Denisse Echeverria 3B 20/05/14

Essay: How far the novel can be a picture of the eighteenth century?
The aim of the essay is to analyse the different aspects mentioned in the
novel, written by Defoe entitled The fortunes and misfortunes of Moll
Flanders, which denotes the reality during the eighteenth century.
First, the focus should be on the sexual aspect of the story. Bearing in mind
that the eighteenth century was the boom among womans sexuality, Moll
Flanders clearly shows readers how often or how natural was such aspect in
the sense that people started, in a way, to accept or not to be so repellent
about sexual life. During this century, social meetings were common, so
people enjoyed themselves in such parties where they were able to meet
people of a wide range of social classes. This can be seen as a way in which
people had the chance to get easily a companion and many times to find a
man to get married. In this sense, Moll Flanders also pictures this reality and
shows as how easy was to start a relationship with an unknown person and
pretend to be someone else; thanks to the clothes and manners she used, in
order to get a salvation in life. This was a typical picture in this society; such
reunions were then transformed into more private parties at the houses of
people that had a great income of money and were of course aimed at
certain people who had a high level in society.
When we think about marriage, which is a constant topic mentioned through
the novel, we identify the reality which was common for women who wanted
to survive in such a harsh society. During those times, the female figure had
to find the way to survive only by marrying a man whose income could help
both live. As the figure of women was not clearly defined, she was not
capable of being independent, so she had to depend on a man to sustain
her and the rest of the family. Besides, it was common to have a large
amount of children and that implicated either abandon them or try to make
them survive. Moll Flanders particularly had many dead husbands and dead
children because it was also common to contract deadly diseases. This
meant women to find another husband in order to survive.
In order to picture the reality, Defoe mentions many aspects related to the
ones explained above. Perhaps, Moll Flanders is the image of poor women
during this century, who fight to survive the different adversities she has.
Moreover, she manages to always find the way to go throughout the
problems which, I believe, is the way in which people act when there are no
more chances available.