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Introduction

Moll Flanders: From Innocence to Maturity Quazi Mohammad Faisal Moll Flanders is the central character of the novel ?Moll Flanders?, who was born in Newgate, England and passed different phases of her life across England and America. The entire novel depicts those phases of her life through five marriages, among which only one was fruitful. Between her marriages and through them, the character of Moll Flanders evolves which shows her ingenuity, energy and determination to survive and do well. Moll is born in a prison in Newgate and soon after her birth, her mother is deported to America alone, to serve her punishment. She is taken over by a group of gypsy, with whom she lived until she was three years old. Then she was raised by a nurse until she was eight. It was tradition that she should now find a job as a servant, like many other orphan children. ...read more.

Middle

Soon after the death of her first husband, she gets married to a draper. But her second marriage does not last long either as the tradesman becomes a fugitive and runs away to France. And the wealth that Moll has achieved over the period of affair with the elder brother, comes down to less than half. And this is when she falls into a strange kind of problem of having no husband despite having one. But she finds a solution by concealing her true identity and becomes a trickster to get married again. It is notable that at this stage of her life, she realizes that being honest and devoted to relationship does not always settle a woman into a society. Her love for the elder brother is real but is not enough to achieve a stable life. Life teaches her to be tricky and she tricks her step-brother to marry her by vowing him that he would still marry her even if she is penniless. ...read more.

Conclusion

So, this phase of Moll?s life shows her calculated treatment to the male companions and her sensitivity in getting married. However, she and Jemy cross each other in the same game and they fitted each other rightly, and in later life it proves right. So, at this segment of her life, we see the little morals and bits of wisdom which shows the ultimate maturity of Moll Flanders. Going through the life of Moll Flanders through her first four marriages, one might say she is hard to stand. But despite her less than appealing qualities, we see the development of a woman who leads a hard fought life. Interestingly, Daniel Defoe has chosen a character of low moral as the principal protagonist of this novel which is rather uncommon. But her imperfection and the nature of fluidness in her character glorify the fight of a woman from an era when they were seen as an inferior. And through the first four marriages, we see the evolution of an ordinary girl towards sensible maturity to sustain in a society which is vulnerable for women. ...read more.

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