Daniel Defoes's Robinson Crusoe as first capitalist hero and Darwinian capitalism in Eugene O'Neills's The Hairy Aple

1. Comparison between Robinson Crusoe and
The Hairy Ape
• Prepared and Presented by Minkal Italiya
• Paper-2 The Neo Classical Literature
• Semester 1
• Roll No. 26
• Enrollment No. 2069108420190020
• Email id: italiyaminkal@gmail.com
• S.B.Gardi Department of English
• Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji Bhavangar University

2. Introduction
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel
Defoe
• English Trader, writer, journalist
and spy
• The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neil
• American playwright and Nobel
laureate in Literature

3. The novel Robinson Crusoe
• Novel may be based on the true
life events of Alexander Selkirk
• The portrayal of the journey of
Robinson Crusoe during
different voyages
• Defining the modern citizen of
capitalist society

4. The play Hairy Ape
• The Hairy Ape is a semi-
autobiographical play
• Based on O’neill’s experiences as
a laborer on an ocean liner
• The portrayal of the impact of
industrialization and civilization
on Yank
• Satirize the human condition in
the modern capitalist world

5. Themes
Capitalism in Robin Son
Crusoe
- Capitalism in 18th century
- The first capitalism hero
- Capital accumulation
- Voluntary exchange
- Life on Island
Capitalism in The Hairy
Ape
- Capitalism in 2oth Century
- Darwinian Capitalism
- Mastery of machinery

6. Character Comparison
Friday
• He was saved by Robinson
Crusoe
• Robinson gave him name
• Taught him his own religion
Christianity
• Robinson created new identity
for his slave
• Friday’s own identity was lost
Yank
• Worker on a ship
• Leader among the other workers
• He has sense of belongingness
• Called as “Filthy beast” by
Mildred Douglas
• His mental state disintegrates
into animalistic
• He has not his own identity

7. Natural Element in Robinson Crusoe
• Utopian environment was
created in the absence of Society
• Crusoe’s physically, mentally,
spiritually development

8. Human regression by industrialization in
Hairy Ape
• Industrialization has reduced the
human worker into machine.
• The men are programmed to do
task by turning of whistle
• Workers do the job which
requires only Physical Labor

9. Conclusion
Robinson Crusoe
Colonizer
(Robinson)
Colonized
Creation of
a Subaltern
(Friday)
The Hairy Ape
Colonizer(C
ivilized
society)
Colonized
Creation of
Subaltern
(Yank)