the theft‚ Moll optimistically moralizes her actions under natural law. Moll’s uses natural law theories throughout the novel to alleviate internal condemnation of her social misconduct (Zhang). Defoe creatively modifies Moll’s moral‚ spiritual‚ and sexual thoughts‚ that would normally govern human behavior‚ into mercenary values. McMaster goes on to view Defoe as being detached from Moll; judging her and the social class that she represents. Defoe’s overall theme for Moll Flanders is that of mercenary
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Moll Flanders Ethics In this passage of the novel written by Daniel Defoe‚ we can see some characteristics of the ethical model. The main character‚ Moll Flanders‚ passes judgment of her life with the banker. Moll’s husband is appropriately in the banking business. Moll’s banker husband is never much more than a credit statement to her and it is appropriate that he should die as the result of a broken bank balance. The loss of a sum of money is for her a “wound had sunk too deep‚ it was a stab
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Moll Flanders Moll Flanders was a product of her vanity and pride. She devoted her entire life to achieving some sort of wealth and social status. Her pride encompassed her entire life and affected all of her life decisions. Moll sacrificed many things‚ including love‚ religion‚ self-respect‚ and peace of mind‚ in order to attain a sort of affluence. Eventually‚ Moll achieves her desires and retires a gentlewoman in America‚ but her journey definitely took a serious toll on her life. In
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Moll Flanders in Daniel Defoe’s novel is portrayed as a witty feminine heroine of survival and an innocent fallen angel of circumstance‚ rather than the vile and cruel criminals in factual materials in the 18th century. In comparing Moll Flanders with criminals in factual fiction‚ such as Anne Holland and Mary Frith (Moll Cutpurse)‚ there are a lot of resemblances. For example‚ the gender of these characters are all female; the last name Holland and Flanders are both some kind
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MOLL FLANDERS ANALYSIS Defoe wrote Moll Flanders at a time when there was still little precedent for the novel as a genre‚ and he accordingly felt compelled to justify his book by presenting it as a true story. He stages his novel therefore as the memoir of a person who‚ though fictional‚ is a composite of real people who experienced real events in Defoe’s London. (Of course‚ part of the comic effect stems from the fact that no one person could have experienced all that Moll does.) He draws on the
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Characters Moll Flanders - The narrator and protagonist of the novel‚ who actually goes by a number of names during the course of her lifetime. Born an orphan‚ she lives a varied and exciting life‚ moving through an astonishing number of marriages and affairs and becoming a highly successful professional criminal before her eventual retirement and repentance. "Moll Flanders" is the alias she adopts‚ or rather is given by the criminal public‚ during her years as an expert thief. Moll’s Mother
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Moll Flanders: Themes Three recurring themes in Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe are greed‚ vanity‚ and repentance. Theme is defined as an underlying or essential subject of artistic representation. These three themes play an important role in the development of the story of Moll Flanders. The first theme‚ greed‚ is shown in Moll’s acts of prostitution. Moll turns to thievery in many instances to support herself. She also allows her morals to disintegrate; a result of her greediness. Moll’s
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Women have it quite taxing in Moll Flanders. They have only got a few options in life. They can be a spouse‚ a lover‚ a servant‚ a criminal‚ or prostitute. When it comes to selecting one of these positions‚ it all comes down to how much wealth a woman has access to. Moll moves between types not only because she endures‚ but also because she is unusually lucky‚ and an expert in manipulation. Like Moll‚ the females in this book look out for themselves more than their children or their partners‚ and
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MOLL FLANDERS QUOTES "Poor child‚’ says my good old nurse‚ ’you may soon be such a gentlewoman as that‚ for she is a person of ill fame‚ and has had two or three bastards.’ Page: 8 soft copy The eldest‚ a gay gentleman that knew the town as well as the country‚ and though he had levity enough to do an ill-natured thing‚ yet had too much judgment of things to pay too dear for his pleasures; he began with the unhappy snare to all women‚ viz. taking notice upon all occasions how pretty I was‚
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Moll Flanders Theme of Money Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders is the alleged autobiography of a woman and her struggle for success and survival in eighteenth-century England‚ the key to which is money. The importance Moll places on financial value and the fact that money controls her thoughts‚ emotions‚ and actions serve as evidence that money is Moll’s god. In the American Tradition Dictionary‚ a god is defined as anything that is "worshiped‚ idealized‚ or followed." Through Moll’s actions
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