“Moll’s Analysis of the Marriage Market” Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders (1722)

Moll (first-person narrator), the protagonist of the story. GUIDED ANALYSIS Read paragraph 1 Who is the narrator? Moll (first-person narrator), the protagonist of the story. On what does Molly base her ideas? On her own experience (l.1 “This knowledge I soon learned by experience ...”) which has made her see marriage as a commercial contract (ll. 2-5 “The state of things .... and that Love had no share, or but very little in the matter.”) Read paragraph 2. What is the only quality a woman must have to find a decent husband? Money is the only thing requested: no other qualities are important. Move to paragraph 3 What do we learn from Moll’s reflections? Moll gives us a social analysis of the position of women: they had better accept any proposal of marriage they receive, rather than pretending they refuse it, because by doing so they risk of turning away good business. Was the situation described above the same all over the country? No, it was typical of city life; in the country love was still the reason that led to marriages, as pointed out in paragraph one.

Is there any irony in Moll’s words? GUIDED ANALYSIS Personal response The romantic idea of marriage is reversed in this excerpt. Consider the comparison between lovers/mistresses and wives: is it how you would expect it? No, if we consider our contemporary view of marriage, Moll’s comparison reflects women’s condition in an age in which everything was beginning to be valued in purely commercial terms. Is there any irony in Moll’s words? Yes, there is. Moll is probably slightly exaggerating the contrast, although the habit of having mistresses was widespread and socially accepted, even though unofficially. Irony can be perceived especially when Moll says “the money was always agreeable, whatever the wife was” (ll. 13-14) Moll seems to have a clear attitude to marriage. How would you define it? cynical b realistic c romantic Molly certainly has a realistic and perhaps even cynical, or at least disillusioned attitude. She highlights the fact that “the state of things was altered as to matrimony” (ll. 1-2) although she does not question whether this is good or bad: she simply accepts it as a matter of fact.