Realism In Moll Flanders Moll Flanders Morality Moll Flanders Analysis Criticism of Moll Flanders Essay Moll Flanders Morality

1. Realism In Moll Flanders
Defoe's Moll Flanders is remembered more for being a criminal or an outsider than a prostitute,
in fact, she can be considered a picaresque hero. The "picaresque" novel is a genre of prose fiction,
which usually adopts a realist style with elements of satire or comedy. Defoe's concept of irony is
mainly referring to a subtle sarcasm or humorous; firstly used in his pamphlets to react against the
English Imperialism and secondly, in his novels. In fact, in his reaming years, Defoe concentrated
on novels: such as Moll Flanders, the fictional autobiography of a prostitute, as well as The Life
and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, a story based partly on the memoirs of
voyagers and castaways. The narrative style of these two novels is matter–of–fact, (realistic)
following the principles promoted by society. Moreover, Defoe's realism is based on an
examination of one's life existence in a particular social or historical circumstance. "So one should
speak not of reality in some stable sense in Defoe's fiction but of shifting and multiples realities". (1)
He stages his novel as a memoir of a person, who, though fictional, is composite of people who
experienced real events in Defoe's London. He analysed London and he mirrors it as a city where
he and his characters belong. He draws on the established conventions of the rogue biography. In
fact, Moll Flanders is an autobiographical account, written in the first– person narrator, a genre that
presented the story as series of loosely connected adventures or episodes in a semi–fictionalized way.
The story of Moll Flanders with her concerns picture also her thoughts to allow readers to believe
at first that is an authentic account. Indeed, readers are given little or no access to Defoe's inner
thoughts, except from his Preface, so the author hides himself into Moll Flanders. This writing
technique is also well expose in "The Life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York" and
precisely in his journal, when he generally describes things that happen to Crusoe in diary–like
sequences but there is no real novelistic plot, whereas in Moll Flanders he gives more space to
character. "These individuals are essentially alone" (2). So that, his characters are
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2. Moll Flanders Morality
Sweeping generalizations made against a subgroup of the population have never favored well within
a historical perspective. Countless wars and revolutions were fought to discredit generalizations
because they are often either societal racism, sexism, or other maliciously conceived fallacies. While
the Fortunes and Misfortunes of The Famous Moll Flanders and Company by Daniel Defoe reflects
many of the ideologies upheld by eighteenth–century social culture, the book also invokes some
startling theories. The most disturbing and widely respected synecdoche was that members of the
middle class are morally inferior to those in higher classes. While Defoe does allude to the
immorality of Great Britain's middle class, at several points within the...show more content...
As an infant, her life path was quite distorted. Moll states the "first account that I can recollect, or
could ever learn of myself, was that I had wandered among a crew of those people they call
gypsies," a group of individuals that were widely looked down upon by the general public as
thieves and sinners (45). ] It is important to note, all of the misfortune that were recounted in the
former were not at the hand of Moll herself but instead at her mother's, yet her status in society
was lower because of them. In fact, Moll's lot in life had been damaged long before she could
even develop a moral standing. In a lucky twist of fate, Moll found herself in the care of a local
parsonage where she was placed in the care of a woman who taught her how to make a living for
herself as a seamstress. Individuals living in the middle class during the eighteenth century often
had outside pressures placed upon them that kept their social mobility stagnant; these outside
pressures, coupled with societal stereotyping, often lead to great resentment towards their
oppressors. For society to say that Moll was placed in the middle or lower class because of her
inferior virtue is unfounded, and this theme is reflected in Defoe's writing about Moll's early
beginnings.
It is indisputable that Moll's moral standing changes drastically to reflect the stereotypical
immorality of her class, however, after some reflection, it is
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3. Moll Flanders Analysis
In Daniel Defoe's "Moll Flanders" we follow a woman named Moll throughout her life. She
encounters several serious situations, gets married five times, and has many children that she
leaves in the care of their fathers or paternal grandparents. As a society, the first emotion that
comes to our minds when we recognize these behaviors in a woman is disgust, after all, how could
a woman leave her children? However, if a man did the very same some readers wouldn't give it a
second thought. Defoe's story brings to light societal concerns regarding women in his time period
and how society should address them.
