"Moll Flanders" by Daniel Defoe

Paper Summary:

The paper examines how the novel embodies the economic and social problems in Britain in the first decades of the eighteenth century. This paper explains that the book is intended to teach a moral lesson, and that the nature of the main character, Moll, as a "fallen woman" threatens the stability of the social Great Chain of Being, as addressed by Alexander Pope in his "Essay on Man".

From the Paper:

"Defoe's approach to this novel is ironic, for he infuses his social criticism with a dual morality. On the one hand is the standard Christian morality that Moll breaks at every turn. Defoe also offers a critique based on natural law, seeing man as motivated mainly by self and self-interest, just as Pope said. The Great Chain of Being is a product of Christian morality, while Defoe's critique of the society of his time shows it to be so overwhelmed by natural forces and self-interest that people like Moll have no choice but to do what they can to overcome the poverty into which they are born."

More papers on "Moll Flanders" by Daniel Defoe:

• Book Review # 43105 : "Daniel Defoe's "Moll Flanders"
• Analytical Essay # 58591 : "Moll Flanders"
• Analytical Essay # 112049 : "Moll Flanders"

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