Moll Flanders

Summary of Moll Flanders

Moll was born in Newgate prison. Pixabay.

Moll Flanders is born in Newgate Prison. Her mother is eventually transferred to the North American colonies, so Moll is raised by a foster mother from the age of 3. She becomes her foster family's servant, and both of the sons are in love with her. The elder brother convinces her to share his bed but prefers she marries the younger brother instead. Moll does and is left a widow after he dies five years into the marriage. She passes her children's guardianship to her in-laws and begins her first con: She presents herself as a rich widow to attract a man to marry and provide her with the security she needs.

The first man she marries goes bankrupt and flees Europe, where she is left alone. Their only child dies, and he encourages her to forget him. Soon, Moll marries a man that takes her to the Virginia colony. She is even introduced to his mother, and together Moll and her second husband have three children. To Moll's horror, she finds out her mother-in-law is indeed her biological mother and that she was married to her half-brother.

Moll accidentally marries her half-brother. Pixabay.

Moll flees and returns to England without her children. She goes to Bath where she meets a married man. The married man has a confined wife, who is confined for her insanity. They develop an intimate relationship that results in three children, most of whom die. He repeatedly falls ill and takes it as a sign to repent his sins and break off the affair. He returns to his wife but agrees to care for his and Moll's only living child.

Moll finds a bank clerk. The bank clerk is married to an adulterous woman and proposes to Moll who is now 42. She entrusts him with all of her finances. She cannot marry the bank clerk until he is divorced, so she continues her wealthy widow scheme and traps a wealthy man in Lancashire. A new friend of Moll's even confirms Moll's wealthy social status, despite it being false. Moll marries the rich man who owns land in Ireland. However, Moll and the wealthy man quickly realize Moll's new friend conned them both. Moll's new friend made Moll think the wealthy man was rich and Moll's new friend made the wealthy man think Moll was rich.

The wealthy man decides to end the marriage but promises to leave his money to her. They part ways, but soon Moll learns she is pregnant. Unable to afford to care for her child, Moll sells her newborn child to a country lady for 5 pounds a year. Moll returns to the now divorced bank clerk, and they marry. Despite Moll's guilt in tricking an innocent man to marry her, they live happily for five years. However, after falling bankrupt, he dies.

Moll has no option now other than to become a professional thief. She uses her skills of beauty and charm and reaches financial stability. Moll is joined by her governess, and the two become very successful thieves. The governess had been a successful thief prior to meeting Moll and is able to help Moll in her schemes. Moll is caught stealing by two maids and is sent to Newgate prison. In prison, she is reunited with her soulmate: the wealthy Lancashire man. He was imprisoned for robbing.

Moll is a professional thief. Pixabay.

Moll is sentenced to death on the charge of a felony, but she convinces the minister that she repents her sins. The minister accepts her repentance, and Moll and her Lancashire husband are sent to the colonies, where they will avoid death. She lives happily in the colonies with her husband. While there, she learns that her mother left her a plantation. She also learns her brother-husband and their remaining son are still alive.

She disguises herself and introduces herself to her brother-husband and son. She learns that they both own a 50 servant farm in Maryland. Moll reveals to her son that she is his mother, and he gives her Moll's mother's inheritance. The inheritance includes a farm and a 100 pound a year income. She makes her son the heir and gives him a stolen golden watch.

Moll's brother-husband dies, and so Moll tells her Lancashire husband everything. He is not bothered and sees no fault in her action. At the age of 70, Moll returns to England with her Lancashire husband. Both feel truly repent for their wicked ways.

Characters in Moll Flanders

Moll is the protagonist of Moll Flanders, and a majority of the characters that appear in the novel are her many husbands and people she has affairs with. Below you will find a chart that will help you keep track of Moll's many affairs.

Moll herself is an interesting character. She believes that if England had a better system for caring for orphaned children, she would not have been led into a life of crime. Therefore, poor girls have to do everything they can to survive. Despite the vanity we see in Moll, her fear of poverty is what motivates her to commit crimes. It is also important to note, that Moll Flanders is an alias the protagonist uses to protect her identity.