The key issue is the number of children Moll has and leaves behind. In total, she has 12 children
by the end of her story; three are dead, seven that are left with their fathers or grandparents, and two
of which are left unaccounted for. Only one does she ever reunite with and not until late in life. To
society, the question remains, why she didn't try her best to bring up and support her children from
her first husband. Scholars question whether it was due to her own abandonment as an infant and
lack of a motherly figure to teach her how to love her own children, they were nothing more than a
happenstance of sex, or if it was because she was never able to feel secure of her own basic needs
and thus couldn't think to take care of another's. Firstly, Moll was born in a prison because her mother
was a convicted felon. After six months, her mother was transferred to a
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4. Criticism of Moll Flanders Essay
Criticism of Moll Flanders
How should readers interpret the seeming contradictory character that Daniel Defoe presents in Moll
Flanders? Is her penitence a construction of irony? While the question of irony was prominent in the
earlier criticism of the 1950s and 1960s, most scholars have moved away from that question,
acknowledging the existence of various types of irony and validating the true reformation of Moll.
Critics are now articulating other subtle and complex authorial strategies in Moll Flanders besides
the use of irony, crediting Defoe with more of what it takes to be a "father of the novel." Newer
critical methodologies involving class and gender are also playing a role in establishing Defoe as
advocate of...show more content...
David Blewett finds Defoe's work much more unified along several lines, addressing the
incorporation of complex ironies that challenge stable society in such areas as family relations and
marriage. Overall, he attributes careful narrative planning to Defoe. In the exploration of Defoe's
narrative strategies, critics such as Maximillian E. Novak, Paula R. Backscheider, and Lincoln B.
Faller are illuminating the dimensions of his language. In his "Realism, Myth, and History in
Defoe's Fiction, Novak points out patterns of wordplay and double entendre that convey subtle
meanings and notes manipulations of tense that enable curious blending of past and present. Faller
coins the term "trialogue" in recognizing a dialogue involving two characters and the audience
present in "Moll Flanders and "rarely occurring in other literature of Defoe's contemporaries. In the
critical study, "Moll Flanders: The Making of a Criminal Mind, Backscheider calls attention to
elements of Defoe's prose style––its realistic, conversational, oral style.
In examining the use of various Defoe strategies, inevitably, questions will arise over what ideas
conveyed are Defoe's and which are Moll's––or other than Defoe's own. Debate ranges on this topic.
Again, Ian Watt presents a starting point: "Defoe's identification with Moll
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5. Moll Flanders Morality
In the novel Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe, author, utilized the story of Moll Flanders to enforce
his religious ideas and high morals on his readers. During this time period, the general notion of
morality was correlated with social class and financial state rather than religion; furthermore,
people in higher social standings were depicted as having higher morals because of their financial
status. Citizens in lower classes were not only looked down upon for their lack of money, but, also,
they were also considered lesser because of their poor life choices and the way they lived their life.
Defoe made the argument that people made poor decisions and had low morals because of their
financial situation and social status, not that their...show more content...
Moll was hired by one of the ladies in the neighborhood to be a servant after Moll's nurse died. At
the lady's house, Moll continued her education alongside the younger women of the house giving
herself "all the Advantages of Education that [she] could have had, if [she] had been as much a
Gentlewoman as they were," elevating her social status within the neighborhood and family (56).
Eventually Moll began to understand that "she had not money," which meant "she [was a] no
Body," and that despite all the education and admiration she received, she would not be able to
elevate her social status without money. Moll realized that her only way of becoming a
Gentlewoman was through marrying someone with weath. Her morals began to change after this
realization, which is what induced her to participate in an affair with the eldest son of her employers,
though his promises of an eventual marriage were not concrete. He continually paid for her silence
and sexual companionship throughout the relationship, and despite it going against her morals, she
admits that she "thought of nothing but the fine Words and the Gold" (64). This statement proves
that during her affair with the Eldest brother, her morals were seriously challenged and altered
providing support for Defoe's
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