At one blow cut off his head (p. 146) depicts one of the story's most unsavoury scenes as Friday, at Crusoe's direction, ensures that none of the pursuers survives to bear witness to Crusoe's presence on the island. Both Friday and his victim have decidedly North American aboriginal rather than African features. Middle of page 148, vignetted: 9.6 cm high by 12.3 cm wide, signed "Wal Paget" lower right. Running head: "I Clothe Friday" (p. 148).

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Passage Illustrated: Friday as an Agent of Nemesis

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. The poor savage who fled, but had stopped, though he saw both his enemies fallen and killed, as he thought, yet was so frightened with the fire and noise of my piece that he stood stock still, and neither came forward nor went backward, though he seemed rather inclined still to fly than to come on. I hallooed again to him, and made signs to come forward, which he easily understood, and came a little way; then stopped again, and then a little farther, and stopped again; and I could then perceive that he stood trembling, as if he had been taken prisoner, and had just been to be killed, as his two enemies were. I beckoned to him again to come to me, and gave him all the signs of encouragement that I could think of; and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every ten or twelve steps, in token of acknowledgment for saving his life. I smiled at him, and looked pleasantly, and beckoned to him to come still nearer; at length he came close to me; and then he kneeled down again, kissed the ground, and laid his head upon the ground, and taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head; this, it seems, was in token of swearing to be my slave for ever. I took him up and made much of him, and encouraged him all I could. But there was more work to do yet; for I perceived the savage whom I had knocked down was not killed, but stunned with the blow, and began to come to himself: so I pointed to him, and showed him the savage, that he was not dead; upon this he spoke some words to me, and though I could not understand them, yet I thought they were pleasant to hear; for they were the first sound of a man’s voice that I had heard, my own excepted, for above twenty-five years. But there was no time for such reflections now; the savage who was knocked down recovered himself so far as to sit up upon the ground, and I perceived that my savage began to be afraid; but when I saw that, I presented my other piece at the man, as if I would shoot him: upon this my savage, for so I call him now, made a motion to me to lend him my sword, which hung naked in a belt by my side, which I did. He no sooner had it, but he runs to his enemy, and at one blow cut off his head so cleverly, no executioner in Germany could have done it sooner or better; which I thought very strange for one who, I had reason to believe, never saw a sword in his life before, except their own wooden swords: however, it seems, as I learned afterwards, they make their wooden swords so sharp, so heavy, and the wood is so hard, that they will even cut off heads with them, ay, and arms, and that at one blow, too. [Chapter​ XIV, "A Dream Realised," page 146]

Commentary​: A scene not for Family Reading

Other nineteenth-century illustrators have not dealt with Friday's beheading one of his pursuers at Crusoe's behest — probably because the subject is rather too gruesome for family reading.​ Crusoe, of course, has to be ruthless here because he cannot let any of Friday's pursuers escape lest they inform the main tribe of his presence on the island. Paget again throws Crusoe well into the background, a clearing in a Darwinian jungle in which, in the foreground, Friday stands regarding his fallen enemy as he holds the severed head.​ Standing at such distance, Crusoe has given Friday freedom of choice, but his new-found "servant" does not hesitate to act of his atavistic impulses. By the time that the reader encounters the image, the feasters have departed in their canoes, leaving horrific evidence of their cannibalism. Thus, the accompanying text serves to mitigate Friday's rough justice on the facing page.

Related Material

Related Scenes from Stothard (1790), Phiz (1864), the 1818 Children's Book, Cruikshank (1831),​ ​Gilbert (1867), and​ ​ Cassell's (1863-64)

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 rescuesFriday (1864). Right: Colourful realisation of the same scene, with a decidedly subservient and Negroid Friday: Friday's first interview withRobinson Crusoe. (1818). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Left: Cruikshank's 1831 realisation of the rescue scene, Crusoe having just rescued Friday (frontispiece, Volume I). 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).

References

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.


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Last modified 3 May 2018