs away to become a sailor. Although almost all of his initial forays into sea life are disastrous, Crusoe is not deterred. During one of his trips, the Moors capture his ship, and Crusoe is taken as a slave. He finally escapes in a boat with another young man. After some interesting adventures, he is rescued by a Portuguese ship. He next lands in Brazil, where his enterprising ways help him to succeed; he becomes a planter and prospers in a few years time. Still not satisfied with his success, he decides to become a slave trader in order to get cheap labor for his plantation. As he travels by boat to find slaves, a storm hits, and his ship is wrecked. All the sailors are drowned except for Crusoe, who is washed ashore on an uninhabited island.

The novel is basically about the life and adventures of Crusoe on the island, where he lives for the next twenty-eight years. Crusoe salvages as much as he can from the ship. He builds a home, strong fortifications, plows the land, cultivates corn and rice, and raises goats. His peaceful existence is interrupted when savages land on the island. Crusoe rescues Friday, one of the savages' prisoners, whom he educates and converts to Christianity. When the cannibals visit next, Friday and Crusoe rescue two of their prisoners, a Spaniard and a savage. The savage turns out to be Friday's father. An expedition is sent to the mainland in a canoe to bring back sixteen Spaniards who have been marooned there.

An English ship visits the coast, and a few of its crew come ashore in a boat. Crusoe realizes that the visitors are mutineers and that the captain and men loyal to him are being held as prisoners. With good planning, Crusoe and Friday subdue the mutineers and rescue the captain and his crew. When the ship sends another boat with men ashore, they are also tricked and captured by Crusoe's men. Now, all that stands in the way of Crusoe's deliverance is the remaining men on the ship. In a final assault, the ship is captured, and the rebel captain is killed. Soon Crusoe sails from the island in the capture ship and finally reaches England.
Back home, Crusoe finds that most of his family members have died. He also learns that his plantation in Brazil has thrived during his absence. As a result, he is enormously wealthy. The older, mature Crusoe is gracious in his new status and generous towards his old friends and the remaining members of his family. There are, however, some more adventures in life for Crusoe and his friends as they travel the land route through Europe to Calais. In the end, Crusoe settles down, gets married, and has three children. Many years later he visits his old island and finds it has been settled. He promises to send the inhabitants more essential things from Brazil. On this note the story ends.

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CHARACTER LIST

Robinson Crusoe: the main character of the story, he is a rebellious youth with an inexplicable need to travel. Because of this need, he brings misfortune on himself and is left to fend for himself in a primitive land. The novel essentially chronicles his mental and spiritual development as a result of his isolation. He is a contradictory character; at the same time he is practical ingenuity and immature decisiveness.

Xury: a friend/servant of Crusoe's, he also escapes from the Moors. A simple youth who is dedicated to Crusoe, he is admirable for his willingness to stand by the narrator. However, he does not think for himself.

Friday: another friend/servant of Crusoe's, he spends a number of years on the island with the main character, who saves him from cannibalistic death. Friday is basically Crusoe's protege, a living example of religious justification of the slavery relationship between the two men. His eagerness to be redone in the European image is supposed to convey that this image is indeed the right one.

Crusoe's father: although he appears only briefly in the beginning, he embodies the theme of the merits of Protestant, middle-class living. It is his teachings from which Crusoe is running, with poor success.

Crusoe's mother: one of the few female figures, she fully supports her husband and will not let Crusoe go on a voyage.

Moorish patron: Crusoe's slave master, he allows for a role reversal of white men as slaves. He apparently is not too swift, however, in that he basically hands Crusoe an escape opportunity.

Portuguese sea captain: one of the kindest figures in the book, he is an honest man who embodies all the Christian ideals. Everyone is supposed to admire him for his extreme generosity to the narrator. He almost takes the place of Crusoe's father.

Spaniard: one of the prisoners saved by Crusoe, it is interesting to note that he is treated with much more respect in Crusoe's mind than any of the colored peoples with whom Crusoe is in contact.

Captured sea captain: he is an ideal soldier, the intersection between civilized European and savage white man. Crusoe's support of his fight reveals that the narrator no longer has purely religious motivations.

Widow: she is goodness personified, and keeps Crusoe's money safe for him. She is in some way a foil to his mother, who does not support him at all.

Savages: the cannibals from across the way, they represent the threat to Crusoe's religious and moral convictions, as well as his safety. He must conquer them before returning to his own world.

