Virtue

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the protagonists from the novels, "Moll Flanders" by Daniel Defoe and "Pamela" by Samuel Richardson. The paper examines whether both Moll and Pamela were virtuous women. The paper contends that Moll is a good person, therefore she is a virtuous woman in the eyes of the reader, while Pamela is a chaste woman, therefore in the author's eyes she is a virtuous woman. The paper explores the narrative structures of the two novels, claiming that they contribute to this different definition of virtue in both the texts.

From the Paper:

"Both Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders and Samuel Richardson's Pamela tell the tales of what the (male) authors perceive as extraordinary lives of two virtuous but lower class women. However, for Richardson, Pamela's virtue is defined solely in terms of her ability to resist the sexual advances of her employer, Mr. B. The novel evolves through a series of eloquent letters whereby poor Pamela is pursued, spied upon and conspired against in the B. family home and country estate, all the while the girl attempts to retain her virginity, even going so far as to hide in the bed of another female servant's to do so. Daniel Defoe's Moll is subject to more economic and worldly hardships, and her virtue is defined not in terms of her resistance and denial of her body and sexual circumstances but in terms of her openness to others, her kindness, and her ability to shift with her circumstances. Moll is a good person, therefore she is a virtuous woman in the eyes of the reader (and however grudgingly, in the eyes of her creator), while Pamela is a chaste woman, therefore in the author's eyes she is a virtuous woman."

More papers on Virtue:

• Essay # 96925 : "Teaching Virtue"
• Analytical Essay # 141317 : "Confucian Virtue Ethics in the 21st Century"
• Comparison Essay # 58216 : "Virtue"
• Analytical Essay # 73242 : "Possibilities Of Virtue"

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