Abstract:

            This paper explores how The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope and Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe reflect the eighteenth-century obsession with wealth, acquisition and imperial expansion. Through a close reading of these texts, it is investigated how Britain’s growing global commerce, colonialism and exploitation of foreign lands influenced the cultural values, mindsets of the people, turning them not only into consumers of commodities, but into commodities themselves. In The Rape of the Lock, Belinda’s beauty and social status are measured in terms of the imported luxuries she endorses – from ivory combs, Arabian perfumes, to Indian gems – foregrounding a world where objects define identity. Pope engages in a simultaneous criticism and celebration of this consumerist culture, employing classical allusions to mock and glorify the materialist ethos of the time. Meanwhile, Robinson Crusoe validates colonialism: Crusoe transforms a desert isle into a profitable empire, extracting resources, enslaving savages and asserting control. The Crusoe story mirrors Britain’s imperial missions, where land, labour and resources are exploited overseas to increase wealth at home. Both texts reveal how eighteenth century Britain, in its unabashed pursuit of profits, reduced imported goods and people into exchangeable assets. While Pope celebrates the wealth of import and condemns the culture of greed and sloth accompanying it; Defoe, validates it through Crusoe’s endeavours, portraying him as the arch colonizer. Together these works expose the moral and social consequences of an empire built on trade, conquest and the relentless pursuit of the “sumptuous spoils.”