Negroes: they help Xury and Crusoe when they land on their island, and exist in stark contrast to the savages.

Traitorous crew members: they are an example of white men who do not heed God; they are white savages.

[ǎήǎ`ήổήǎ *_*]

Themes


The Ambivalence of Mastery

Crusoe’s success in mastering his situation, overcoming his obstacles, and controlling his environment shows the condition of mastery in a positive light, at least at the beginning of the novel. Crusoe lands in an inhospitable environment and makes it his home. His taming and domestication of wild goats and parrots with Crusoe as their master illustrates his newfound control. Moreover, Crusoe’s mastery over nature makes him a master of his fate and of himself. Early in the novel, he frequently blames himself for disobeying his father’s advice or blames the destiny that drove him to sea. But in the later part of the novel, Crusoe stops viewing himself as a passive victim and strikes a new note of self-determination. In building a home for himself on the island, he finds that he is master of his life—he suffers a hard fate and still finds prosperity.
But this theme of mastery becomes more complex and less positive after Friday’s arrival, when the idea of mastery comes to apply more to unfair relationships between humans. In Chapter XXIII, Crusoe teaches Friday the word “[m]aster” even before teaching him “yes” and “no,” and indeed he lets him “know that was to be [Crusoe’s] name.” Crusoe never entertains the idea of considering Friday a friend or equal—for some reason, superiority comes instinctively to him. We further question Crusoe’s right to be called “[m]aster” when he later refers to himself as “king” over the natives and Europeans, who are his “subjects.” In short, while Crusoe seems praiseworthy in mastering his fate, the praiseworthiness of his mastery over his fellow humans is more doubtful. Defoe explores the link between the two in his depiction of the colonial mind.

The Necessity of Repentance

Crusoe’s experiences constitute not simply an adventure story in which thrilling things happen, but also a moral tale illustrating the right and wrong ways to live one’s life. This moral and religious dimension of the tale is indicated in the Preface, which states that Crusoe’s story is being published to instruct others in God’s wisdom, and one vital part of this wisdom is the importance of repenting one’s sins. While it is important to be grateful for God’s miracles, as Crusoe is when his grain sprouts, it is not enough simply to express gratitude or even to pray to God, as Crusoe does several times with few results. Crusoe needs repentance most, as he learns from the fiery angelic figure that comes to him during a feverish hallucination and says, “Seeing all these things have not brought thee to repentance, now thou shalt die.” Crusoe believes that his major sin is his rebellious behavior toward his father, which he refers to as his “original sin,” akin to Adam and Eve’s first disobedience of God. This biblical reference also suggests that Crusoe’s exile from civilization represents Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden.
For Crusoe, repentance consists of acknowledging his wretchedness and his absolute dependence on the Lord. This admission marks a turning point in Crusoe’s spiritual consciousness, and is almost a born-again experience for him. After repentance, he complains much less about his sad fate and views the island more positively. Later, when Crusoe is rescued and his fortune restored, he compares himself to Job, who also regained divine favor. Ironically, this view of the necessity of repentance ends up justifying sin: Crusoe may never have learned to repent if he had never sinfully disobeyed his father in the first place. Thus, as powerful as the theme of repentance is in the novel, it is nevertheless complex and ambiguous.

The Importance of Self-Awareness

Crusoe’s arrival on the island does not make him revert to a brute existence controlled by animal instincts, and, unlike animals, he remains conscious of himself at all times. Indeed, his island existence actually deepens his self-awareness as he withdraws from the external social world and turns inward. The idea that the individual must keep a careful reckoning of the state of his own soul is a key point in the Presbyterian doctrine that Defoe took seriously all his life. We see that in his normal day-to-day activities, Crusoe keeps accounts of himself enthusiastically and in various ways. For example, it is significant that Crusoe’s makeshift calendar does not simply mark the passing of days, but instead more egocentrically marks the days he has spent on the island: it is about him, a sort of self-conscious or autobiographical calendar with him at its center. Similarly, Crusoe obsessively keeps a journal to record his daily activities, even when they amount to nothing more than finding a few pieces of wood on the beach or waiting inside while it rains. Crusoe feels the importance of staying aware of his situation at all times. We can also sense Crusoe’s impulse toward self-awareness in the fact that he teaches his parrot to say the words, “Poor Robin Crusoe. . . . Where have you been?” This sort of self-examining thought is natural for anyone alone on a desert island, but it is given a strange intensity when we recall that Crusoe has spent months teaching the bird to say it back to him. Crusoe teaches nature itself to voice his own self-awareness.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Counting and Measuring

