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University of the Pacific

The theme of isolation in four novels of Daniel Defoe

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Daniel Defoe, separated from the society of the majority of English people of his time by his religion and his low social status, was concerned with isolation in the lives of the characters in his novels. The solitude of Robinson Crusoe has been frequently discussed, but the characters in other novels have not been studied in much detail nor have the characters been studied as a group of isolated with similar characteristics.</p><p>The purpose of the following study is to determine what characteristics Defoe’s isolates have in common, what attitude Defoe had toward solitude and the isolates, and what effect Defoe’s personal seclusion had on his fiction as represented by the four novels Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Captain Singleton, and Roxana.</p><p>The oslated selected for the study are two men: Robinson Crusoe and Captain Singleton, and two women: Moll Flanders and Roxana. All of these characters are at some time separated from the society acceptable to the majority of citizens by place of residence, by religious belief, by social status, by economic conditions, and by psychological factors. The chapter following will be devoted to the study of the causes and effects of isolation.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Year dc:date.available
1966

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Dillman, Mildred Merle
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Lawrence J. Osborne

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1615
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-2614

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of the Pacific
Base URL
scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Dillman, Mildred Merle. The theme of isolation in four novels of Daniel Defoe. Thesis thesis, 1966. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1615