Robinson Crusoe

For more details about the story, theme, plot etc. go to:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crusoe/
http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/crusoe/
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/id-161.html
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmRobinson02.asp

Major Theme :
The major theme in the play is that sin has its retribution, but peace can be found through forgiveness and belief. Crusoe is the prodigal son (like the one presented in the New Testament of the Bible). He runs away to sea against the wishes of his family. A series of disasters happen to him as a sailor, as punishment for his rebellious nature. When Crusoe finally lands in Brazil, he becomes a prosperous planter. Still unsatisfied with his wealth, he again provokes Providence by becoming a slave trader. As punishment, his ship is wrecked in a storm, and he alone escapes to an uninhabited island, where Crusoe undergoes a spiritual regeneration, becoming a Christian and converting Friday to Christianity as well.
After twenty-eight years on the island, he is finally able to escape. The prodigal son returns to England and finds himself very rich due to the ongoing success of his Brazilian plantation. Now, however, Crusoe is mature enough to handle his good fortune in life; he settles down, marries, and becomes generous with both family and friends. His changed soul, no longer rebellious, finds peace.

Major characters

Robinson Crusoe: the main character of the story, he is a rebellious youth with an inexplicable need to travel. Because of this need, he brings misfortune on himself and is left to fend for himself in a primitive land. The novel essentially chronicles his mental and spiritual development as a result of his isolation. He is a contradictory character; at the same time he is practical ingenuity and immature decisiveness

Robinson Crusoe - a young man who strongly desires to become a sailor. In spite of his family's opposition, he runs away to go to sea. His adventures lead him all over the world, but his most important journey is a spiritual one.

Friday: another friend/servant of Crusoe's, he spends a number of years on the island with the main character, who saves him from cannibalistic death. Friday is basically Crusoe's protege, a living example of religious justification of the slavery relationship between the two men. His eagerness to be redone in the European image is supposed to convey that this image is indeed the right one.

Friday - one of the savages, whom Crusoe rescues from his captors. Crusoe "civilizes" Friday and makes a gentleman and a Christian out of him. Friday remains faithful to Crusoe until the end.