ABSTRACT
This chapter examines precisely these multiform discourses and the concatenation between them in Defoe's writings. Opening with Defoe's analysis of two gentlemen Prigson from the satire Reformation of Manners and Jemy from Moll Flanders this book argues that Defoe's vision of the gentlemen of England was no. The chapter also examines religiosity, foppery and manliness in a variety of Defoe's writings, including Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Religious Courtship, as well as his engagement with the Societies for Reformation of Manners. And it is precisely because of the first part's mythic nature that its presentation of masculinity needs to be approached so carefully and critically, and why I will briefly review the part Defoe studies have played in this mythologisation. The chapter crosses over and moves between modern paradigms for the analysis of masculinity in Defoe's work.
