The Literature Network
Authors: 260
Books: 2,874
Poems & Short Stories: 3,828
Forum Members: 52,569
Forum Posts: 606,270
Subscribe for ad free access & additional features.
Teacher Accounts with student management and more.
Teacher Accounts with student management and more.
Moll Flanders
Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her
Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year
a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and dies a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums . . .
.
Considered one of the great English novels, Defoe's book follows Moll Flanders as she struggles to avoid the deadly poverty of 17th-century England. From a prison-birth to final prosperity, Moll reckons love, theft and prostitution in terms of profit and loss and emerges as an extraordinary character.
This vivid saga of an irresistible and notorious heroine - her high misdemeanors and delinquencies, her varied careers as a prostitute, a charming and faithful wife, a thief, and a convict - endures today as one of the liveliest, most candid records of a woman's progress through the hypercritical labyrinth of society ever recorded.
Fan of this book? Help us introduce it to others by writing a better introduction for it. It's quick and easy, click here.
Quizzes on Moll Flanders
No quizzes available to take yet.
Please submit a quiz here.
Recent Forum Posts on Moll Flanders
Post a New Comment/Question on Moll Flanders
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
- Chapter 35
- Chapter 36
- Chapter 37
- Chapter 38
- Chapter 39
- Chapter 40
- Chapter 41
- Chapter 42
- Chapter 43
- Chapter 44
- Chapter 45
- Chapter 46
- Chapter 47
- Chapter 48
- Chapter 49
- Chapter 50
- Chapter 51
- Chapter 52
- Chapter 53
- Chapter 54
- Chapter 55
- Chapter 56
- Chapter 57
- Chapter 58
- Chapter 59
- Chapter 60
- Chapter 61
- Chapter 62
- Chapter 63
- Chapter 64
- Chapter 65
- Chapter 66
- Chapter 67
- Chapter 68
Attention Bookworms:
Buying from Amazon.com? Check out the Amazon Coupons first so you get the best deal.
Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets!
Join our Sonnet-A-Day Newsletter and read them all, one at a time. As Seen In: USA Today "Hot Sites"
Join our Sonnet-A-Day Newsletter and read them all, one at a time. As Seen In: USA Today "Hot Sites"
Roxana, or The Fortunate Mistress
I am totally amazed that no one here has started a thread on this book, so I am going to start one. Here is a lucky young lady who started life in a reasonably prosperous bourgeois family. She was married "up" at a young age (15) to a brewer's son. She thought she loved him but discovered early in the marriage that he had many serious flaws. For a while she managed with them. In spite of his profligate spending she delayed their inevitable demise for many years -- long enough to have several children by him -- the normal course of events for a young woman in that time. Then he made them destitute and ran off by himself to leave his family to make their way in any way they could. Thus start the adventures of our heroine. She descends to the very depths of hell. She begs for assistance from relatives and manages to find some refuge for her young ones, but none for herself. She finds a benefactor. She virtuously resists his onslaughts for a while and then gives in. The rest is amazing reading. After virtue succumbs to want, and want gives way to borrowed prosperity, the rest of the novel reads like Gone With the Wind or Forever Amber. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if either or both of those modern potboilers weren't modeled after Roxana. However, Roxana keep seeking her lost virtue. Even after making her forays into society again and again -- falling in love and falling in lust, and going into higher and higher corridors of power, she still looks for the thing that is lacking -- she never quite learns to be content with herself as a powerful woman. It's her inner conflict that makes this an interesting read. Defoe knew how to style an adventure and lead his readers into uncharted territory. I've read Moll Flanders, and I read Robinson Crusoe a bunch of times, but as Robinson Crusoe is to the adventurous world of men, so Roxana is to the smaller world of women of those times.
