Supernatural Causal Setting
If a narrative's causal setting is supernatural, its fictional universe is governed by forces divine, magical, or otherwise preternatural, and its characters are ultimately subject to the will of these forces. In such narratives, destiny or providence often rules. However, in order to avoid rendering characters' choices and actions wholly irrelevant, authors often impose limits on the power of these supernatural forces.
The causal setting of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is, for instance, that of the supernatural, as Defoe figures his narrative as one that is governed by the superhuman force of God. Early in his time spent shipwrecked on the island, Crusoe experiences a religious awakening and, in recognizing providence as the causal power of his universe, establishes it also as the causal setting of Defoe's narrative: "It is God that has made it all . . . He guides and governs them all, and all Things that concern them; for the Power that could make all Things, must certainly have Power to guide and direct them. If so, nothing can happen in the great Circuit of his Works, either without his Knowledge or appointment" (124). |