Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe travels around the world to discover the wonders of the world. However, he ends up in a tragic shipwreck that leaves him stranded and unable to leave the island. Aphra Bethn’s Oroonoko features a royal who has become a slave. His final demise is in Surinam. Both Defoe’s and Behn’s stories use first-person narration. While this is beneficial to the narrator in each story, it does not make them equally reliable.
Behn’s narrator is absent from most of the events that she describes, which seriously undermines her credibility. While the female narrative claims to have “often conversed and seen [Oroonoko],… and been a witnesses to many mighty action” (2140), what becomes problematic is the detail she provides to the reader regarding “what [she] was not able to witness”. Behn’s narrative narrator cannot convey the details of her personal experiences, but only those that are told to her “by the hero’s mouth who has given us the full transactions of [his] youth” (2137). The narrator speculates, even though she was not present for the event, that Oroonoko’s blushing when seeing Imoinda is a sign of their changing relationship. She does not mention that she has spoken to anyone else other than Oroonoko. However, even though she is not present for these events, or has no direct knowledge of them, the narration quickly abandons objectivity to form assumptions about characters’ thoughts and feelings. He thought that his love was unjust now” (2150). The narrator makes assumptions about Imoinda despite the fact that she is only briefly present. She explains, “When Imoinda was gently woken by the Prince, who wasn’t a little surprised to find him, she trembled in a hundred fears” (2149). Behn has a female narrator who is not objective because she was absent during key moments in the story and only conveyed secondary information.
Robinson Crusoe is a reliable narrator because he can reflect back on his past experiences. Robinson Crusoe reveals his memories of the past and how he felt at that time. He then compares this to what he feels now. Robinson Crusoe recalls that “had he had the foresight to return to Hull to be with his family, [he] could have been very happy” (14), he would have “been happy”. He also remembers that he once “looked upon [his] circumstances with a great deal of regret” (32). Robinson Crusoe reflects on his first sea voyage, and says that it was “his] great mistake that he did not sail himself as a seaman” (16). He recalls how “loose he was at the time” (16). Crusoe is not shy about revealing to his reader that he does not know the details of his tale. After escaping his master’s captivity by stealing his boat, Crusoe says that he was “at an anchor at the mouth of a small river”, but he did not “know what or where” nor “what latitude, country, nations, or river”. Crusoe says that, in reflecting on his ability as a farmer, he had “nearly two bushels” of rice and more than two bushels and a half of barley. This is based on Crusoe’s guess because he did not have metric measurements at the time (100). Crusoe recalls that during his first few months on the Island, “[he] did not remember having given any thought to either looking upwards at God, nor inwards in order to reflect upon [his] ways.” (76). He explains that “he acted as though he had no thought of God, or Providence. Robinson Crusoe has a more reliable narration than Behn’s female character because he admits his uncertainties and reflects on the past.
Behn’s female narrator gives her a higher status than other characters when she says that, “[her] father was killed at sea and never came to receive the honor he was designated (which included lieutenant-generalship of six and thirty Islands besides the continent of Surinam).” Behn’s female protagonist establishes an elevated social status when she informs the reader, “[her] [father] died at the sea, and never came to possess the honour was designed for him” (2162) and adds, “as soon [she] arrived in the country, it was presented to [her]” (2163). Oroonoko ‘had an entire trust’ in the narrator, who then disappears whenever Oroonoko treats her badly (2173). Robinson Crusoe’s narrator also informs readers that “[he] is from a family of good people, born in York in 1632” (5). Crusoe considers himself “lord of the entire manor”, or, if desired, “King, or Emperor over the whole land that [he] owned” (109). A journal entry also states the sixth month of November is the “sixth of [his] ruling” (117), of his castle (131), or enterprise (160). Robinson Crusoe has an impressive first meeting with his friend Friday: “I let him know that Friday was his name, because I saved his live on Friday.” I also taught Friday to say his name, Master, before letting him know that it would be mine (174). Robinson Crusoe’s first-person narrative differs from Behn’s. But both narrators are in the position of being able to project themselves positively.
Robinson Crusoe, on the other hand, is able to reflect retrospectively upon his past, which gives his narrative credibility. Robinson Crusoe is also a first person narrator. This gives both narrators a sense of authority and allows them to manipulate the text in order for themselves to be portrayed in a positive way in comparison with others in the novel.
Works Cited
Behn, Aphra. The Longman Anthology of British Literature, “Oroonoko”. 4th ed. Ed. David Damrosch. Pearson Education published in New York in 2010. 2137-2178. Print.
Defoe, Daniel. The novel Robinson Crusoe tells the story of a man who is shipwrecked on an island and must learn to survive on his own. 2008. Ed. Thomas Keymer. New York University Press. Print.