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December 11, 2004
Moll Flanders
I just finished "Moll Flanders," by Daniel Defoe -- set in the 1600s, published in the 1700s, but in some ways a very modern tale. The narrator is a woman who winds up sleeping with something like 13 men, marrying several without divorcing any, settling twice in America but returning to England each time, and popping out babies left and right. It's a wild story."Moll Flanders" is particularly interesting because of what it says about women, childbearing, money, and sex during an era very distant from the 21st CenturyWomen in the 17th Century didn't have many opportunities to define their own lives. If they weren't independently wealthy or raised from birth to be slavish servants, their options for survival were few: marry well, become a whore, depend on charity, steal, or starve. At various times throughout the book, the narrator of "Moll Flanders" does all of these things but starve.It's fascinating how well Defoe is able to get across Moll's crazy sex life, childbearing, prostituting, cheating and her fear of disease without ever saying anything explicit. He didn't have a choice -- the book was scandalous in its day as it was. Without a single bad word or anatomical detail, he is able to relay a wealth of information. It's a lesson many propegators of today's lewd culture could stand to learn from.I still don't understand how money worked in the 1600s, when capitalism was on the rise but not quite the same creature it has become today. At once point the main character blows through more than 1,000 pounds in just a few weeks. Later she makes a comment that by living frugally in the country she could spend the rest of her days as a gentlewoman, with only 500 pounds on hand. Some people were born to weath, others never dared aspire to it. Having enough money on hand, however, could buy repreive from the death penalty and could open even more doors than cash opens today.When this book was written contraception didn't exist, and it's incredible how much pregnancy becomes an issue for the main character. I didn't keep track, but I'm sure she had more than a dozen children, many of whom died early in life. I've recently read a few commentaries by conservatives who bemoan our modern understanding of sex without consequences. The consequences of sex for Moll Flanders are a major issue from her late teens into her early 40s. It seems as though pregnancy, not morality, compelled many of her contemporaries to be less sexually active than she was.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at December 11, 2004 04:53 PM