Other characters include Moll's mother and Moll's many children. The most prominent child that is mentioned is Moll's only living son with her husband-brother. Moll's mother can be seen as the origin of Moll's criminal ways, as it was her mother's imprisonment that left Moll an orphan, and according to Moll's logic, girls who are poor will do anything to leave poverty.

Analysis of Moll Flanders

Daniel Defoe wrote Moll Flanders in a way that makes the story seem like an autobiographical account of Moll's life. The novel is episodic, and events happen spontaneously with little to no transition—much like a person recounting stories from their own life. The only sense of continuity in the plot is Moll's characterization.

Genre and Writing Style

Moll Flanders belongs to the Picaresque novel genre of literature.

Moll Flanders follows the story of Moll, the story's unlikely "hero", and follows her adventures as she tries to use her wit and charm to climb out of a life of poverty. Moll Flanders is in the first-person point of view, and since it is a story told from Moll's perspective, Defoe made sure the writing style reflects Moll's witty, honest, and straightforward way of speaking. Defoe doesn't spend much time worrying about filling the novel with detailed descriptions of characters or settings.The only information we are provided is information Moll finds important. For this reason, descriptions of settings are rare, and some of the characters don't even have names. Moll refers to some of her husbands and lovers as titles such as "the eldest brother" and "Lancashire husband" which shows Moll sees most of her interactions with men as economical rather than love.

The novel's writing is centered on Moll and it is clearly evident how vain she is:

Moll Flanders Themes

Moll Flanders contains a few key themes that are worth exploring, such as gender roles, money, and morality.

Gender roles: women and society

When Defoe wrote Moll Flanders in the 18th century, women had very little choice and agency. Upper-class women were expected to marry someone with societal rank, run a household, and have children. Lower-class women usually had fewer options: having to choose between living as a servant, becoming a wife or a mistress, or committing crimes such as thievery and prostitution. The life of a woman, especially a lower class woman, was incredibly difficult—and Defoe portrays this accurately in Moll Flanders. Moll is born into poverty, but she has the education of an upper-class woman. She spends her life wishing to bring herself out of poverty in order to persevere in life. Her many schemes led her into wild situations, some of which are comical. The underlying message, however, is that women in the 18th century lacked autonomy, agency, or freedom to live as they wish.

Money

Money is Moll's main motivation. Pixabay.

Moll desires one thing in life: money. Money can raise herself out of poverty drives all of Moll's motivations and actions. She marries different men, sells her child, or simply sends them away, and eventually, she becomes a thief. Everything in Moll's life, including the men and children, have economic value to Moll, which is why she is able to rid of her children without much remorse or pain and is able to remarry so many times.

Morality and criminality

Moll reasons that she commits crimes because she is poor. Pixabay.

Moll is aware of how her actions are morally wrong and how she did indeed commit many crimes. As the tale is told in hindsight from Moll's perspective after repenting all her sins, she is able to fully describe the cycle of morality and criminality she falls into. She commits a crime or does something morally wrong, feels guilty, and then does it again. Sometimes Moll faces no consequences for her actions.

But why does she keep committing numerous crimes such as stealing, adultery, and prostitution? Well according to Moll, her poor upbringing means she must commit these crimes to survive in a cruel, unfair world. This makes the reader question if crimes ever have a moral justification or if Moll is simply avoidant responsibility.

Quotes From Moll Flanders

Here are important quotes from Moll Flanders.

At the end of the novel, Moll is an old woman reflecting on all the crimes she had committed over her lifetime. She also finally begins to value the things she has in life such as a husband, a well-furnished home, and comfortable circumstances. It provides the overall message that one should value what they have in life and be morally good.

Sex outside of marriage was considered a grave sin in the 17th and 18th centuries and reserved for "whores" and prostitutes who were already at the lowest rung on the societal scale. Moll knows this and even calls sex a "rudeness".

Here Moll reasons that if men are allowed to have advantageous marriages, why should women not seek advantageous marriages as well? Moll marries strategically to get out of poverty, and she believes her actions are justified. This speaks to the theme of gender roles: women and society.