Criticism of Moll Flanders

Criticism of Moll Flanders

How should readers interpret the seeming contradictory character that Daniel Defoe presents in Moll Flanders? Is her penitence a construction of irony? While the question of irony was prominent in the earlier criticism of the 1950s and 1960s, most scholars have moved away from that question, acknowledging the existence of various types of irony and validating the true reformation of Moll. Critics are now articulating other subtle and complex authorial strategies in Moll Flanders besides the use of irony, crediting Defoe with more of what it takes to be a "father of the novel." Newer critical methodologies involving class and gender are also playing a role in establishing Defoe as advocate of social change.

Unfortunately, critics dealing with Moll Flanders lack as yet a truly definitive text from which to work. The best one can do is to stay with texts founded on the first 1722 edition. Texts taken from later editions, the second and third and later, may be abridged, and scholars have persuasively argued that such editions do not reflect Defoe's intentions or revisions. Despite the short-comings in textual scholarship on the novel, recent years have seen no dearth of literary criticism.

Defoe as innovative developer of narrative technique in the novel is a considerable topic of conversation in critical circles. No longer are we hearing complaints about artificially connected, episodic writing and plot inconsistencies. Ian Watt notes a "lack of co-ordination between the different aspects of [Defoe's] narrative purpose" (118) in "Moll Flanders•, as well as denying a conscious and consistent employment of irony, but he also praises Defoe for ...

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...ect or influence the opinions of his audience? Moll's associations with America involve corruption and incest, from which she flees and later embraces. She gains success in America only to return to England to spend her last years. Is this how Defoe depicts the correct approach to colonial existence? What further implications are there in the colonial experiences presented in "Moll Flanders•? The addressing of these questions involving feminist and post-colonial studies will likely yield enriching scholarship in the criticism of Daniel Defoe's "Moll Flanders•."

Works Cited:

Defoe, Daniel. "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders•. 1722. Ed. And Intro. David Blewett. London: Penguin Books, 1989.

Defoe, Daniel. "Moll Flanders•. Ed. and Intro. J. Paul Hunter. The Crowell Critical Library. New York: Y. Crowell Co., 1970.