Casualty – BBC One London – 12 September 1992 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk . Retrieved 15 February 2016. Defoe, Daniel. Moll Flanders. (Wordsworth Classics, 2001). ISBN 978-1853260735. Edited with an introduction and notes by R. T. Jones.

It is a great story about a woman who uses her body to free herself. It's frightening, funny and tragic. The character of Moll Flanders clearly influenced James Joyce in his characterization of Molly Bloom. (No need to ignore the fact that both characters share the first four letters of their names.) MOLL FLANDERS is told in the first person, as is Molly Bloom's soliloquy in ULYSSES. It was skillfully written so that the reader retained more sympathy for Moll than might have been the case, but she was still a pretty nasty piece of work, however much she justified her actions to herself.

Abstract

Moll’s indoctrination into a materialistic world starts in childhood. Orphaned, Moll is raised by an elderly woman who feels amused pity for Moll’s desires to become a “gentlewoman” and let Molls live with her rather than go into service. The ladies of the town, curious about the “little gentlewoman,” visit her and soon begin to give Moll gifts of money and fine clothes. When Moll’s elderly guardian dies, one of the families that had shown an interest in Moll takes her into their home. Though poor, Moll describes how she receives an education equivalent to that of a gentlewoman. By a twist in circumstances, Moll gets an early “taste of genteel living” (9) far above her actual station.

A second British television adaptation, broadcast by ITV in 1996, titled The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, with Alex Kingston starring as Moll and Daniel Craig as Jemmy. This film is one of the closest adaptations to the novel, though it ends when she is still a relatively young woman. Production of After You with the Milk | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com . Retrieved 16 February 2016. Theatre collections: record view – Information Services – Special Collections – University of Kent". kent.ac.uk . Retrieved 16 February 2016.

Rate And Review

Moll’s early adventures set up her pattern of behavior. Despite her professed good intentions, when push comes to shove, Moll consistently acts out of self-interest. Moll’s hostile world tempts her with material gain, she succumbs, eventually has some type of downfall, and then defines her outcome in terms of her current net worth. Moll’s patterned conduct puts the reader in an interesting situation. Moll may momentarily hesitate and try to rationalize a forthcoming seduction or theft, but we never doubt the outcome. Moll claims her real name is well-known in the records of Newgate Prison and Old-Baily in London, so it is necessary that she use an alias, as some matters of criminal significance are still pending there. Moll is born to a convict mother in Newgate Prison, where, after stealing a few pieces of fabric, her mother was sentenced to death. However, Moll’s mother “pleaded her belly” (that is, asked to be spared due to her pregnancy) and her sentence was commuted to transportation to the American colonies. When Moll is just six months old, her mother is sent to Virginia to be sold as a servant, and Moll is left alone. Moll lives with some relatives for a time, but she ends up in a band of traveling Egyptians, who leave her in Colchester when she is just three years old. The local parish assumes Moll’s care, and they place her in the service of a nurse, who is employed by the church to care for children until they are old enough “to go to Service, or get their own Bread.” The nurse tenderly cares for Moll through her childhood and raises her with the utmost attention to manners, and she even keeps Moll from going to Service—working as a servant or maid, as most women of the lower class are expected to do—which Moll dislikes the idea of doing. When Moll is teenager, her nurse dies, and Moll is taken in by the lady, a woman of high social standing and wealth, and her family. There, Moll falls in love with the older brother, the lady’s handsome eldest son, who promises to marry Moll as soon as he inherits his estate. Of course, the older brother has no intention of marrying Moll—she is of the lower class and isn’t considered a suitable match—but he strings her along with declarations of love and gifts of money. Once their relationship turns sexual, which Moll only agrees to because he has promised her marriage, the older brother grows distant. He ultimately leaves her, and Moll is forced to marry his younger brother (who has also fallen in love with Moll despite her social status) or she will be put out in the street.