"Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure"

Paper Summary:

This paper introduces and analyzes the book "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" by John Cleland (also known as "Fanny Hill"). Specifically, it answers the question, "is Fanny Hill an unrepentant woman or a contrite woman?" The paper draws parallels between another fallen woman in "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders" by Daniel Defoe. "Fanny Hill" was a highly controversial and compelling novel about a prostitute, written when prostitution was certainly not an everyday topic of conversation. The book was the first to be banned in the United States. Today, it seems tame compared to our modern day versions of sex, but it still tells a compelling story of how women were forced to survive at a time in history when they had little other method of supporting themselves

From the Paper:

"Both books are the literary products of eighteenth century England, and the two women who tell their stories in these books reflect the life and social behavior of the time in a manner the average history book cannot. While the impressions of their surroundings are colored by their own distinctly different emotional natures and the picture they describe is limited by the boundaries of their own direct experience, both women reflect in their narratives a concern for what was considered proper and virtuous conduct at that time. They also both reflect the general tendency of that period toward a belief in the basic goodness of man. Moll reforms to illustrate both her goodness and her remorse at the wrongs of her previous life. Fanny decries vice at the end of her narrative because her life is ending on a happy note, and all of her sacrifices have led her to happiness. Both of these women have committed less than virtuous deeds, but both are redeemed at the end of their novels because it is clear they are good and decent women, who did what they did in order to survive."

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