Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders [1722]

Study questions

Read the following book extracts and answer the following questions:

1. pp. 72-83

This knowledge I soon learned by experience, viz. the state of things was altered as to matrimony …

1. What incident from Moll's life is presented here? Is it significant? Why? Why not?

2. How does the problem of matrimony differ with regard to gender (men vs. women)? What has Moll learned in this respect?

3. How is marriage connected to `fortune-seeking' or `fortune-hunting'? Who is more privileged in this respect?

4. What characteristics should a woman have to marry well?

5. How do you judge Moll's cleverness in this respect?

2) pp. 189-190

Moll's compunction about her child (Moll as mother):

a) How does Moll feel about leaving her child? Does it actually influence her decision?

3) pp. 208-213

Let them remember that a time of distress is a time of dreadful temptation …

1. How has Moll turned to crime? What circumstances played the greatest role in this?

4) p. 234

Moll as “the greatest artist of [her] time” (p. 234)

a) What is Moll's real name?

5) pp. 314-325

It was now that, for the first time, I felt any real signs of repentance…

1. Describe Moll's repentance in the prison. Is it believable or not? Why?

General Questions:

1. Consider Moll Flanders both as character (in general) and as heroine (in particular).
   How does she conform to our expectations of heroism? How does she violate those expectations?
   How and why does Defoe manage to make her so attractive to us that we can "forgive" her for her apparently deviant behavior?
   What is her greatest or strongest attribute? Her greatest weakness?

2. Chief among Moll's values is capitalism. How is the theme of capitalism explored and developed in the novel? Why does Moll spend so much time discussing money and property anyway?

3. Moll is "converted" while in Newgate prison. Why? Does anything strike you as odd about her conversion and "rehabilitation"? Why does her conversion occur? Remember she claims she became addicted to theft, but not too that she sees theft in practical, economic terms. That is, she recognizes that prosperity attaches to what one is good at. How, then, might the capitalist work ethic be seen to come into conflict with the moral and social expectations of society? Is society hypocritical in this demands upon its members?

4. Is Moll naturally degenerate - or criminal - or is hers a learned behavior? If Moll is in fact a criminal, is she entirely and exclusively to blame for her criminality, or should we place part (or all) of the blame elsewhere? This is partly a question about the relative roles of heredity and environment in human development.

5. In what ways can the novel be seen either as praise of or condemnation of what has come to be called the "work ethic"?

The extracts are taken from the following edition: Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders. [1722]. Penguin Popular Classics, 1994.

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