Posted By poem2poes at Mon 1 Jan 2007, 12:38 AM in Moll Flanders || 3 Replies
about defoe's moll...
i read the book , and i 've really loved it ! moll's tale isn't just the women's tale , but the tale of poverty which can lead to the worst consequences...
defoe's style was difficult to follow and sometimes i could not continue reading , but in the mean time , i found moll's tale so passionating , i could not stop reading after defoe's moll charmed me ...
i recommend it to all the students who don't look after stupid entertainement , but a useful one!
Posted By nadia at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Moll Flanders || 0 Replies
No Subject
The great thing about this book is not just that it is compelling and absorbing but that it is written in a style of english that is both disciplined and highly descriptive. In the initial stages of it, I really had to concentrate, but then your mind becomes atuned to Defoe's literary power.....a wonderful story!
Posted By jon at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Moll Flanders || 0 Replies
I liked it
I read this book for fun and I was quite pleased with it. I think that it had a storyline that was compelling and quite enjoyable. The many different ways that Moll thinks of to get money to support herself was interesting and engaging. I'm defintely going to read it again.
Posted By Dana at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Moll Flanders || 0 Replies
No Subject
The whole point of reading this book is too read one of the first ever novels. This novel was one of the first of its kind so it is interesting to see how the novels had evolved since this first book. It is likely that Defoe wrote this book in one go with little or no editing which is why there are so many ambiguities.
It is hard to read because information is given to us in a conversational manner, not in the constructed and considered way we normally receive in books.
I enjoyed this book becuase the plot line is really very good and exciting. The book is a little cheapened by the whoring which he probably only put it in to gain readers, and the ending is tacked on and a little obvious and simple.
Its really about the struggle for survival, what length will people go to to survive economically. Defoe himself was bankrupt so i feel the issue is vbery close to his heart and he wrote this book to express his feeling on the subject.
The man wrote for money which i have to respect!
Posted By becky dickson at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Moll Flanders || 2 Replies
she is virtuos
Well I think that Moll Flanders consists of more than one episode .
Each episode repeats one idea which is looking for money , but you can find that each time it is under a new cover such as marriage ,theft or either be a prostitute .
You also can fine that Defoe always tries to convince the readers that she has something of the human kinds behavior ,and it is clear where tries to make money to provide a good future for her son ,and also when sometimes she blame herself for not being virtue after her marriage .
Posted By Azhar at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Moll Flanders || 0 Replies
Moll Flanders is virtuous
Well I think that Moll Flanders consists of more than one episode .
Each episode repeats one idea which is looking for money , but you can find that each time it is under a new cover such as marriage ,theft or either be a prostitute .
You also can fine that Defoe always tries to convince the readers that she has something of the human kinds behavior ,and it is clear where tries to make money to provide a good future for her son ,and also when sometimes she blame herself for not being virtue after her marriage .
Posted By Azhar at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Moll Flanders || 0 Replies
vertue??
Well I think that Moll Flanders consists of more than one episode .
Each episode repeats one idea which is looking for money , but you can find that each time it is under a new cover such as marriage ,theft or either be a prostitute .
You also can fine that Defoe always tries to convince the readers that she has something of the human kinds behavior ,and it is clear where tries to make money to provide a good future for her son ,and also when sometimes she blame herself for not being virtue after her marriage .
Posted By omid at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Moll Flanders || 0 Replies
Moll Flanders
This novel was pretty good, boring at times, but ok. I liked how Moll Flanders is percieved as a whore, a thief, and a criminal and then comes out good and prosperous in the end.
Posted By Unregistered at Wed 6 Nov 2002, 12:00 AM in Moll Flanders || 3 Replies
No Subject
Moll Flanders was meant to be a moral tale, of how leading a life of prostitution and criminality eventually result in execution or transportation. Defoe wrote his tale as a 'warning' to others that leading an immoral life will only result in unhappiness and self destruction. He manages to convince the reader that Moll's means of survival are undesirable however, by making Moll prosper in the end he undermines the moral message of the novel.
Posted By Unregistered at Sat 21 Feb 2004, 12:00 AM in Moll Flanders || 1 Reply