Assignment no 1

Name: Abdul Haseeb

Class no: 160648
Topic: Universality in Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Subject: Novel-1
Semester: 6th
Department: English
Submitted To: Mr. Arif Mahmood
Dated: April 1, 2019

Islamia College Peshawar

‘Moll Flanders’ is an autobiographic novel of ‘Daniel Defoe’ which can be rightly called as ‘classic’
because of its relevance to the modern society. The novel is dominated by the realistic details in
the handling of which Defoe showed his knowledge of the English social and economic life. The
purpose of this short document is to highlight the different reasons why this novel is a classic one
and then discuss each reason in light of context in the novel. Moll, who is the protagonist of the
novel, faces a series of problems from childhood till the old age; these problems are still prevalent
in the modern world.
Moll faced many sociological, moral and economic issues which are still there in modern society.
First of all, the issue of survival for women in a patriarchal society with no parents is addressed
through the novel. Moll doesn’t know most things about her childhood and therefore wonder
around with gypsies and then taken by the magistrate. In modern world many children are left in
orphanage and have no parents struggling for survival.
Moll is a victim of incest; elder brother deceive her with the label of love to satisfy his desires
through money and promises. The same tactics are applied by men today even to satisfy their
lustful desires with the promise of marriage. Marriage in the novel seems like a tool of deceiving
other people. When we think about marriage, which is a constant topic mentioned through the
novel, we identify the reality which was common for women who wanted to survive in such a
harsh society, during those times the female figure had to find a way to survive only by marrying
a man whose income could help both to live. That’s what Moll do, marrying different people for
survival though she is also ambitious. As the figure of women was not clearly defined she was not
capable of being independent (so she had to depend on a man to sustain her and the rest of the
family. It is still the same in majority of the world that women are completely dependent on
marriage in order to survive. Another aspect of marriage is its deception; throughout the story
we met people who feign to be wealth and wanted to marry Moll who was also pretending to be
a gentle woman. In other words, people considers marriage as some sort of trade which will make
them rich and they deceive people through it. Nothing has changed, marriage is still a tool for
most people to earn money; money marry rich men in order to take the wealth and then get
divorce.
Modern humans believe in the idea of survival of the fittest, the Darwinian concept; Moll is trying
to survive crossing moral limits, stealing things but won’t give up to society. Modern man and his
struggles for survival is parallel to that of Moll.
Another issue which Moll faced is that of whether to become the mother of James’s child or not,
in other words whether to do abortion or not; the idea of abortion which is highlighted by Defoe
is one of main problems of marinade couples in today’s world.
Daniel Defoe in Moll Flanders have depicted the idea of social mobility and class conflict; Moll
wanted to climb the ladder up her own class to become a gentlewoman. Everyone wanted to
raise high from middleclass to elite or aristocracy. But the modern world is free from it? No!
Capitalism is prevalent, while middle class people are trying hard to change their social class and
most of them get failed.
Moll Flanders is the image of poor woman of the society who fight to survive the different
adversities she has. Moreover, she manages to find a way to tackle those problems which is the
way common people act when they have little choices left.
This novel reflects the economic problems which people of eighteenth century were facing and
issue is more severe in today’s world. Poverty was prevailing in that century and people were
driven by wealth. The same is the case with Moll, she is driven by wealth and social status which
is also the dilemma of modern world.
Moll is a criminal out of necessity; poverty, a deficient education, heredity and predestination
lead her to a life of crime. She commits crimes but all human would have done the same in order
to live to survive in this world. Moll is undoubtedly a capable woman whose “vicious” actions are
imposed by her circumstances. Social and economic conditions dragged her to do such criminal
acts.
Defoe’s Moll Flanders is considered as the expression of bourgeois ideology. Defoe’s
understanding of ‘Capitalism’ not only creates the capitalist heroine Molly but also epitomizes
her as a representative of all capitalist society.
Moll Flanders may be a capitalist tale of a particular society or period; but it depicts the formation
of capitalist values, morals and ideology of all capitalist societies in general irrespective of any
time. In the present situation of globalization, which is an extreme form of capitalism, we have
millions of Molly who represent the capitalist ideology in various forms of economic and cultural
exploitation; repressions of workers and trade unionists, and phenomena such as social
alienation, inequality, unemployment, and economic instability. Moll is victim of capitalist society
where the lower status people are exploited badly and is very relevant to modern world.
Besides the problems of Moll, the novel deals with some universal vices which were present, are
present and maybe will be present in the society. Greed is one of such vice, most of the characters
are greedy wanting more and more wealth. Moll seems to lose her morals while trying feverishly
to gain assets. For example, when Moll decides to let Robin take freedoms with her, she admits
self-annihilation. “I finished my own destruction at once… being forsaken of my virtue and my
modesty, I had nothing of value left to recommend me, either to God’s blessing on man’s
assistance”. Another vice which is still very much common is vanity. Growing up, Moll was
constantly being told how pretty she was. Most of Moll’s actions in the story are almost always
a result of her vanity. She is also easily seduced because she thinks any man could fall in love
with her because she is so beautiful. This vanity leads to her being easily seduced by men.
To speak of the psychological aspect of the novel, it depicts the evil side or dark side of human
nature; temptation and incest which is one of the main ID or desire according to Sigmund Freud
theory of personality. The elder brother is perfect example who seduces Moll to satisfy his
internal desires.
To sum up, Moll Flanders depicts different issues of women which are very common in today’s
world, it mirror a society which is parallel to today’s society and ponder upon different ideas and
vices and therefore can be justly called as a good classic novel. The different social, economic and
marital problems faced the protagonist of the novel are still lurking in the society. Daniel Defoe
for depicting and highlighting so man problems and its relevance to modern society of today is
proof of universality.

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