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Moll Flanders Wordsworth Classics Daniel Defoe Books

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Moll Flanders Wordsworth Classics Daniel Defoe Books

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Moll Flanders Wordsworth Classics Daniel Defoe Books Reviews

This story seems a bit dated, and once you understand the premise that this is a fallen woman story, it becomes a little predictable and holds little suspense. One interesting aspect is that it's a man narrating as a woman, but the style gets a little crusty, and you can almost read the second half by just skimming the adjectives and nouns, good gentleman, good governess, horrid wretch, thief, and etc. Things go from bad to worse for Moll as she ages, and loses her money making beauty, but she eventually regains her peace of mind and some comfort through something like a stroke of luck and her re-deliverance to Virginia. Interesting that Virginia is considered a step down from the home island and a world of hard labor and servitude in the year 1683 as opposed to England.

I would say that this story is a bit outdated, since it becomes just a list of misfortunes, and the premise that she is a penitent woman at the end of the story with many secrets and no confessional available is a bit hackneyed and lame. It's got it's points though and it serves as a valuable point for looking at literature of this time period. My main problem is that the story is broken into chunks of three page stories of misfortune and then another chapter starts (although there are no actual chapters) of misfortune. So there is after a whil a feeling of more of the same.
The only thing I truely like about this tale is the insight to the times of over three hundred years ago. One is really struck by the more things change, the more things stay the same-at least when it comes to the human mind. Other than that, I really found a great majority of the book mind-numbingly dull-especially when when reach the part where our heroine becomed the infamous Moll Flanders. Nearly sixty pages of my edition (c. 1965 Dell Publishing) is devoted repetition of how Moll stole this or another and the innumerable times she'd almost gotten caught. A few incidents would have been fine, but the author seemed really taken by how these thieves scratched out their living. Given how DeFoe spent most of his life in debt, one wonders if his detail account came from of his own experience. Most of what happens to Moll Flanders while she bounced from one extraordinary event to the next stretches the threshold of believablity to the breaking point. This woman popped out so many kids and would just get up and walk away with no thought of the children-until the ONE toward the end of the story. The first half of the book caught and held my attention, but it was down hill from there.
This book was amazing. I loved it. Much more than I thought I would—it was written in 1722, and I usually find older works difficult. But this…this was a masterpiece.

I’m not even sure I can say that it was due to affection for Moll herself that I liked it. I found her rather difficult to relate to. She had a very bland personality and related her story quite objectively. Yes, there were some emotional moments, but it was mostly lack thereof. I mean, she went through men like crazy. She had to have been through at least ten of them by story’s end. And she liked each one, but hopped so quickly from one to the other it was hard to believe she had any real love for any of them. And of course she was religious too, and repented the uglier side of her past, which included being a very successful thief. She knew she could have retired after a while, but she just couldn’t stop when she should have, and thus was her (almost) ruin. All in all, she was just not my type of person.

But there’s no denying that she was skilled at what she did, and very lucky too. She knew how to manage people very well, those she did know—she often complained about having no friends, but found very valuable ones quickly in every case. She knew how to manage money and stretch a pound (or shilling or guinea). She knew how to make money, even if it came to stealing, and that she did very well (becoming the infamous Moll Flanders in the process). But she was able to live pretty honestly before that, even though she relied mostly on men supporting her. She was just insanely lucky that whenever she fell into misfortune, it turned ‘round again pretty soon. Sometimes it was by her own hand and sometimes it was just plain luck, but it always turned out more than well. She made the right friends and outlasted most of them—many of the people she knew died or were sent to Newgate. She was much more fortunate than she deserved. Even at her lowest point—when she was in Newgate sentenced to death—View Spoiler » Not many were as lucky.

Yes, I do think that she got far better than she deserved, but I think the whole story was a darn good one. This was more of a plot story than a character story. There were so many adventures, one after the other, and I had to keep reading to see how she would get out of this scrape or that one. The historical aspect made it interesting because it was unpredictable. I didn’t know the avenues for escaping a sentence in 1600s London. I didn’t know how much money was worth and how useful letters were—they solved so many problems. I mean, I’m sure a phone call would do that today, but it was just so different. Things were so easily achieved, especially if you had money. Someone convicted of a felony would be treated like a king with most people if he had the right attitude and a fat wallet. And good friends.

I also like how Moll is using her story to impart a message to us. She frequently stops and reflects on certain parts of her adventures, theorizing on human nature and the difference between the sexes. She considers her place in her own life and recognises that there are other people outside of herself (even when it is hard to tell from her actions). Her main point is to get the reader to see her tale as one of caution—don’t do what she did because all this harm might befall the reader. Even though it turned out quite well for her, it’s not worth all the evils of her past. Like I said, she was insanely lucky, and she knows it.

But I would recommend this to anyone in the mood for a rousing, page-turning series of adventures and misadventures.
Really good product