Crusoe is a careful note-taker whenever numbers and quantities are involved. He does not simply tell us that his hedge encloses a large space, but informs us with a surveyor’s precision that the space is “150 yards in length, and 100 yards in breadth.” He tells us not simply that he spends a long time making his canoe in Chapter XVI, but that it takes precisely twenty days to fell the tree and fourteen to remove the branches. It is not just an immense tree, but is “five foot ten inches in diameter at the lower part . . . and four foot eleven inches diameter at the end of twenty-two foot.” Furthermore, time is measured with similar exactitude, as Crusoe’s journal shows. We may often wonder why Crusoe feels it useful to record that it did not rain on December 26, but for him the necessity of counting out each day is never questioned. All these examples of counting and measuring underscore Crusoe’s practical, businesslike character and his hands-on approach to life. But Defoe sometimes hints at the futility of Crusoe’s measuring—as when the carefully measured canoe cannot reach water or when his obsessively kept calendar is thrown off by a day of oversleeping. Defoe may be subtly poking fun at the urge to quantify, showing us that, in the end, everything Crusoe counts never really adds up to much and does not save him from isolation.

Eating

One of Crusoe’s first concerns after his shipwreck is his food supply. Even while he is still wet from the sea in Chapter V, he frets about not having “anything to eat or drink to comfort me.” He soon provides himself with food, and indeed each new edible item marks a new stage in his mastery of the island, so that his food supply becomes a symbol of his survival. His securing of goat meat staves off immediate starvation, and his discovery of grain is viewed as a miracle, like manna from heaven. His cultivation of raisins, almost a luxury food for Crusoe, marks a new comfortable period in his island existence. In a way, these images of eating convey Crusoe’s ability to integrate the island into his life, just as food is integrated into the body to let the organism grow and prosper. But no sooner does Crusoe master the art of eating than he begins to fear being eaten himself. The cannibals transform Crusoe from the consumer into a potential object to be consumed. Life for Crusoe always illustrates this eat or be eaten philosophy, since even back in Europe he is threatened by man-eating wolves. Eating is an image of existence itself, just as being eaten signifies death for Crusoe.

Ordeals at Sea

Crusoe’s encounters with water in the novel are often associated not simply with hardship, but with a kind of symbolic ordeal, or test of character. First, the storm off the coast of Yarmouth frightens Crusoe’s friend away from a life at sea, but does not deter Crusoe. Then, in his first trading voyage, he proves himself a capable merchant, and in his second one, he shows he is able to survive enslavement. His escape from his Moorish master and his successful encounter with the Africans both occur at sea. Most significantly, Crusoe survives his shipwreck after a lengthy immersion in water. But the sea remains a source of danger and fear even later, when the cannibals arrive in canoes. The Spanish shipwreck reminds Crusoe of the destructive power of water and of his own good fortune in surviving it. All the life-testing water imagery in the novel has subtle associations with the rite of baptism, by which Christians prove their faith and enter a new life saved by Christ.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Footprint

Crusoe’s shocking discovery of a single footprint on the sand in Chapter XVIII is one of the most famous moments in the novel, and it symbolizes our hero’s conflicted feelings about human companionship. Crusoe has earlier confessed how much he misses companionship, yet the evidence of a man on his island sends him into a panic. Immediately he interprets the footprint negatively, as the print of the devil or of an aggressor. He never for a moment entertains hope that it could belong to an angel or another European who could rescue or befriend him. This instinctively negative and fearful attitude toward others makes us consider the possibility that Crusoe may not want to return to human society after all, and that the isolation he is experiencing may actually be his ideal state.

The Cross

Concerned that he will “lose [his] reckoning of time” in Chapter VII, Crusoe marks the passing of days “with [his] knife upon a large post, in capital letters, and making it into a great cross . . . set[s] it up on the shore where [he] first landed. . . .” The large size and capital letters show us how important this cross is to Crusoe as a timekeeping device and thus also as a way of relating himself to the larger social world where dates and calendars still matter. But the cross is also a symbol of his own new existence on the island, just as the Christian cross is a symbol of the Christian’s new life in Christ after baptism, an immersion in water like Crusoe’s shipwreck experience. Yet Crusoe’s large cross seems somewhat blasphemous in making no reference to Christ. Instead, it is a memorial to Crusoe himself, underscoring how completely he has become the center of his own life.

