Explain the rise of the novel in the 18th century and say if Robinson Crusoe is a novel in theme and structure.

Industrial Capitalism, Individualism and the Rise of the Novel

1-The rise of the novel during the eighteenth century is greatly associated with the rise of individualism at that time.

2-  Individualism  stressed the fact that every individual was independent from other individuals,  and as a direct result of industrial capitalism, it emphasized that the individual had to choose and decide his future. Modern industrial capitalism, also, taught people how to earn money ,and how increase it. Thus it brought emphasis on the individual and his money.

3- In the past, characters in the romances stood for certain qualities(e.g. Mr. Greedy, Mr. Angry,…etc.) and not for themselves.

4-In the eighteenth -century novel, individual characters are drawn as independent regardless of their social status or personal capacity. They are  portrayed as complex characters, affected by social pressures.

5-Eighteenth –century novelists such as S. Richardson, H. Fielding, and D. Defoe studied the individual’s attitudes, feelings, and motivations. Defoe emphasized individualism by writing a novel that has one central character with independent individual characteristics. Likewise, Richardson and Fielding concentrated on the individual and named their novels after their main characters.

6-The modern industrial capitalism made people pay great attention to money: how to gain it and how to keep it. In the earlier prose fiction, the main character had moral ideas, and thought only of virtues and good deeds. The eighteenth-century writers became more realistic and dealt with the only interest of the individual at their time, i.e. money. All Defoe’s characters pursue money, and they pursue it very methodically according to the loss and profit of book-keeping. Thus Robinson Crusoe leaves his father’s house and the secure life of  the middle class to seek more money. This materialistic point of view began to have a tremendous influence to the extent that idealistic moral values were no longer the core of stories, but the individual and his struggle to gain money.