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BL 201: Theory and its Application
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Select a text of your choice and give a critical account of it, employing one of the
theoretical approaches you have studied
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Evidence of research must be demonstrated in a full bibliography
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

Demonstrate a practical application of theory
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This essay will analyse different aspects of the novel The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the
Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
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Furthermore, I will be discussing the patriarchal ideology that, in
my opinion, is demonstrated throughout the above picaresque novel
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The novel displays
all the conventions of the time and what women had to do to survive in a male dominated
society
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Moll Flanders awareness on the importance of her status begins at an early age
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She is the daughter of a convicted felon, she is born
poor, but is adamant that she will not spend the rest of her life as a servant; therefore she is
already set to avoid her predestined life of servitude
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8); this emphasises how
unrealistic and absurd this notion is: due to Moll destitute upbringing she couldn’t possibly
elevate her status
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Mary states: “From the beginning of her entry into social life
she is positioned within varied institutional and societal structures, which bestow upon her
specific roles” (Talbot, 1999, p
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She believes
that she is worth something, and maybe this is what sets her apart from most of her peers:
she is an individual
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Moll
thinks (and perhaps this also reflects Defoe’s views), that women should not be forced into
marriage because it is a lower position; the above is clear when she states:
“I cannot but remind the ladies here how much they place themselves below the common
station of a wife, which, if I may be allowed not to be partial, is low enough already; I say,
they place themselves below their common station, and prepare their own mortifications, by
their submitting so to be insulted by the men beforehand, which I confess I see no necessity
of
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271)
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Every time that she enters into marriage (not that multiple
marriages were condoned either), she follows the conventions and restrictions of the times
and is reliant on a husband
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Moll makes the association between love and money after she obtains five guineas in
exchange for sex with the ‘older brother’, she becomes disillusioned about love and in a way
she prioritizes:
“I was more confounded with the money than I was before with the love; and began to be
so elevated that I scarce knew the ground I stood on
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18)
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Although it as an
extreme way of acquiring financial security and it reduces women to objects that can be
bought, therefore highlighting the limited freedom that women had
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157), of 18th Century: the economic relationship
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Whoring and thieving may have been a way of making money but it was (and still is), illicit
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Later
in the novel, Moll becomes a prolific thief and is known by other thieves as “Moll cutpurse”,
she is aided by her governess who tells her to dressed as a man, gives her a male partner

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(also a thief), and the latter never finds out that Moll is in fact a woman
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The
fact that she wears practical male clothing to hide from the law, could symbolise a degree of
ambiguity and irony; in effect she tries to pass for a man, emulating the very gender that she
has tried not to rely on any longer, but that in this specific passage of the novel, is what is
going to bring her safety from the mob, prison or death
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The novel seems to constantly promote the reinvention of female identity
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The traditional gender roles
equate men to being decisive, rational, protective, strong and women as being emotional
(therefore irrational), weak, submissive and nurturing
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She emotionally and physically detaches herself from her various children,
they seem to be an inconvenient at best and resorts to discard of them as best she can so
that she can “Continue to function in an individualistic world in which sexuality is
commodified and separated from maternity” (Moglen, 2001, p
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This “lack of emotions” goes
against preconceived identities that determine how a male or female should behave
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Women in 18th century England are well known as the “others” (Barry, 1995, p
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In such an era, these second class citizens could hardly survive
without engaging in marriage
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She further rejects her place in a male dominated society when she becomes a thief, a
trait that doesn’t conform with femininity, instead such ‘positions’, as Moll tells the reader,
were held by men
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Moll adopts an almost business like attitudes to her survival and although the fictitious tale
and its characters are indeed entertaining, it also highlights the real struggles on the quest
for survival and self-preservation that women did encounter in a patriarchal and hierarchical
society
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On his essay The Education of Women” (1719),

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Defoe challenges social norms, he illustrates that women have a “God given” right to learn
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” (Defoe
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This state of affairs is highlighted within the novel when, as a young woman, Moll takes part
in lessons with her ‘sisters’; they learn French, music, dance but none of these subjects
would allow them to contribute meaningfully to their society
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Defoe may suggest that economic
self-sufficiency is essential for women in order to become equal to man, and because of his
challenging, liberator attitudes toward women his concept seems flawless as far as a
feminist perspective is concerned
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”
So, his view is that women should be educated for men’s benefit and not for women as
individuals
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Perhaps this is one of the few instances where Defoe entirely separates himself from
the character of Moll
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44), therefore the gender binarism contained within the
novel, is illustrated by the divides between male and female roles and the system in which
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society gender identities and attribute
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2001
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41),
thus further illustrating the vast divide between the power of man against the very limited
power (established by men), of the women in the novel
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For
example: it shows the extent of patriarchy by illustrating how women are second class
citizens, they cannot support themselves financially, therefore must be submissive and
depend upon men
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Generally,
Moll Flanders problems are deeply rooted within the society of the time; she states: “Vice
came in always at the door of necessity, not at the door of inclination” (p
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Nonetheless, when Moll,
feels that she has become less attractive (therefore cannot sell her body), she turn to
thievery and is restored to “a masculine form of subjectivity that allows her to be
exploitative rather that exploited” (Moglen, H
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p
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“This was my Man, but I was to try him to the bottom, and indeed in that consisted my
safety
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78)
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78), she becomes the dominant party in this relationship,
highlighting her rejection of a patriarchal society
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This exemplifies Moll rejection of a male dominant society with subsequent gender
role reversal
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Simone de Beauvoir suggests that: “one is not born a woman, but, rather, becomes one”
(1973, p
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So for Moll this construction of gender would not necessarily be a choice, but
rather a “cultural compulsion” to become a woman; as a result the roles are not dictated by
free will but by predetermined expectations
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86), therefore, gender categories are constructed by
society and this “view of gender is an example of what has come to be called social
constructionism” (Lois, 2006, p
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This is illustrated in the novel by Moll various attempts
to stray from constructionism, resulting in her marginalisation as she strays further from
what is socially expected of her, the further she strays the more marginalised she becomes
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It is only because Moll, along with other
female friends, rejects a male dominant society, and their ‘traditional’ roles of being a
woman in this society, that they are able to coin a different path as new women and care for
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themselves without the aid of men
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Word Count: 2354

Bibliography:

Barry, P
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Manchester University Press: UK
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(2007) Gender Trouble
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De Beauvoir, S
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Vintage: New York
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(1993) The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders
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Hollows, J
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Manchester University Press:
UK
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(2006) Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide
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Moglen, H
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University
of California Press: London
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(1998) Language and Gender
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Wales, K
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Pearson Education Limited: Harlow
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(1997) Language Through Literature, An Introduction
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Internet Bibliography:

Defoe, D
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Available From:
http://ebooks
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edu
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(2007) Moll Flanders- Longman Study Edition- Available From:
http://books
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co
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(1719) The Education Of Women
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fordham
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asp Accessed on 12/01/2014

Diamond, A
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R
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google
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uk/books?
id=VwF8p4s_60QC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=moll+flanders+feminist+criticism&source=bl
&ots=cXm68dmiyy&sig=4wa9owWkUvtEbne7ICkyRw5aFfw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=F5jOUqaKFYyT
hgfa4YG4Cg&ved=0CFIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=moll%20flanders%20feminist
%20criticism&f=false Accessed on 28/12/2013

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