Mollifying Morality in Man

Daniel Defoe presents the theme of morality viz. the use of adventure, comedy, and grave sincerity in his novel Moll Flanders. The topic is supported by the obligation of choice(s) he places his protagonist into throughout the novel. A closer reading of Defoe’s Moll Flanders also presents a blame shifting on that original creature, namely man- whereby:

A Woman’s ne’er ruin’d but she can
Revenge herself on her undoer, Man.

What follows is a closer look at the subject of morality with a focus on the state of man, whereby the term man is gender universal, not gender specific; hence, the inclusion of both sexes lends credibility to the novel not in spite of their separate titration.

Defoe was an educated man well aware of the philosophers of his time. One such noted philosopher was John Locke. In Moll Flanders Defoe presents a story, if not a tale, of morality whereby a woman’s attempt at rising above her plight and whorish slander results in her depravity. Locke observed, in his Of the State of Nature, that man exists in a “state of freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit…without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man”. Defoe presents, to a degree, his protagonist in this light. However, Molly Flanders is a character bent on successive vices and does depend on the male figure, like a predator nibbling on its prey, all the while wishing it back to health. The adventures and several copulating events in her life place her readily with the tag name of whore, but she is no murderer. Is she then with morals or is she without? Locke further expounds upon the state of man by stating “though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of license”. Molly Flanders steals gold necklaces from young children, in dark alley ways- while sending the child back to its mother with wiser judgment. Defoe presents his protagonist with justified transgressions that temper on morality, but with each added vice can be viewed as repugnant. How? The state of morality is constantly broken, then “repaired” throughout the novel at the expense of the male figurehead.

Molly Flanders exists in a circumlocutory battle consisting of pro morality and quasi morality. Defoe and Locke agree, to an extent, on the subject of morality, the former in its exploitation and the latter in its limitation. This tension is what sets the novel Moll Flanders into the high fantastical state of mollifying morality in man viz. adventure, comedy, and grave sincerity.