Views on human nature [613882]

Bianca
–
Elena Popa

English major

Group 1

Views on human nature

“
Human nature has always been analyzed because of its co
mplexity and incoherence.
It is
generally regarded as being egoist, self
–
centered, and thinking of his own profit more than

anything.
” (Oztekin, 2015
). In this essay, I want to emphasize these negative sides
of human
nature

compari
n
g the views of Alexander Pope from

An E
ssay on Man

to those

of Daniel Defoe
from

Robinson Crusoe
.
In the first part of my essay, I will focus on
Alexander Pope’s views
on
human nature
,
Daniel Defoe’s views
being discussed in the second part.

To
begin with, I
have decided

to

talk especially about
the Epistles I and II
I

because the
ideas expressed in these two epistles are perfectly reflected in
Robinson Crusoe
,
but I will
comment upon the other epistles as well
.
Alexander Pope’s
An E
ssay on Man

shows

a
philosophical outlook on man
, indicating a great concern with order.
It talks about man in
general and

it

has a moral purpose which is that

of
vindicating “the ways of God to

man” (
Pope,
2542)
,
not
in the sense of avenging, but
with the meaning of justifying and explaining.
The
Epistle I is about
“
the
Nature and
the
State of M
an with Respect to the Universe”
.

T
he

man’s
sin of thinking that the Universe was made only for him and of aspiring to obtain the qualities
of other creatures
, to be more than

what

he was meant to be
forms his pride and this is the cause
of man’s misery.
This
is what makes him a presumptuous
man because his desire of becoming
more than he is
turns into the desire of putting himself in the place of God: “And
who but
wishes to invert the laws/ Of order, sins against the Eternal Cause.”

(Pope, 2544)
.
In this first
epistle Pope also
introduces the

concept of T
he Great Chain of Being which was
developed in
Neoplatonism: “
Is the great chain, that draws all to agree,/ And drawn supports, upheld by God,
or thee?
”

(Pope, 2542)
.
The Great Chain of B
eing is a model of the Universe, showing that the
world
is g
overned by harmony and order,

being based
on cont
inuity, plenitude and gradation

and ranking all forms of higher and lower life
.
Man is placed in the middle of it
, beneath angels
and above animals and plants.
The links in the chain are interdependent s
o that if one link
disappears the whole system is affected:

“
let
us avoid the error of imagining
that by an alteration of the
form or mechanism of
government
we shall put an end to those limitations of h
uman nature
which are essentially unalterabl
e,
because they are inherent in
the scheme of the universe which

required just such a creature,
as well as all
other kinds, to make it "complete."

(Lovejoy, 204)

Pope
goes on talking

about the fact that nobody knows his fate
(“Heaven from all creatures
h
ides the book of Fate”
–

Pope,
2543), raising awareness of future,

but he
also
says that man

Bianca
–
Elena Popa

English major

Group 1

has hope (“What future bliss
, he gives not thee to know/ But gives that hope to be thy blessing
now”
–

Pope,
2543)
. The Epistle II

(
“the Nature and the State of
Man with Respect to Himself,
as an Individual”)

is primarily concerned with the paradoxical nature of man
, the fact that man
is made of contraries between passion
s

and reason
.
Man is driven by two forces: self
–
love and
reason, these forming the paradox tha
t exists in human nature.

It also emphasizes the fact that
man should not search for more knowledge than he has about himself in relation to God
(“Know
,

then
,

thyself
, presume not God to scan”
–

Pope,
2547). The Epistle III (
“
the Nature
and the State

of Ma
n with Respect to Society”) focuses on the relation between
self
–
love and
society. It expresses
man’s desire to obtain a higher
position in

society, to be richer than he
is
and to live a luxurious life, being indulged in extravagancies.

He does things only

for himself,
ignoring the

well
–
being of the whole community

(“
His concern is still with

the One, not with
the

Many”
–

Lovejoy, 92).
Man wants to becom
e a ruler and

to have the absolute power. The
Epistle IV (“the Nature and the State of Man with Respect to
Happiness”) emphasizes a balance
between self
–
love and social
–
love. Happiness depends
on the general well
–
being of society, a
society that is governed by peace an
d order. In all these fou
r epistles, Pope points out
primarily
the bad sides of human nature, wanting to bring a

good

change
in the nature of man and to raise
awareness
of Providence and of the consequences of our deeds.

