Picaresque novel, relates to a low-life character,known as a picaro from Spanish word picaresque moving

from place to place in search of financial stability. The aim of the person is to survive and live a
respectable & a financially secured life.In the process a picaro lives a highly cynical & amoral life and
given a chance would rather live by his/her wits than by honourable work.

Moll Flanders is a picaresque novel based on the character Moll who is a rogue woman with no moral
boundaries.Moll Flanders was a product of her vanity and pride. She devoted her entire life to achieving
some sort of wealth and social status. Her pride encompassed her entire life and affected all of her life
decisions. Moll sacrificed many things, including love, religion, self-respect, and peace of mind, in order
to attain a sort of affluence.

The story starts with Moll's birth.

Moll Flanders (which is not her true name) is born in Newgate prison to a mother who is a convicted
felon. Her mother had "pleaded her Belly," and so was granted a reprieve until her child was born. When
Moll is six months old, her mother is transported to America as punishment for her crime, leaving her
infant daughter alone.Moll's earliest childhood memory is of wandering with a band of gypsies.At the
age of three she separates herself from the gypsies in Colchester, where she is taken up by the town
magistrates as a charity case. They place her with a nurse, a local woman who is honest and kind
woman.She provides Moll with a fairly good upbringing and gives her a rudimentary education.

Thereafter, she gets attached to a mayor's household and gets an opportunity to learn to sing,dance and
speak French.Moll is very ambitious and beautiful.She doesnt wish to live as servant.She is in sexual
relationship with the elder son who gives her the money for being a bed partner but doesn't marry
her.The younger brother Robin too loves her . She unwillingly marries him. After five years of marriage,
she then is widowed, leaves her children in the care of in-laws, and begins honing the skill of passing
herself off as a fortuned widow to attract a man who will marry her and provide her with security.

In her quest for a secured life Moll marries five times and gives birth to twelve children.

Moll's marital circumstances continued to be rocky and troublesome until she was finally reunited with a
man, Jemmy, whom she truly loved, even though he had little money. Had Moll declined to marry Robin
and accepted that she might have to provide for herself until she found a husband who she truly loved,
she could have avoided the pain associated with: mates who she did not love, being married to two men
at the same time, and mothering children with her brother.

Moll's greed and pride was so hight that she opted to use her wit and beauty to become the lady of the
evening,a thief and a felon for which she was even jailed.However she managed to reduce her sentence
and eventually, at the age of 70 years Moll achieves her desires and retires as gentlewoman.

All these ups & downs, a criminal life and a happy end to the story is a perfect fit for a picaresque novel.