"I made directly towards the poor victim" — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

I made directly towards the poor victim

Wal Paget (1863-1935)

lithograph dropped into the letter-press

18.5 cm high by 12.8 cm wide, framed.

1891

Robinson Crusoe (1891): page 171.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: Friday's Loyalty Tested

“Now, Friday,” says I, laying down the discharged pieces, and taking up the musket which was yet loaded, “follow me,” which he did with a great deal of courage; upon which I rushed out of the wood and showed myself, and Friday close at my foot. As soon as I perceived they saw me, I shouted as loud as I could, and bade Friday do so too, and running as fast as I could, which, by the way, was not very fast, being loaded with arms as I was, I made directly towards the poor victim, who was, as I said, lying upon the beach or shore, between the place where they sat and the sea. The two butchers who were just going to work with him had left him at the surprise of our first fire, and fled in a terrible fright to the seaside, and had jumped into a canoe, and three more of the rest made the same way. I turned to Friday, and bade him step forwards and fire at them; he understood me immediately, and running about forty yards, to be nearer them, he shot at them; and I thought he had killed them all, for I saw them all fall of a heap into the boat, though I saw two of them up again quickly; however, he killed two of them, and wounded the third, so that he lay down in the bottom of the boat as if he had been dead. [Chapter XVI, "Rescue of the Prisoners from the Cannibals," p. 168]

Commentary

In the 1891 volume's eighty-seventh lithograph (but only its sixth full-page illustration) for Defoe's The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. Related by Himself, Chapter XVI, "Rescue of the prisoners from the Cannibals," Paget emphasizes by his tentatively approaching the bound captive Crusoe's fear that the European — the first civilised being with whom he has had contact in twenty-eight years — may be expiring. Although the conventional chapter title emphasizes the rescue of two prisoners, the European and Carib (who by coincidence turns out to be Friday's father), nineteenth-century British illustrations tend to focus on Crusoe's coming to the aid of the cannibals' Spanish prisoner. More accurately and less dramatically than previous illustrators, Paget depicts Friday as Defoe describes him, firing on the cannibals as they flee in their canoe.

Related Material

Relevant illustrations from other 19th century editions, 1790-1891

Above: George Cruikshank's suspenseful wood-engraving of Crusoe and Friday's scouting the cannibals' position prior to attempting to rescue Spanish prisoner and dinner-guest, Crusoe and Friday watch the Cannibals from hiding (1831). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Above: Wal Paget's dramatic lithograph of Crusoe and Friday's shooting the enemy from cover prior to rescuing the cannibals' European captive, "I fired again among the amazed wretches." (1891).

Above: Phiz's's dramatic steel-engraving of Crusoe's rescuing the cannibals' European captive, Robinson Crusoe rescues the Spaniard (1864). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Left: The original Stothard copper-plate engraving in which Crusoe welcomes both former captives, the Spaniard and Friday's father (1790), Robinson Crusoe builds a tent for Friday's father and the Spaniard. Right: John Gilbert's realisation of the rescue scene, de-emphasizing the violence and bloodshed, The Rescue of the Spaniard (1860s).

Reference

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by Himself. With upwards of One Hundred and Twenty Original Illustrations by Walter Paget. London, Paris, and Melbourne: Cassell, 1891.

Last modified 18 March 2018