For the second part of my essay,
as I have already said in the introduction, I will discuss

Defoe’s views on human nature expressed in his novel,
Robinson Crusoe
.
The novel is well
–
known for the religious
, capitalist
ic
,

individualist
ic

and colonial

aspects
about which I intend
to talk in relation to human nature.
At the beginning of the novel when Crusoe’s father finds

out that his son wants to go at

sea, he tries to convince him to stay at home and to be content
with his middle s
tate which is “
the best Stat
e in the W
orld, the

most suited to human H
appiness”

(6
)
. According to what the father says, all virtues and enjoyments, peace and plenty, moderation
and health were part of the middle state of lif
e. Those from the higher and

lower part of
mankind are expos
ed to so many vicissitudes:
“to vicious Living, Luxury and Extravagancies
on one Hand and hard Labour, Want of N
ecess
aries and mean or insufficient D
iet on th
e other
H
and
” (6)
. But Crusoe does not

take into consideration this piece of advice when he goes i
n
hi
s first sea travel. However,

when he i
s on the ship and a storm threatens their lives, he regrets
not listening to his father and promises to go back home as soon as he reaches land. But when
he discovers that he can make a lot of money out of these travels he starts to be driven by the
vices
such as luxury and lust of ambition that his father
has

warned him against
.
These things
lead him to the uninhabited island where he is forced to live alone and
to work very hard for
making a “habitation”
,

as he calls it
,

and for obtaining food. And now he

finds himself in the

Bianca
–
Elena Popa

English major

Group 1

lower part of mankind. Therefore, Defoe illustrates the general desire of humanity which is that
of having more than one actually has
, idea expressed in

Epistle I from
An E
ssay on Man
,

and
this lust of ambition only leads to a more un
d
esirable condition than before.

However,
“
Crusoe's 'original sin' is really the

dynamic tendency of capitalism
itself, whose aim is never
merely
to maintain the status quo, but
to transform it
” (Watt, 62).

In contrast, thinking of Friday
who belongs to
the low
er state of life, he does not

wish for more than he has. He accepts to be
Crusoe’s servant and he stays loyal to him until the end when they are rescued.
As

a reward,
Crusoe takes Friday with him which certainly places him to an upper state of life
than that in
which he was before.

Talking
about Friday, it can be observed the master
–
servant like
relationship between them

which bears influences
of colonialism.
When Crusoe finds
Friday,
he gives him a name in order to gain possession of him
, this
outli
ning the colonial practice:
“
Crusoe understands
the "power of
naming" as a form of possession” (Richetti, 51).
He suffers
on the island because he is alone, but when he has Friday by his
side, instead of treating him
like

an equal
, he behaves with supe
riority, this thing emphasizing his pride.
“
On his island
Crusoe also e
njoys the absolute freedom from
social restrictions

(…) there are no
family ties
or civil authorities t
o interfere with his individual
autonomy
” (Watt, 85). Therefore, Crusoe
imagines h
imself as
an absolute monarch

(“Crusoe is a representative Western man in his lust
for power and control”
–

Richetti, 52)
.

He views the island as being his

property and the people
,

who are saved

from death

by him and swear

him loyalty, as his subjects. Fur
thermore, when
somebody arrives
on the island
he
“
for
ces them to accept his dominion
with written contracts
a
cknowledging his absolute power” (Watt, 61)
,

these

contracts establishing
individual
contractual relationship
s and emphasizin
g the tendencies of capitalism and individualism.
Crusoe
behaves like a Puritan through the story. When he is on the uninhabited island he makes
a list of advantages and disadvantages of being shipwrecked and realizes that he was the only
one saved, he was

the elect

and that God helped him.
When he starts praying to God he asks
for redemption because only God’s grace could save him. Puritans think tha
t salvation comes
only through P
redestination
.
“
Economic individualism explains much of Crusoe's character

e
conomic specialisation and
its associated ideology help to
account for the appeal of his
adventures
; but

it is Puritan
individualism which contro
ls his spiritual being.” (Watt, 72).

In conclusion, both Alexander Pope and Daniel Defoe express
similar views

on human
nature, focusing on the bad sides of man
kind
.
Crusoe is governed by self
–
love,
capitalistic and
individualistic desires, all showing his perpetual concern only with himself, not with any other
human being

(Epistle III)
. And since h
e is “the
universal representative” as Coleridge points
out

and the

novel resembles

a spiritual autobio
graphy, Crusoe stands for humanity in general.

Bianca
–
Elena Popa

English major

Group 1

Bi
bli
ography
:



Greenblatt
, S.,
Abrams, M.H., David, A.,
Lewalski, B. K., Lipking, L.,
Logan, G. M.,
Maus, K. E., Noggle, J.,
Simpson, J
.
2006
.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature
.
8
th

Edition. Vol. 1
.

W. W. Norton & Company



Defoe, Daniel
.
2008
.
Robinson Crusoe
.
Oxford University Press



Oztekin, S. 2015.
An Analysis of Individualism
and Human Nature in Robinson Crusoe
.
In
International Journal of Humanities,

Art and Social Studies (IJHAS). Vol. 1.

No.1

–

retrieved from
http://airccse.com/ijhas/papers/1116ijhas02.pdf

–

Accessed on
15.06.2018



Lovejoy, A.O.
1936.
The Great Chain of Being
. Harvard University Press



Watt, I. 1959.
The Rise of the Novel
. University of California Press



Richetti, J. 1996.
The Cambridge Companion to
the Eighteenth
–
Century Novel
.
Cambridge Univers
ity Press