Moll Flanders: Missundazstood

Was Moll Flanders all that bad? She certainly was no angel, and she knew this. She was quite an intriguing woman. During her early adulthood, she used her fortunate upbringing to her advantage, manipulating those with whom she came into contact. This made her well-off financially, at the cost of true relationships. The lack of friendships did not seem to affect her too much. This was not so much shallowness but independence. Moll was the model of self-sufficiency. She was married more than several times, most of them legitimately, although rarely for love. It seems that she partnered up more for practical reasons, such as economic survival, than for companionship. This should not have taken me as aback as it did. In her era, people's life spans were shorter than they are now. I suppose it wasn't so unusual for a person to be married two or three or more times, which is one comparison that can be made to today's culture, but rather than divorce, people in the seventeenth century usually remarried after being widowed. Moll lived at least until her mid-fifties or sixties, so her having so many husbands should be no surprise. What also was somewhat shocking was the number of children she had, children she took no part in raising or even contacting during her lifetime. She couldn't have known whether her children lived or died after leaving her care. For this, I fault her, but, again, her self-created circumstances dictated her familial relations.

Of course, we will never know her real name. Moll Flanders was given to her by her peers later in life. The significance of the name, I'm not sure. It appears to have something to do with her profession at the time, pickpocket, although that label does not do her limited thievery justice. Pickpocket/shoplifter/embezzler may be more accurate. She liked to steal silk, which may be the origin of the name Flanders.

I am curious, though, of the notion of virtue in seventeenth-century Britain. Moll appears to have no religious leanings of significance, and such tenants do not guide her in any respect. Again, this does not bother her. Today, we know that atheists and agnostics, for the most part, live virtuous lives. Was that true then? Was she an unidentified atheist? Even if she was, she cannot be said to have lived a virtuous life. In fact, her existence is markedly unvirtuous without being evil. No, Moll Flanders lived an unvirtuous but fulfilling life, the type of life that perhaps more people live than I had previously considered.