"Made her kneel by him." — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

Made her kneel by him

Wal Paget (1863-1935)

lithograph

9 cm high by 8 cm wide, vignetted.

1891

Robinson Crusoe, embedded on page 323.

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.]

The Passage Illustrated: Will and Mary Atkins reaffirm their Faith

Wife. — That me would understand, that me fain see; if He teachee all good thing, He makee all good thing, He give all thing, He hear me when I say O to Him, as you do just now; He makee me good if I wish to be good; He spare me, no makee kill me, when I no be good: all this you say He do, yet He be great God; me take, think, believe Him to be great God; me say O to Him with you, my dear.

Here the poor man could forbear no longer, but raised her up, made her kneel by him, and he prayed to God aloud to instruct her in the knowledge of Himself, by His Spirit; and that by some good providence, if possible, she might, some time or other, come to have a Bible, that she might read the word of God, and be taught by it to know Him. This was the time that we saw him lift her up by the hand, and saw him kneel down by her, as above. [Chapter VII, "Conversation betwixt Will Atkins and his Wife," page 319]

Commentary

The other figures in the scene but not in illustration, Crusoe and the young Catholic priest, overhear the conversation. In terms of visual continuity, in order to make clear the identities of the two figures Paget has given them the same distinctive clothing seen in previous illustrations. Will wears the same feathered hat in "We called him in alone", and the wife the same dress and shawl as in example, "I have brought you an assistant." The lengthy dialogue between husband and wife about Christian doctrine occurs in a jungle clearing not far from Atkins' plantation house, which Crusoe and the priest are approaching in the introductory illustration for this sequence, "Atkins and his tawny wife."

Related Material

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 5 April 2018