Crusoe’s Bower

On a scouting tour around the island, Crusoe discovers a delightful valley in which he decides to build a country retreat or “bower” in Chapter XII. This bower contrasts sharply with Crusoe’s first residence, since it is built not for the practical purpose of shelter or storage, but simply for pleasure: “because I was so enamoured of the place.” Crusoe is no longer focused solely on survival, which by this point in the novel is more or less secure. Now, for the first time since his arrival, he thinks in terms of “pleasantness.” Thus, the bower symbolizes a radical improvement in Crusoe’s attitude toward his time on the island. Island life is no longer necessarily a disaster to suffer through, but may be an opportunity for enjoyment—just as, for the Presbyterian, life may be enjoyed only after hard work has been finished and repentance achieved.

[ǎήǎ`ήổήǎ *_*]

راسلاس أمير الحبشة.. تدور هده القصة حول راسلاس وأخته اللذين يهاجران للبحث عن السعادة، ويطوفان البلاد الواسعة، وينشغلان بحوارات فلسفية كما يقابلان الكثير من المتحذلقين، وفي النهاية يصل إلى القاهرة ويعلن أنه وجد السعادة في وجوه الناس.

>>> هذي بالمختصر زبدة قصة راسلس للي مو فاهم هي عن ايش تتكلم

[ǎήǎ`ήổήǎ *_*]

SUMMARY:

Rasselas is searching for happiness. He and Imlac, an Eastern wise man, dig their way out of the Happy Valley, where the Emperor's children are confined. Nekayah, his sister, and Pekuah, her maid, accompany the two men. Their search takes them from Suez to Cairo. They visit all types of men, and finding that no one is really happy. At the Pyramids, Pekuah is kidnapped. After her release, they all decide on what would bring them true happiness. Pekuah chooses a convent, Nekayah chooses knowledge, the Prince would like to have a little kingdom where he could administer justice. Knowing that they will never obtain these things, they finally back home.



يبحث رسلاس عن السعادة. فخرج رسلاس ومعه املاق – رجل شرقي حكيم- خارج الوادي السعيد حيث كانت تنحصر على أولاد الإمبراطور. رافق الرجلان نكايه – أخته- و بكواه خادمتها. أخذهم بحثهم من السويس إلى القاهرة. وقد زاروا مختلف الأشخاص مكتشفين انه لم يكن شخص واحد سعيدا بحق. واختطفت بكواه عند الأهرامات. وبعد إطلاق سراحها, قرر الجميع ما الذي قد يجعلهم سعداء بصدق. اختارت بكواه الدير، واختارت نكايه المعرفة، أما الأمير فأراد أن يمتلك مملكة صغير يستطيع أن يحقق العدالة فيها. مع أنهم يعلمون أنهم لن يحققوا هذه الأشياء إلا أنهم عادوا لوطنهم

[ǎήǎ`ήổήǎ *_*]

CHARACTERS:


RASSELAS:

He is the prince of Abissinia. He is the fourth son of the king. Because of that, he doesn't have a hope of being a king. He tries to enjoy life. His every need is met. He has a tutor who tells him every thing about life.

When he is 26, he realized that he is bored. He explains the reason of his boredom that he can not live like an animal. To him, living in the palace is living like animals. He is curious and wants to have some knowledge. As a result of that he is unhappy.


Rasselas' goal is to make a "choice of life". He wants to search for happiness outside the happy valley, so he successes to escape from it. He clearly knows the type of happiness that he wants to discover. "Happiness" said he "must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty". He demonstrates great determination in his search and doses not want to give up.

IMLAC

Imlac is the wise teacher and guide who accompanies Rasselas on his travel in search of happiness and the meaning of existence. He travels to a lot and different countries to learn. That's why Rasselas makes him his guide because he knows about the outside world.

His own sense that happiness was inevitably elusive and perhaps illusory, his own tendency relies on hope for the future, and his own paradoxical reluctance to live –emotionally- in the future.

Imlac rehearsed upon the various conditions of humanity.

