Moll Flanders

Content Warning: This section contains references to incest and death by suicide.

Moll Flanders is an exceptional character—she is one of the prettiest, most intelligent, and resourceful women to be found—as she says in her own words throughout the narrative. She is arrogant and deceitful, as well as lawless and unethical. She is both a charismatic hero and villain of the story. She embodies all of the ironic juxtapositions that appear in the novel: she is both wife and sex worker, shameless and repentant, naïve and cunning; she is both faithful and treacherous; both businesswoman and thief. In short, Moll Flanders is a jumble of contradictions, a character made real by her circumstances and choices. Her impoverished beginnings and subsequent financial fluctuations, compel her to grasp any opportunity that will keep poverty at bay.

The alias “Moll Flanders” perhaps refers to Moll’s penchant for stealing valuable Dutch “Flanders lace,” or it could indicate a connection to the savvy Dutch traders of the time. England and the Netherlands engaged in a series of wars over trade rights and colonies during the period when the novel is set. At the time of publication, those wars were only a couple of generations removed.