Daniel Defoe

Captain Singleton (Annotated) Daniel Defoe

Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-The purpose of realizing this historical context is to approach the understanding of a historical epoch from the elements provided by the text. Hence the importance of placing the document in context. It is necessary to unravel what its author or authors have said, how it has been said, when, why and where, always relating it to its historical moment. Captain Singleton is a Daniel Defoe novel, originally published in 1720. It has been republished several times since then, some of which were in 1840 and 2008. Captain Singleton is believed to have been inspired in part by the exploits of the English pirate Henry Every, which operated in the late 17th century. The narrative describes the life of the Englishman, Singleton, stolen from a wealthy family as a child and raised by gypsies, who was eventually heading to the sea. The first half of the book refers to the crossing of Africa by Singleton, the second half refers to his life as a pirate in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Defoe's description of piracy focuses for the most part on matters of economics and logistics, and Singleton's pirate behaves more like a merchant adventurer, perhaps Defoe's comment on the mercantilism of his day.