NEKAYAH

She is the prince's sister. She is courageous to take the decision to go and search for happiness with her brother.

She is restless like her brother. She is searching for ease of life. She is always motivated by hope, that's why she joined her brother in his journey to search for happiness. She came to the same result at the end of the story when she realized that real happiness cannot be earthy it only can be granted by God in the other life.

She gets more mature because of the experience. She had been too long accustomed to the conversation of Imlac and her brother to be much pleased with childish levity

[Sara Bnt Thomas]

بنات بسالكم بالنسبه لاختبار بكرا العربي ..
القران الكريم والحديث الشريف آخر درس معنا ولا ؟
والمتنبي معنا ولا ؟
وبالنسبه للكتاب نحفظ حياتهم والتواريخ ؟

[ǎήǎ`ήổήǎ *_*]

هذا تفريغ محاضرة د. مها سلام حقت العام ...

RASSELAS
chapter1

Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow; attend to the history of Rasselas prince of Abissinia.
The narrative voice in this paragraph is the second form of – person narration. It is related to the old form of writing= the oral story telling form. Long go, they wrote manuscript. The narrative voice used in many of those manuscripts was the second person narration. This form of narration is not common nowadays. It was only common in the old manuscripts and the oral story telling.
This form is used by Samuel Johnson in the 18th century people. He wanted to imitate the old style of manuscript. He is trying to write in a way similar to the manuscripts.
The purpose of this is to attract the attention of the audience. He wanted us to expect an old story that is set in the old times.
He is addressing the audience as if they are sitting in front of him. He wants us to pay attention and to listen to the story in which we find fancy and real life mixed together.
He is imitating the style of the old manuscript to make the readers expect a story that is of the ancient time.
The narrative voice in Robinson Crusoe is the first person narration.

Ye= old form of you.

The narrator is addressing us who are listening to him.
He wants the readers to pay attention –he wants us to listen to the story of Rasselas. He is addressing especially the young people who have hopes and dreams to be fulfilled before they reach the old age.
In the first paragraph he gives us some of the themes. It introduces some of the themes.
There is a reference to the theme of hope of the youth. We have great hopes for the future. The old age is going to achieve these hopes.
He wants the young who hopes to fulfill their hopes in the future to listen to the story. These hopes may not come true or may not be achieved. In his story, he will show them that not everything they hope for when they are young, are going to be achieved when we get old.
Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty emperour, in whose dominions the Father of waters begins his course; whose bounty pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over half the world the harvests of Egypt.
The narrative voice changes. It becomes the third person narration. There is a shift. The second person narration is only used in the first paragraph.
He starts telling the story of Rasselas. He is going to tell his story from the moment of his birth to the end of his life.
The narrator is addressing the readers directly by using the second person narration. He wants to attract our attention and to show us that he is going to write and old story.
As soon as he moves to the next paragraph, he shifts the narrative's view point. He uses the third person narration. He continues using it for a number of chapters in the novel. He is telling the story of someone. He is giving us information about him.
He gives us information about Rasselas ' birth- who he is. He is the forth son of a mighty emperor of Abyssinia.
the Father of waters = the River Nile
Abyssinia is the source of the River Nile.
All this make us feel that it is the old style of life- not a modern one. We get the impression that it is an old story.
Why this is considered to be an old story?
He is using the second person narrative in the first paragraph like the old manuscripts. We have some of the old expressions like the Father of waters. This is the country where the River Nile originates.
It imitates the style of old novels.
According to the custom which has descended from age to age among the monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a private palace, with the other sons and daughters of Abissinian royalty, till the order of succession should call him to the throne.
Abyssinia is in the centre of Africa. It is in a tropical zone. According to the customs, a prince or a son of a monarch, he is kept in a certain place with other sons and daughters of royalty till he becomes the king.
The place where the sons and daughters of the king are kept is like a paradise. Every thing they want , they found there- all types of plants, animals are there. They live in luxury.
All the sons and the daughters of the king are kept in a certain palace in a certain valley. They have many servants. Even the nature around the place is very rich. They have teachers to teach them.
Rasselas is one of the king's sons. They are keep there till the orders come to be the kings. They are never allowed to leave this place except when the time comes to succeed the king to the throne.
They live in a place like heaven on earth- paradise. Everything is available.
The palace where they live is in the middle of a valley. It is surrounded by very high mountains. They are very hard to climb. The only way to communicate with the outside world is through a small cave which has a gate which is never opened except once a year when the emperor himself pays the annual visit. The king comes to visit his sons and daughters once a year. During this annual visit many people are added to those who are inside- the actors- dancers- singers- teachers- they can entire this community. Whenever a person enters the valley, they never come out. The only one who can get out is the emperor himself. The people whom he brings to the valley just enter and they never return. Nobody is allowed to stay there and then go out except only the emperor.
Rasselas is our protagonist but not our narrator.
The difference between Robinson Crusoe and Rasselas is that Robinson is the protagonist and the narrator. It is the first person narration. Rasselas is just the protagonist. He is not narrating the story.
Another theme is freedom and the importance of freedom even one is a prince who lives in all the luxury, still he prefers to be free.
The setting: The time is of ancient time for a number of reasons. It is ancient- not in the 18th century.
If we to compare between the setting= the place and the time of the two novels:
Robinson Crouse is talking about the middle class of the 18th century England- Africa- Brazil= realistic places. The island is the main setting of the novel.
In Rasselas, the time is of the old times. The place is a valley in Abyssinia- it is an ancient name- even though the name of Abyssinia which is a real country , yet we do not feel that it is realistic to have such a valley because it seems to be like paradise on earth.
The place is a certain valley which is like Eden= like a paradise on earth. It is an imaginary place setting.
It is an exotic setting= strange and beautiful= like the description of the setting and the palace. Like الف ليلة و ليلة
According to the custom which has descended from age to age among= this shows that it is an ancient novel. He is talking about old ages, customs, traditions.
Rasselas was confined in a private palace, with the other sons and daughters of Abissinian royalty, till the order of succession should call him to the throne.

