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‘WHY GOD NO KILL THE DEVIL?’ THE DIABOLICAL DISRUPTION OF ORDER IN ROBINSON CRUSOE

1988; Oxford University Press; Volume: XXXIX; Issue: 156 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/res/xxxix.156.494

1471-6968

Nicholas Hudson,

Philippine History and Culture

ALTHOUGH Crusoe experiences little difficulty in persuading Friday to adopt correct notions on most points of Christian doctrine, he finds his pupil strangely unreceptive to his scriptural account of the devil. 'If God much strong, much might as Devil,' Friday asks, 'why God no kill the Devil, so make no more do wicked?' (p. 218).1 Crusoe can offer no answer to this problem and eventually retires to pray for inspiration, leaving Defoe's commentators with their own problem of how to interpret his confusion. Solutions to the problem have varied, but most have had in common the assumption that Robinson Crusoe is a deeply orthodox, unambiguous, even 'allegorical' account of the hero's spiritual journey towards faith and trust in God. There must be an appropriately pious reason for Crusoe's hesitation.2 A broader consideration of Defoe's writings suggests, on the other hand, that he was genuinely baffled by the kind of problems raised by Friday. As revealed by Defoe's subsequent discussions of the devil in Serious Reflections during the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719) and, most notably, The Political History of the Devil (1726), the devil presented perhaps the central challenge to Defoe's continuing effort 'to justify and honour the Wisdom of Providence' (p. 1). Throughout his writings he deliberates on the heterodox possibility that God has given the devil an unjust range of liberties or that, indeed, the devil is as strong as God. This essay will examine the nature and sources of these doubts.