God wanted him to remain on this island so that he would start to discover and appreciate many different aspects of life. God wanted him to remain on this island to suffer, and experience what Crusoe has been doing to others. Crusoe didn’t die like the others because it was part of his fate to suffer alone.
Crusoe tried to escape his destiny by leaving the island. He worked for days and weeks to build a ship that would carry him away from this island. He didn’t understand that him leaving or staying is in God’s hands, no matter how hard he tries. After building the ship he was unable to move it, and he was stuck on the island.
Through Crusoe, it is obvious that God’s decided fate is impossible to escape or overcome, and if Crusoe was able to escape from the island, that wouldn’t have been escaping God’s will but it would be God’s will. Everything that happens to us, humans, is something that is forced upon us by a superior power, God’s power.
The act of fate is also shown in Sophocoles’ Greek play, Antigone. Polynices and Eteocles, brothers of Antigone, both died fighting against each other at a battle. Creon, ruler of Thebes, ordered that Eteocles, because of his courage and loyalty to Thebes is to be given an honorable memorial service, whilst Polynices the traitor is to be left unburied.
“CREON:
… Eteocles, who died fighting, got Thebes,
excelling all in arms; he shall be buries,
crowned with a hero’s honors…
But as for his blood brother, Polynices,
… a proclamation has forbidden the city
to dignify him with burial, mourn him at all.
No, he must be left unburied, his corpse
carrion for the birds and dogs to tear,
an obscenity for the citizens to behold!” (Anitgone, 218-231)
Through God’s will, all humans must be buried after their death. It is not part of a human’s role to judge and give punishment to other humans. Creon tried to circumvent God’s will by ordering the Polynices is not to be buried, which led to a tragic ending.
When Anitgone learnt that Creon has decided that Polynices was not to be buried, with courage from God, she covered her brother with dust from the ground in order to give him his burial rights. Knowing the consequences of her actions, she was strong and stood up for her brother’s right. She wouldn’t have been able to take such a daring action without God willing that she does so.
Creon learning the news was shocked and ordered that Antigone is to be put in a dungeon until she dies. As a result of Creon trying to circumvent God’s will, he ended up loosing Haemen, his son, who killed himself out of love for Antigone.
“CREON:
Oh I’ve learned
through blood and tears! Then, it was then,
when the god came down and struck me–a great weight
shattering, driving me down that wild savage path,
ruining, trampling down my joy. Oh the agony,
the heartbreaking agonies of our lives.” (Antigone, 1402-1406)
Heamen, wasn’t the only one he lost, he also lost his dear wife Eurydice. “She stabbed herself at the altar” (Antigone, 1435) knowing that she will never see her son again.
To sum up, we cannot escape god’s will. Whatever happens to us is god’s will including being mad at god as Crusoe did, suffering without dying is, dying without suffering and even worshiping other gods. But in order to live our life the it should be lived, we should believe in God but we should act as we are the ones who make things happen for us, and not wait for things to happen because it’s “God’s will”.