was confined= imprisoned.
He is kept in the palace till it comes his turn to the throne.

The place, which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the Abissinian princes, was a spacious valley in the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of which the summits overhang the middle part.

a spacious valley= very big wide valley
the kingdom of Amhara= ancient name- a place in Abyssinia. It was a kingdom at that time.
The valley is surrounded on every side by mountains.

The only passage, by which it could be entered, was a cavern that passed under a rock, of which it has long been disputed whether it was the work of nature or of human industry.
This cavern through the mountain through which people will come to the valley was situated under a rock. He was influenced by the Arabian Nights. It was translated into English during the 18th century.
The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth which opened into the valley was closed with gates of iron, forged by the artificers of ancient days, so massy that no man could, without the help of engines, open or shut them.
It was impossible to pass from this palace to the outside world. The gates of iron were made by artificers of ancient days. These gates were very heavy, very big in size.
All this is to show us that it is impossible to get out of the valley to the outside world. It was like a prison. This is one of our themes- the theme of imprisonment. Even if the place is like a paradise where one can get all his desires, it could be like a prison. He does not have freedom. He is imprisoned.
Everything is there in the valley; even the wild animals but they do not hurt anyone. It is a very exotic setting. It is a place of total security or safety. There was a sense of security that was prevailing in the palace. This is the total opposite feeling of Robinson Crusoe.
It is not similar to the island of Robinson Crusoe. All the time he is afraid that he would be attacked by savages or beasts. He surrounded his habitation with a fence. He is never safe. He felt no feeling of security. He never enjoyed security and safety for a single moment.
Another point of difference is that Robinson was alone, solitude. He lacks human company. Rasselas is not alone at all. He has hundreds of people with him giving him company. He has brothers, sisters, servants, teachers, wise men, philosophers in the palace.
Robinson even after having Friday, he is still alone. He takes him as his slave.
At the end Robinson is rescued by a ship and he was safe.
Rasselas will try to find a method to escape from this palace in the valley. When he escapes, he has many adventures in the outside world.
There is also a similarity between this place and the place of Robinson Crouse. Both places are like prisons. Once he is on the island, he can never leave.
All nature and man are protecting this valley.
All the diversities of the world were brought together, the blessings of nature were collected, and its evils extracted and excluded.

