At a glance : "Moll Flanders"

"The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders" or simply "Moll Flanders" is an important and bright novel by Daniel Defoe which was published in 1722. It details the account of Moll's life from her birth until her death. The novel is not divided in any chapters, it's a long narrative which makes it slightly difficult to read and understand. It is written in first person narrative and in dialogue form. The novel is full of many important characters. The novel is picaresque in tone as it shows the up and down, rise and fall of Moll's life. In the journey of her life, she met many people with whom she had made relations only to lead a secure life. She had five husbands, three lovers and eleven sons.

  The novel is set in England and Virginia Colony from 1613 to 1683. In the original copy of the novel, no name of the author was mentioned. The bookseller Francis Noble attributed this novel to Defoe in 1770 after his death. It is often said that the novel is based on Moll King, a criminal whom Defoe met when he went to visit Newgate Prison.

  In the story, it is shown that sometimes Moll herself left her husbands or lovers and sometime they left her. The most ironic and the most pathetic situation occurred when Moll identified her third husband's mother as her own mother and came to know that her husband was her half brother. Though it is hard to read and understand it, "Moll Flanders" is, no doubt , an entertaining story. And the motif of the novel is to make a economic assurance by hook or by cook. Moll is here portrayed to depict the ultimate motif of the novel.