Roxana’s Search for Identity in Daniel Defoe’s Roxana Essay -- Roxana

Roxanas Search for Identity in Daniel Defoes RoxanaIn all of Daniel Defoes major works, his characters always thumb a need to tell apart their history, specifically through the adventures they had rather than any description of who they were. Some bulk would suggest that this compulsion to give such an account reveals a point of guilt the narrator is act to free him or her egotism from, and an attempt to feel more secure in terms of individuation. In the article, Why Roxana sight N incessantly Find Herself, Peter New offers his theory to explain wherefore Defoes characters, and Roxana in specific, argon un able to obtain any real tribute of identity, even though they employ this method to achieve it. In News definition, a secure identity scum bag only be achieved through a full acknowledgment and sense of pride in ones history. Roxana does try to furbish up herself in terms of what she has done rather than who she is, which is an acknowledgment of her past. However, she te lls her story because she wants to top a sense of twain freedom and security, but the two are mutually exclusive. If Roxana writes as a penitent, she is choosing to be free from her past, or to re coffin nailt it, thereby losing her security of identity. However, if she chooses security and owns up to all that she has been, then she can never be freed from her burden of guilt. Thus she is both trying to twitch and to reject her own history (318). We see this tendency towards confusion and contradiction in Roxana all throughout the novel. She is constantly rationalizing her actions in the past, but now following that with a description of her feelings of guilt and regret. In News interpretation, it is this tendency which proves that Roxana can never really find herself becaus... ...this theory to show that although Roxana is desperately trying to define herself and discover her true identity, ironically, her selves will never be able to be integrated. His final conclusion about Roxanas character is that She is condemned to search for an identity in the story of her selves and be unable ever to find it, because she both wants and does not want to be legion (329). This article presents an interesting, and valid logical argument about the character of Roxana in all her complexities. However, I think early(a) arguments could be as plausible, depending on your viewpoint of Roxana. Are we to see her as insecure in her identity and confused as to what she wants? And if so, can we ever really know her true character if she cannot ever know her self? Work CitedNew, Peter. Why Roxana Can Never Find Herself. The Modern actors line Review 91 (1996) 317-329.