It is a very important quotation

He is still describing the palace. The palace has everything. Everything is living there in harmony. All the diversities= all the valuable elements, all the different elements of the world, all the luxuries are there. all the diversities are there but in harmony- in peace- no fighting, no quarrel between them. They are coexisting peacefully.
This quotation is explaining to us many things. It shows all the luxuries that are there. Everything which is evil is excluded. Although the palace has many features in it, but they are all living peacefully. The luxuries are the luxurious food, drink, entertainment in the palace. All these things were not there on Robinson Crouse's island. He was on an empty island, has no sense of security, all the time he is afraid that he would be attacked by savages or beasts. The island was a place where he could not find the necessities. He had to struggle in order to find fresh water to drink. He could not find the essential of eating except after much struggle. In the palace in the valley, there is everything even the luxuries. There are the things that they even dream with- things that are not found in real life. All the good was there. Evil is not allowed to enter the paradise. That is why he calls it a paradise. Evil is not supposed to enter it.
The quotation is important. It tells us many things about the setting. It tells us a very important comparison between this setting and the setting of Robinson Crusoe.
Such was the appearance of security and delight which this retirement afforded, that they to whom it was new always desired that it might be perpetual;
this retirement= a place where we go to relax , to be away from all the problems of life.

Those who come to this place from the outside world have the impression of having all he luxuries in the valley. They wish to live there for ever- like in paradise. They wish that it could be perpetual= continuous

and as those, on whom the iron gate had once closed, were never suffered to return, the effect of longer experience could not be known.

Thus every year produced new schemes of delight, and new competitors for imprisonment.

The style: heis using ancient things, make reference to ancient times, refers to ancient times. He is saying things between the lines= the technique of hinting- he is using indirect hints. [you have to give examples from the novel]
Everyone who comes from outside the valley wishes that his life in the valley would be for ever. They never return.
He does not say directly that our hopes can be shuttered- not everything that we may hope for in our young age could be achieved.
This quotation is related to the fact that Samuel Johnson is using the technique of hinting. He is referring to many things that are said between the lines.
He is hitting to the fact that those people who enter the palace where the life is luxurious- like [paradise- they are not very happy. They are not allowed to go outside the palace. It is like a prison.
Not everybody in the palace is happy. He never said it openly. He is hinting. Since any one who enters the valley is never allowed to leave, no body knows happiness there. They are unhappy.
The style is not direct. It is full of hints.

The text is described as a moral allegory. Rasselas is like Adam living in Paradise
Robinson Crusoe is a realistic story and a moral allegory. Robison is like Adam living on that island.
Both books are moral allegory.
They are totally different. One of them Robinson Crusoe is a realistic novel, Rasselas is a totally imagined novel like the Arabian Nights.
Rasselas is considered a satire- making fun of human follies.
Rasselas is a novel, a molar allegory and a satire.
Robinson Crusoe is a realistic novel and a moral allegory.
Samuel Johnson is like a philosopher. The novel is like an explanation of his philosophy= how human are never happy when they are in a place like paradise. They want to escape it. He is realistic. He is showing a pessimistic view of life.

[ǎήǎ`ήổήǎ *_*]

المحاضره الي بعدها ..

