Moll Flanders And Society Essay, Research Paper
written by umut altan
MOLL FLANDERS
One of the earliest social novels in English , Moll Flanders features one of the most lively , convincing , and delightful rogues in literature .In the novel , through the harsh life of a woman , Daniel Defoe shows the reader how life was in the 18th century England .
Moll Flanders is a story about the fall and rise of a woman who was born in Newgate Prison . Her mother was saved from the gallows because “she pleaded her belly”, and soon after Moll was born , her mother was shipped to the colonies to work out her sentence . Left behind , Moll was raised for three years by gypsies . Moll worked her way out of that , disgusted that England did not have orphanages , and she was allowed to live with a nurse. At a young age she decided she did not want to be a servant , but a gentlewoman . Her defination of a gentlewoman was a woman who worked and supported herself .It was like an utopia in the 18th century England as most of the women were dependent to a great degree on men as they had no social status and financial power . We clearly see this dependence in Moll . Moll’s nurse, and a wealthy matron of the town , found entertainment in this , and Moll was allowed to sew for people to earn her keep . After her nurse died , she lived with the wealthy matron and her family . She was their servant . Moll learned what the daughters learned , French , dancing , singing , and how to read and write . Her talents and beauty surpassed theirs , but she would never have the same advantages as she was poor and of low social standings .One of the daughters states that :
If a young woman have Beauty ,Birth ,Breeding ,Wit , Sense ,Manners ,Modesty and all these to an Extream ; yet if she has not Money , she is nobody , for nothing but Money now recommends a woman ; the Men play the Game all into their own Hands ( I- 11 )
This quotation shows us the strict class distinction in the 18th century England and how women were dependent to men . The elder brothe
My Dear , I have not broken a promise with you yet ,I did tell you I’d marry you when I was come to my Estate; but you see my Father is a healthy Man and you never proposed my Marrying you sooner . ( I – 24 )
In that period becoming wealthy was usually through inheritance as we see in the quotation .
After a while the younger brother, Robin, told Moll his love and plans of marrying her. After weeks of unbalance and uneasiness of this, their marriage was approved . Robin died five years after the marriage . Moll gave her children to Robins parents, and she went off to start her new life.
In her new life she spent twelve years as a whore , twelve years as a thief , was married five times , committed incest , was sentenced to death , but given a reprieve, and was transported to Virginia were she finally prospered . Moll chose her life as a prostitute . She states on page 138 :
Well , let her life have been the way it would then , it was certain that my life was very uneasy to me ; for I liv’d , as I have said , but in the worst sort of whoredom , and as I cou’d expect no Good of it , so really no good issue came and all my seeming prosperity wore off and ended in misery and destruction …
This choice , however , was an instinct to survive . In the 1800’s, the legal system was not in a woman’s favor .According to this legal system , women would not inherit anything when their husbands died .Therefore Moll became a prostitute and then resorted to a life of crime after she no longer looked good enough to make a living as a prostitute .
As a result Moll Flanders is a rogue novel that involves a woman’s expedition from a poverty stricken lower class to a middle – class station in life . The novel is regarded as one of the earliest social novels . Therefore it gives the reader information about the life in the 18th century England.
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