英国文学Daniel Defoe.ppt

* In Defoes early life he experienced first-hand some of the most unusual occurrences in English history: in 1665, 70,000 were killed by the Great Plague of London. The Great Fire of London (1666) left standing only Defoes and two other homes in his neighbourhood. By the time he was about 10, Defoes mother Annie had died. Early life Daniel Defoe (1660?---1731) was born in London, the son of a butcher. Early life His parents were Presbyterian dissenters; he was educated in a dissenting academy at Newington Green run by Charles Morton and is believed to have attended the church there. During this period, England was not tolerant of all forms of religious belief. Roman Catholics were feared and hated. Dissenters refused to conform to the services of the Church of England; they were despised and oppressed. Business career Defoe entered the world of business as a general merchant, dealing at different times in hosiery, general woolen goods and wine. In 1685, Defoe joined the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion against James James II and narrowly escaped punishment. William III was crowned in 1688, and Defoe immediately became one of his close allies and a secret agent. In 1692 and 1703,he became bankrupt twice. Pamphlets and prison In a number of pamphlets ,he defended the new political order and attacked the adherents of the Stuarts. His most successful poem, The Trueborn Englishman—A Satire (1701), defended the king against the perceived xenophobia of his enemies, satirising the English claim to racial purity. The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters(1702),in this pamphlets ,he mockingly adopted the tone of an intolerant Tory and argued for the suppression of Dissenters at all costs,no matter how cruel the means ,thus reducing religious persecution to absurdity.The tories were enraged.In May 1703,Defoe was put in prison. Defoe wrote a ”Hymn to the Pillory”against his persecutors. This poem scattered all over London. When he was made to stand in the pillory, he was cheered