How does Moll Flanders change as a character over the course of the novel?

How does Moll Flanders change as a character over the course of the novel?

Moll is never really developed as a character, but she is a survivor, and her character is filled with energy and determination. She isn’t “evil,” but she is moral either. It’s all about money and security, but once those things are realized and she feels secure……. she allows her goodness to shine through.

Who is the central character in the novel Moll Flanders?

Moll is the protagonist and narrator of Moll Flanders. Moll is born in Newgate Prison to a convict mother. She is raised by a kind nurse and later taken in by the lady, an upper-class woman, and her family, where Moll falls in love with the older brother of the family.

What is the main idea of Defoe’s novel Moll Flanders?

The major recurrent theme in the novel is that of greed — a greed which leads Moll to prostitution, thievery, and moral disintegration. Moll sees people as commodities — her relationships with them as business transactions. Although she is in love with the eldest brother, she has few qualms about taking money from him.

How does Moll Flanders end?

Moll returns to marry the banker, who by this time has succeeded in divorcing his wife. He dies soon after, however, and Moll is thrown back upon her own resources once again. She lives in poverty for several years and then begins stealing.

What is the conflict in Moll Flanders?

Defoe is sensitive to the inherent conflict in the fact that the arenas where Moll might hope to use her many talents and provide for herself are all morally dubious: she can be a thief, a whore, or a husband-seeker. Moll’s admittedly flexible moral code is one designed to accommodate this conflict as much as possible.

What does Moll agree to do for the gentleman during his sickness?

Moll spends platonic time with the gentleman in Bath, a wealthy man whose wife is mentally ill, and eventually accepts money from him. The gentleman becomes quite ill while on a trip away from Bath and asks Moll to come and nurse him back to health, which she does.

Why was Moll’s mother transported to upon her birth?

When Moll is six months old, her mother is transported to America as punishment for her crime, leaving her infant daughter “a poor desolate Girl without Friends, without Cloaths, without Help or Helper in the World.” Moll’s earliest childhood memory is of wandering with a band of gypsies at the age of three.

What relative does Moll unwittingly marry?

Moll’s marriages: Marries the younger brother, Robin. 3. Moll unwittingly meets her own brother, marries him and goes to live on his plantation in Virginia (still technically married to the linen draper because he’s still alive).

How Moll Flanders is a feminist novel?

Moll is seen to be an intelligent, highly rational, and strong female protagonist. Moll Flanders can be seen as a feminist novel because Defoe is setting Moll up to not only be a the one-of-a-kind female hero, he also sets her up to do almost everything that a woman should not do.

What features of a picaresque novel do you find in Moll Flanders?

Moll Flanders is considered an example of a picaresque novel. These novels usually employ a first-person narrator recounting the adventures of a scoundrel or low-class adventurer who moves from place to place and from one social environment to another in an effort to survive.