The sons and daughters of the emperor are kept in the Happy Valley. They are secluded from the outside world. They live in total seclusion from بمعزل تام the outside world. They are living in something like Paradise – paradise is supposed to be in heaven. They are living in paradise on earth-
The first chapter is all about description of the Happy Valley and the palace inside it. There is nothing dangerous or miserable inside the valley.
Certain changes are going to happen in chapter 2. Rasselas starts thinking. He starts to change. He starts having questions, to be curious about the outside world. He had instructors to tell him about the outside world. He has teachers and philosophers who teach him about the world. He can not be satisfied with what he has. He wants to have first hand knowledge- first hand experience. He wants to go and see by himself.
The two books- Robinson Crouse and Rasselas are emphasizing the human need to have first hand experience. Human beings are not satisfied with things that they are being told. All the time they need to try things.
The need to get first hand experience is the main theme in both the two novels. It seems to move the events. If Robinson had not had the curiosityفضول to know about the distant places of the world, he would have stayed with his father. If Rasselas had not been adventurous and curious فضولي enough to see what he could do, he would have stayed in the Happy Valley and would not have had all the adventuresمغامرات that form the whole book of Rasselas.
We have the concept of Tabula Rasa – what does it mean? It is like a human being at the beginning of his life like a blank sheet – whenever he gains experience, he is writing on this page. The more he lives, the more he has experience, the more he is writing on this page.
There were different points of views. Some philosophers agreed on this concept. They said that every human being is a Tabula Rasa at the beginning of his life. Then, this Tabula Rasa has the experience in life that he changes. Other philosophers did not agree. They said that even if a person is born, he knows something with instinctsغرائز.
Do you think that Robinson Crouse is a Tabula Rasa or not ? Why?
Do you think that Rasselas is a Tabula Rasa or not? Why? Give reasons for your answer.
Despite having everything in the Happy Valley, people there are not happy. They are described as prisoners. Despite all the elements that are there in the Happy Valley, there is unhappiness. Rasselas feels unhappy this is why he decided to leave the valley to the outside world. He is not satisfied with his life in the valley. This unhappiness is the motif that caused him to go and see the outside world. It is because of human curiosity, the desire for knowledge. He wants to have first hand knowledge. He does not want to get it from lessons. He wants to have his own experience in life.
The author hints to some things in chapter 1. these hints come true in chapter 2. He just hints that these people are living in luxuries, happily, having all sources for entertainment, but they are like prisoners. This is what happens actually in chapter 2. Rasselas starts having the feeling of boredom. He starts having discontent. He begins to question his teachers. He starts having this idea of escape. Most of the themes are in the first chapter. In the following chapters they are realized as we read along in the novel.
One of the major themes in the novel is the desire for first hand knowledge. The nature of happiness is another major theme. The novelist is a pessimistic. He thought that people can never be happy- there is no happiness on earth. Happiness is something allusive. Happiness has an illusive nature.
Samuel Johnson was mainly a philosopher- a man of ideas. He always thinks about the nature of things. Defoe was mainly a journalist. When he wrote his first novel Robinson Crusoe, he pretended that it was a real story.
In Rasselas the theme can be about the nature of happiness, the human desire to get first hand experience. This is something philosophical or serious. Johnson wrote many books about philosophy. This is the only book that can be considered as a novel. Some critics say that it is not a true novel; it is a book of moral allegory, philosophy.
One of the important themes in Rasselas is the theme of freedom.
The narrative voice of Rasselas is the third person narration. We have a narrator who is telling us about Rasselas. At the very beginning, in the first paragraph, is the second person narration when he is addressing his readers directly. He is calling the people to listen to him. It attracts the attention of the readers. It is like an imitation of the old manuscripts – like the Arabian Nights- Oriental Tales- these tales use the second narrative voice in order to tell the story to attract the reader's attention.
We have two narrative voices in Rasselas- the second and the third voice.
The narrative voice in Robinson Crouse is the first person narration. He is telling his own story. It has many advantages. It makes us believe what has been given to us is the true events that happened. It makes us near the style of the author. There is a sense of believing in this style, a sense of intimate or real distance between the readers and the writers.
We talked about the prose style in Robinson Crusoe.
The style of Rasselas
We have two different themes in the 18th century. People though that science will lead to human progress and happiness. This is one theme. The opposite theme was saying that science would cause weakness of morals, immorality. Morals are going to become weak because of the scientific progress. Immorality would lead to unhappiness. They were totally opposed two points of views.
In Rasselas, Samuel Johnson is making fun of- satirizing modern inventions- like those people who tried to have wings to fly- they break their necks and die. Johnson is making fun of scientific progress. He thinks that this progress will cause not happiness but immorality.
The book is a satire. It is a theme about the value of science that leads to immorality and unhappiness but it is part of the style because the style is satire. He is using the element of satire to make fun of people who believe that science equals progress and happiness. He wants to show that science leads to immorality and unhappiness. This satire element in the style of Johnson is included in his style. The style is not serious. He is using element of satire.
The novel has a loose structure- what came first and what came after.
When we read the title we start to imagine that it may be a book about an imaginary tales- a tale in the exotic place like the Arabian Nights- this is what happens as soon as we read the word Abyssinia.
The first part of the novel is when he is in the palace. As soon as he escapes and begins his adventures, we can read any chapter before the other because they are a number of adventures- very loose structure. It does not follow a sequence. It is the same as Robinson Crouse. It is not in sequence, not in order. There is no sequence in the structure of Robinson Crusoe. The events are not ordered. We can read any adventure before the other.
We have the story of all the sons and daughters of the emperor living in the happy valley. Then one of them decides to escape. He meets a man who tells him something- we have a story within the story- like the Arabian Nights.
He is telling us that here is no happiness at all.
The nature of happiness , the desire for first hand knowledge , the desire for freedom are the major themes in the novel