A Study Of Motherhood In Moll Flanders

Moll Flanders is Defoe’s rather mature work and was published in1722, which received a huge success. In Moll Flanders, Moll grows up without her biological mother by her side, and all through Moll’s life, she gives birth to twelve children, whom she abandons for her own survival. Thus, Moll is not only a child with a missing mother, but she also acts as one to her own children. Given missing mothers in the novel, it is easy to believe that Moll is an unnatural mother and her motherhood is not reflected in the novel. However, such assertion has not taken the conflict between Moll’s own survival and maternal responsibility into consideration. This thesis argues that as a lower class woman in the17th century England, Moll is deprived of motherhood by her desperate situation. Only after achieving spiritual salvation and financial security can Moll become a powerful mother.Moll’s mother, a typical woman from the lower class, is caught and sentenced for one steal and has to abandon Moll all alone in the wild world. Living in the seventeen-century England, Moll experiences a turbulent period when England is suffering from domestic social crisis and foreign wars. What makes Moll’s life even tougher is her gender. As a lower class woman in the patriarchal society, Moll has no other choice but to sacrifice maternal responsibility to maintain her living. Therefore, she is deprived of motherhood by her desperate situation. Additionally, it should be noticed that Moll entrusts her children to her husbands, parents-in-law or someone with whom she believes her children can have a better future. Actually it is the reflection of Moll’s maternal care for them.Moll regards those who can support her financially and spiritually as mothers. There are two such women in Moll’s life:one is the adoptive mother who provides for Moll a shelter and the other is a midwife, who is Moll’s spiritual mother. At her old age, Moll grows to be a decisive woman who shows amazing individual competence to survive. Fulfilled spiritual salvation and achieved financial security, Moll acts as a powerful mother to her husband Jemy and the midwife.