고려대학교

초록/요약

It was during the golden age of piracy from 1650 to 1730 that pirates —whether they were called buccaneers, privateers, rovers or otherwise— were ruthless in their pursuit of profit. At the end of the golden age, Daniel Defoe published the novel Captain Singleton (1720). Intriguingly, his vast knowledge on piracy, which was demonstrated clearly in his other novels and prose, kept the novel far from the cruel and inhumane scenes of piracy. In this paper, I argue that the absence of specific descriptions on piracy was intended to justify contemporary commerce and trade as a legitimate pursuit of wealth and examine Alexander Exquemelin’s The Buccaneers of America (1684) to show that depictions of cruel scenes, which guarantee the authenticity of his writing, leave him vulnerable to criticism against his involvement in piracy. In the novel, Defoe attributes contradiction and cruelty to piracy, exposing the satirical or comical distance from pirates. He does not depict scenes of inhumane violence and cruelty by Singleton and his gang but rather takes pains to describe pirates as inferior traders. In other words, they aim to get more money but have no clear idea of how to maximize profit. Right after the pirates, like traders, appear to pursue interests with economic consideration of their actions, Defoe begins to describe Singleton’s religious repentance and attempted to reconcile the social convention with piracy. More important is not the ending but rather the way of understanding piracy: Implicit in rendering pirates as inferior traders is his support of legitimate trade. While removing atrocities from pirates and placing them adjacent to traders, Defoe indirectly glorifies imperialistic commerce as a legitimate pursuit of wealth.