FREE ESSAY ON DEFOE MOLL FLANDERS

DEFOE MOLL FLANDERS

J Johnson
English Novel to 1832
7/10/00
"Moll Flanders: Freedom or Fate"
In New Hampshire I had a Philosophy teacher that used to say, and I believe he was
quoting another, "People who believe in freewill are ignorant of the reasons of their
actions". This quote, in the context of Defoe's Moll Flanders, brings about a multitude
of questions and discussion. Was Flanders free or was she predetermined to live a wicked
and improper life mired in years of penitence? Was the fact that her mother a whore
before her enough to dismiss the question? It is, in fact, these questions that persuaded
me to abandon my philosophy major and follow my love of literature, but that is a
different story.
Certainly there is no question that Flanders was a criminal, that is to say she was a
whore, a thief, and furthermore broke laws that are seen as truly heinous and immoral,
namely incest. In regards to Flanders having sex with her own brother it would be
difficult to argue that this was a predetermined event considering she truly did not know
her husband was of her own flesh and blood. If, indeed, she was aware of the relation and
then chose to proceed then one could discus it further in the context of freewill. As for
being a whore there is no question that Flanders, especially later in her life, involved
herself with such happenings, but for me it was the thievery that seemed to capture the
essence of Flanders continual undoing and constant need for penitence. There is no better
part of Defoe's work to capture the feelings of utter despondency then when Moll is going
to steal for the first time from the apothecary's shop. Defoe prefaces the scene with a
few paragraphs where Moll explains her absolute "desolate state". The crime is then set
in what James Sutherland explains, "...Moll's first theft he sets the scene with such
careful attention to detail that he fixes it in our minds, and gives to it that air of
authenticity which, for Defoe, is almost justification of fiction". This is where Defoe's
journalistic stylings shine. The reader is indeed in the apothecary and sees Moll's gaffe
unfolding before him. We are free to judge whether or not we would take the bundle that
so often becomes Moll's pursuit in the future. It is at that instant that we can decide
whether Moll was free to do so or controlled by something unavoidable, such as fate.
If Moll was acting on freewill it is arguable that she would not repeat the same crime in
the future, in fact she would most likely avoid any such acts that resulted in the
terrible feelings she experienced during and after the first offense. For she says
herself, "It is impossible to express the horror of my soul all the while I did it". The
truth is though; the crimes become much easier and done with much less regard to moral
conviction after the first. Moll becomes "hardened". In fact she finds ways of justifying
her crimes as they progress to an even more appalling standing. After Moll steals the
necklace off the boy returning home from dance school she blames the parents for letting
the "poor lamb to come home by itself." So is Moll fated to do such acts? Continually
through the book Moll refers to the Devil, "who laid the snare" as the main root of her
misdeeds. She explains that she was a mere victim of circumstance and that there was
little choice in her acts. Is this not more comforting for Moll and the reader? Yes Moll
lives in constant penitence, that is when she is not committing crimes, but she also has
a way of constructing the situation so it seems almost unavoidable. This is the way the
human mind works. We are not completely at fault all the time for our wrongs, surely we
would all go mad if this were the case. Humans are much like Moll Flanders. Sutherland
says it best, "Moll, it may be argued, is inconsistent because that is what she was, and
what most people are." I would be hard pressed to call it fate, but there certainly is a
tinge of something in all of us that, if nurtured, will blossom and sometimes blossom
into a not so pretty flower. 
Bibliography
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