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Home CCSU Theses & Dissertations Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders : a fictional confession to mend an author's soul

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Identifier	Thesis 1676
Author	Bolja, Daniel C.
Title	Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders : a fictional confession to mend an author's soul
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2003
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	Many critics who have studied Defoe have observed that he had a conflict between living a religious life and being a successful merchant. He explores this tension by creating fictional characters who face the same dilemma, as they carefully toe the line that divides upward mobility from moral obedience. But few critics, if any, make reference to Defoe's own conscience or seek reasons for why he began writing fictional memoirs/confessions as an elderly man. This study argues that Defoe, much like his own Moll Flanders, embraced writing fiction for three reasons. First, he sought economic gain, especially since business had proved disastrous to his finances and reputation. Second, he needed an outlet for his guilt-ridden conscience. Third, and most importantly, he strove to mend his reputation by obtaining sympathy. By focusing on necessity and not inclination when staging criminal acts, Defoe paralyzes the reader's ability to judge, for the once black and white of right and wrong blends into a mysterious gray, making judgment a highly complex, even self-incriminating process. In short, Defoe wants to garner from each reader this concession: "In the same situation, I probably would have reacted similarly." Because readers expose their own vice when in similar circumstances, they soften or suspend judgment to avoid self-indictment. Defoe and his protagonists, therefore, escape unscathed, pardoned, and somewhat redeemed. Yet how does Defoe manipulate readers into making this concession? He presents them as victims. He uses societal injustice to create the feeling of social displacement that leads both Moll Flanders and himself into lives of sin and deception. He also stresses that fear, encouragement, and degradation bind them to such lives. Moreover, he takes advantage of the limited scope that a first person narrator presents. He makes Moll resourceful and often a passive participant in her crimes, which she is quick to condemn. In sum, Defoe creates a tumultuous life for his protagonists, and we, as readers, sympathize with and admire them.
Subject	Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. Fortunes and misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders -- Criticism and interpretation
Department	Department of English
Advisor	Jestin, Loftus
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	713734918
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Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders : a fictional confession to mend an author's soul

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