Concetti Chiave
- Moll Flanders, born in prison, navigates a life of crime, marriage, and eventual redemption, reflecting on her past choices.
- The novel offers a vivid depiction of 18th-century English society, focusing on themes like crime, poverty, and social status.
- Defoe enhances realism by including documents and tangible items, emphasizing their connection to wealth and social standing.
- Moll is portrayed as an anti-heroine, driven by passions and materialism, embodying middle-class characteristics.
- The narrative employs retrospective first-person narration, with simple language to evoke reader empathy and identification.
Plot
Moll Flanders was the daughter of a thief and she was born in Newgate prison. Her mother was sentenced to death but she managed to have her sentence changed so that she was moved to Virginia. Moll grew up in the house of Mayor of Colchester and at the age of fourteen she was sent to serve a rich family. She was a pretty and smart girl and had a relationship with the son of the family she was serving. As she grew to a woman, she got married five times and had children.
The novel
Defoe sets the novel in London and in English counties giving information about urban society and the customs of the time. He pays particular attention to the problems of society, like crime and prostitution and misery for the orphans. Defoe tries to make the novel realistic and authentic by including documents such as hospital bills and letters and many other tangible things such as Moll’s possessions that are described in terms of their value. The weight and value of all these objects is important as they are associated to the wealth and the social status of the people who owns them. Moll’s can be seen as Crusoe’s counterpart; she follows her passions, she prefers theft to poverty, she’s obsessed with keeping up appearances and she searches self-assertion and material benefit showing many of the sign that belong to the middle-classes. A major them of the novel is the juxtaposition of contradictory moral elements by which we could define Moll as an anti-heroine.
Style
The novel is narrated with the technique also used in Robinson Crusoe, the retrospective first-person narration, which means that it is Moll herself telling her own story, from her point of view, when she’s older. At times a further narrative device is used, the narrator directly addressing the reader, which has the purpose of producing an emotional response in the reader. The narration rarely focuses on feelings, but the realistic and matter-of-fact language successfully conveys both the character’s experiences and actions and her attitudes and thoughts. The language is simple and direct and it aims to generate in the reader a sense of identification and sympathy.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è l'origine di Moll Flanders e come ha influenzato la sua vita?
- Quali sono i temi principali affrontati nel romanzo di Defoe?
- In che modo Defoe rende il romanzo realistico e autentico?
- Qual è lo stile narrativo utilizzato nel romanzo e quale effetto ha sul lettore?
Moll Flanders è nata nella prigione di Newgate, figlia di una ladra. Questa origine ha segnato la sua vita, portandola a una serie di matrimoni, alla prostituzione e al furto, fino al suo arresto e deportazione in Virginia.
Defoe esplora temi come il crimine, la prostituzione, la miseria degli orfani e le contraddizioni morali. Il romanzo mette in luce la società urbana dell'epoca e l'importanza del valore materiale e dello status sociale.
Defoe include documenti come bollette ospedaliere e lettere, e descrive dettagliatamente i possedimenti di Moll, sottolineando il loro peso e valore per riflettere la ricchezza e lo status sociale.
Il romanzo è narrato in prima persona retrospettiva, con Moll che racconta la sua storia. Questo stile, insieme all'indirizzamento diretto al lettore, mira a suscitare una risposta emotiva e a generare identificazione e simpatia.
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