I was then obliged to shoot
Wal Paget (1863-1935)
full-page lithograph
18.3 cm high by 12.9 cm wide, framed.
1891
Robinson Crusoe, facing page 146; signed "Wal Paget" lower left.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Passage Illustrated: Crusoe to the Rescue
I observed,that the two who swam were yet more than twice as strong swimming over thecreek as the fellow was that fled from them. It came very warmly upon my thoughts, andindeed irresistibly, that now was the time to get me a servant, and, perhaps, a companionor assistant; and that I was plainly called by Providence to save this poor creature'slife. I immediately ran down the ladders with all possible expedition, fetched my two guns, for they were both at the foot of the ladders, as I observed before, and getting up again with the same haste to the top of the hill, I crossed towards the sea; and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed myself in the way between the pursuers and the pursued, hallowing aloud to him that fled, who, looking back, was at first perhaps as much frightened at me as at them; but I beckoned with my hand to him to come back; and, in the meantime, I slowly advanced towards the two that followed; then rushing at once upon the foremost, I knocked him down with the stock of my piece. I was loath to fire, because I would not have the resthear; though, atthat distance, it would not have been easily heard, and being out of sight of the smoke, too, they would not have known what to make of it. Having knocked this fellow down, the other who pursued him stopped, as if he had been frightened, and I advanced towards him: but as I came nearer, I perceived presently he had a bow and arrow, and was fitting it to shoot at me: so I was then obliged to shoot at him first, which I did, and killed him at the first shot.[Chapter XIV, "A Dream Realised," pp. 145]
Commentary: The Iconic Moment — Crusoe rescues Friday
A constant in the various nineteenth-century programs of illustration for the novel is the scene in which Crusoe decides to intervene in the cannibals' rite by coming to the rescue of one of their intended victims.However, whereas the earlier illustrators such as Thomas Stothardhave focussed on Crusoe's serving as Friday's saviour and preserver as he runs from his captors, Paget re-frames the moment so that the hapless archer who has never before encountered European firearms tries to shoot Crusoe. Friday remains a small, naked figure in the background; Crusoe discharges his musket in the middle space; and the archer in the foreground drops his weapons and falls backward as the bullet penetrates his chest.
Thus, Paget re-directs the reader's sympathy from Crusoe and Friday, as in the earlier illustrations of this incident, and towards the pursuer whom we might think a victim, were it not for the context of print-medium narrative. Further examination of the composition reveals that Crusoe has already neutralised another of Friday's pursuers, who lies on the ground immediately behind Crusoe. The setting, a tropical jungle, implies that, in this Darwinian struggle for survival, the European is fittest because of his superior technology and his ability to strike down his enemies at a distance.
Related Material
- Daniel Defoe
- Illustrations of Robinson Crusoe by various artists
- Illustrations of children’s editions
- The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe il. H. M. Brock at Project Gutenberg
- The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe at Project Gutenberg
Related Scenes in Stothard (1790), the 1818 Children's Book, Cruikshank (1831), Cassell's (1863-64), Phiz (1864), and Gilbert(1867?)
Left: George Cruikshank's 1831 realisation of the rescue scene, Crusoe having just rescued Friday (frontispiece, Volume I). Centre: Phiz's steel-engraved frontispiece, with the surviving pursuer about to attack the unwitting Crusoe, Robinson Crusoe rescues Friday (1864). Right: Realistic but emotionally muted realisation of the same scene, Crusoe and Friday (1863-64). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Left: Stothard's 1790 realisation of the rescue scene, an illustration of which Cruikshank was probably aware, Robinson Crusoe first sees and rescues his man Friday (copper-plate engraving, [Chapter XIV, "A Dream Realised"). Centre: Phiz's steel-engraved frontispiece, with the surviving pursuer about to attack the unwitting Crusoe, Robinson Crusoe rescues Friday (1864). Right: Colourful realisation of the same scene, with a decidedly subservient and Negroid Friday: Friday's first interview with Robinson Crusoe. (1818).
Left: The 1815 children's book woodblock engraving of Crusoe bidding Friday to rise, On his coming close to me, he kneeled down again.Centre: Sir John Gilbert's realisation of the rescue scene, Crusoe rescues Friday (1867?). Right: Realistic but emotionally muted realisation of the same scene, Crusoe and Friday (1863-64).
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 3 May 2018