Feminine Self-salvation In Male Society

Daniel Defoe is one of the most famous writers in 18th century in English. He created a heroine like picara in his Moll Flanders. Through the text we found out that Defoe's writing about Moll Flanders's experience is an expression of his attention and thinking about women's issues.â… .. Moll Flanders pressed by male societyDefoe living in an era of capitalism is rapidly developing and forth expanding. Economic development has brought political change and new vitality in people's minds. But women's status in society has declined. Men's evaluation on women's ability and talent was significantly lower than the past, so that the view of women were incompetent and helpless was very popular at the time.As the daughter of a larcenist in new gate, it is not surprising that Moll Flanders became the victim of the society. Moll's birth is unfortunate, but the real reason that brought her into the unfortunate impasse is the failure of her marriage, and the reason of the failure is unreasonable marriage system and social discrimination against women.â…¡.. Moll Flanders's self-salvationDefoe has always opposed social discrimination against women, so he created Moll Flanders, a great-hearted woman. Moll has displayed a strong vitality, she did not fall nor surrendered under the press of the male society, but calmly coped with the difficulties in life with her own wisdom.Moore Flanders's way to achieve self-salvation manifested mainly in the following aspects:(A) Maintain the autonomy consciousness.As a woman in the bottom of society, Moll's commendable virtue is she has always maintained the spirit of independence and autonomy. Although she repeatedly into marriage, and would like to rely on men to provide for the protection of her life, but in the spiritual world, she has always been independent and sober. It is for this reason, she can calmly deal with the incident in her life. This is the prerequisite and the first step of her completion of the self-salvation.(B) The pursuit of economic independence.In Defoe's works, the pursuit of the financial and economic interests is not only the best weapon for women fighting with the society, but also the best way to achieve their objective of self-salvation. In Moll Flanders, the details of Moll's pursuit of economic independence are the author's most favorite part. On the one hand it fits the pulse of the times, on the other hand it shows the author's thoughts. Through Moll's experience Defoe tells us that a person, especially a woman, can only survive in the community with the economic independence. (C) Seek for spiritual salvation.Moll Flanders's rescued way is penitence, but in fact she always describes her success during the adventure in her penitence. Although the penitence is an indispensable part, it has new content.After reading and analysis we found that there always been a male narrator --Defoe's voice in the back of Moll Flanders, he could be found everywhere, and controlled the heroine in every possible way. On the road of Moll Flanders's self-salvation, not only the maintenance of autonomy consciousness but also the pursuit of economic independence, and seeking for spiritual salvation, they all clearly had the color of the time. Through her self-salvation, Defoe completed his own ideological transmission, which is the affirmation of the aggressive and tenacious spirit of the new bourgeoisie. And of course women's self-salvation under this influence has limitations. Therefore, we can only call Moll Flanders a liberated people, not a liberated woman.