The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [181]
Robinson Crusoe, aimlessly drifting round the world, all at sea, is suddenly pulled up short by the catastrophe of finding himself shipwrecked. The first part of the story shows him gradually coming to terms with his new situation, both outwardly and inwardly. He slowly wins control over his immediate environment, and also develops a wholly new attitude to life, coming to view his position realistically, without self-pity, grateful for what he has, learning to see objectively and whole. The second part of the story begins when we see his new-found qualities being put to the test. He becomes aware that he is not alone on the island and that it is under a deadly shadow cast by the visiting cannibals. Because Crusoe has won understanding and mastery of himself, and feels protectively towards their helpless victims, he can now act as a strong potential leader, becoming in the shadows the centre of light opposition to the dark power which dominates the island. First he is joined by Friday, whom Crusoe educates and trains to fight. Secondly, between them, they rout the cannibals, releasing more victims. Finally the ship which has been taken over by mutineers arrives, and Crusoe secretly reveals himself to the captain who accepts his complete authority. Crusoe masterminds the mutineers' overthrow and steps from the shadows as at last undisputed `king' of the island. He can now return home, a king over himself, to live happily and prosperously for the rest of his life.
Lucius, the hero of The Golden Ass, also begins as an egocentric young drifter, only interested in sexual self-indulgence and the occult - in other words, with a dark, inferior desire for `love, which he sees only in terms of physical self-gratification, and for `secret knowledge, which he sees only as a way to win power for himself. It is precisely a combination of these two weaknesses which, by a catastrophic misjudgement, lands him in the horrific plight of being turned into an ass. He now finds himself entirely at the mercy of mindless, unfeeling human beings until, when he finally recoils from the degradation of having to perform the sexual act in a circus, knowing also that it will mean death, he is miraculously released by the mysterious goddess of wisdom Isis. Now his real transformation begins. Under the guidance of Isis and through intense self-discipline, he gradually comes to recognise the true meaning of selfless love and of that spiritual reality which is obscured to limited consciousness by physical appearances and appetites. His heart and his eyes are opened. His two original dark obsessions have each been transformed into their `light' version. The story ends by showing him, as a devotee of Isis, a strong disciplined figure, at one with himself and with life.
When the Ancient Mariner, also a young man `all at sea, casually shoots the great, friendly albatross which has been following the ship, he has committed an appalling crime. He has used his strength blindly, unfeelingly, selfishly, to kill a perfect symbol of wholeness, something immense, beautiful, mysterious, self-contained, floating entirely at one with the world of nature. He sinks down into the living death of his unfeeling egocentricity, seeing all the world around him drained of life. He sees the spectral ship approaching, containing the `Nightmare Life-in-Death, the terrible `Dark Mother' of final unconsciousness - until finally some deep impulse for life within him prompts him to croak out a blessing on the only other living creatures around him, the crawling water snakes. At last he is beginning to feel for life outside himself and to `see whole' beyond the confines of his own ego. Both within him and outside him, life begins to flow again. He is at one with its power and, now master of his ghostly ship, he is carried home.
Even the story of Peter Rabbit,