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Daniel DefoeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
When Moll returns to England, she finds that she is in money trouble yet again—her cargo is lost at sea—and she is “entirely without friends” (116). She resolves to go to Bath, although she is aware that it is a place where gentlemen go to find mistresses rather than wives. She finds lodgings with a woman who is kind enough to offer her a reduced rate because of her circumstances. In the spring, a gentleman of some apparent means also comes to lodge at the home; Moll suspects her landlady of having encouraged him to come.
He courts her, though he remains honorable, and Moll is partially honest about her circumstances. He offers her money, though she refuses at first, only to accept after her landlady demands the rent. He becomes ill, and Moll nurses him back to health. When he is well, the relationship progresses, and they begin to sleep together—though only as companions, not lovers. Moll claims this remains the case for two years. Finally, Moll initiates a sexual relationship with him and becomes his mistress. She bears three children over six years, though only one of them survives.
The couple move several times during the years, but Moll returns to the original boardinghouse to find a letter from her lover: he has taken ill but dissuades Moll from coming to him because his wife’s relatives are taking care of him. Moll goes back to London to try to see him during his long illness, disguised as a maid, and is told he is close to death. However, he recuperates and retires to the country for more recovery. Moll then receives another letter saying that the relationship is over. His confrontation with death has made him repent of his sinful ways. Moll writes back to him, asking for £50 so she can return to Virginia and her mother—a lie; she has no intention of leaving England. He sends her the money.
Moll must start over yet again at the age of 42. She befriends a woman from the north of England who eventually asks her to come to Lancashire with her where she can stay for a month in her house. Moll believes that had the woman known that Moll’s fortune was quite meager, she would not have been invited. Nevertheless, she decides to go with her.
Before she leaves, however, she meets with a banker: most of her assets are in paper money at this point, and she wants to protect some of it, should events in the north go awry. She trusts the man at the recommendation of a friend and persuades the banker to manage her money for no fee. She assures him that if something should happen to her, he should take possession of what money is left; she claims she has no heirs. He has taken a liking to her and tells her that he would marry her if he were not already wed. He then tells her that his wife has made him a cuckold; she carries on affairs without remorse. His affection for Moll is such that he wants to leave her and be with Moll instead. Moll insists that he get a legal divorce before she will even consider being with him. He does not know that she has lived as a mistress for many years, but she believes that if she keeps him at a distance, and demands that he divorce his wife, she will secure better circumstances for herself. Thus, there is to be no contract of marriage at this time, and Moll goes north.
In Lancashire, she stays with the family of the lady who invited her, who happen to be Roman Catholics. While Moll does not attend Mass, she intimates that she would be willing to convert should the situation deem it necessary. The lady invites her brother to the house, and he proceeds to woo Moll. She is told that he has an estate in Ireland that makes him a very wealthy man. They are quickly married.
It becomes clear in short order that both of them are lying: Moll does not have a great fortune, and the Lancashire man does not have an estate in Ireland. The woman who invited Moll to the great house is not his sister, but his former mistress, who was tasked with finding him a wealthy woman to marry. Nevertheless, Moll considers him a gentleman and does not think ill of him for his deception. While he initially attempts to abscond without her, leaving just a note, he returns to fetch her back to London. They stay in a town outside of London, trying to think of a way to stay together. Moll talks about the plantation back in Virginia, while he talks about raising an estate in Ireland. He does not wish to go abroad, so he will try the Ireland venture first; if it is not successful, then he will go with Moll to Virginia. They part and Moll goes on to London.
Moll discovers she is again pregnant. She had planned to reunite with the banker, who has divorced his wife in the interim, but she feels she cannot do so while already pregnant, and she refuses to deliberately miscarry. She falls into a deep depression, and the landlady of her lodgings sends for what she calls a midwife. Mother Midnight is engaged in several businesses, one of which is to care for women who are inconveniently pregnant until they deliver. For a fee, she ensures that the child will be well taken care of.
After Moll retires to Mother Midnight’s house, she discovers that the woman undertakes several practices: in addition to being a baby broker, she also supervises several sex workers. Because she does not allow men into the premises, she keeps her reputation from being tainted. Although Moll is disturbed by these discoveries, she finds that her governess (Moll’s usual moniker for Mother Midnight) takes such good care of her that she cannot entirely fault her.
The banker’s wife has died by suicide, so there will be no impediment to their marriage or his fortune. Moll must find a home for the child, however, and the governess agrees to help. Moll is agitated; she insists that the boy be well taken care of. The governess assures her that, with regular payments, she can count on his well-being. Thus, she writes letters to the banker, and he provides documentation that his wife is out of the way. They are married. Right after the marriage, she catches a glimpse of her Lancashire husband—from whom she is not divorced—out of the window. He is on horseback with two other men. Shortly thereafter, she hears of “three highwaymen that had robbed two coaches” (184). Moll does her best to throw the authorities off their trail, knowing that her husband was involved.
Moll revels in her good fortune, having once again been able to secure a wealthy husband. She and the banker are married for five years, and she bears two more children. Unfortunately, the banker then loses most of his money in speculation, and they are nearly destitute. In his anguish, he becomes ill and dies. Moll must dole out her remaining resources very carefully. She is now 48 years old.
This section of the novel develops additional nuance in The Interplay of Circumstance, Opportunity, and Morality in Moll’s choices and actions. From the beginning, Moll’s circumstances define the ways she deploys her resourcefulness and the choices that she makes. As a woman without resources of her own, she must use her most valuable traits to support herself, and her most valuable trait has always been her beauty and charm. The result is that she learns to use sex as her most powerful tool to access financial security. At times, this leads her to seize opportunities that are, in 18th-century England, considered immoral. For example, after she flees America, she wants to find another husband but finds herself in circumstances where her more likely recourse is an extramarital affair: “I was at the Bath, where men find a mistress sometimes, but very rarely look for a wife” (117). And, indeed, instead of a husband, she finds a man who will take care of her financially in return for her services as a mistress. Her relationship with him borders on sex work, in that it is an economic arrangement wherein money is exchanged for a sexual relationship. Still, Moll always finds a way in which to justify (or, sometimes, to ignore) her actions. When she nurses her future lover back to health, she does so “as if I had been his wife” (123). Afterwards, he asks her to sleep next to him, chastely, and she does so until she can no longer resist the temptation. It is telling that Moll is the one who initiates the sexual relationship between them. While she calls herself the more “wicked” of the pair, her actions can also be read as empowerment: sex signifies female control. Just as when Moll harbored the knowledge of her incestuous dealings with her former husband to get financial support from him, she uses sex as a way of maintaining control of her circumstances.
Moll deflects potential criticism of her actions by explaining to her audience that her motivations were born of necessity, not wickedness. As she admits, “I resolved to let him lie with me, if he offered it; but it was because I wanted his help and assistance, and I knew no other way of securing him than that” (128). She then follows this comment by freely admitting that she initiated the intimate relationship first, simply because she wanted it. The economics of desire are complex in Moll’s world. All of her intimate relationships are defined and justified by her genuine passion, on the one hand, and her fear of poverty, on the other. Here, as in her other relationships, Moll agonizes over her decision to submit, while manipulating the situation to her advantage. When her lover repents of his actions after his illness, Moll writes him a letter that she admits is dishonest: “This was indeed all a cheat,” she says, “I had no intention to go to Virginia” (133). Yet, she resolves to have the last bit of money she can extract from him in what is essentially a bribe. Still, in the context of the age and of her gender, her machinations often appear reasonable. It is difficult to condemn Moll for her dissembling; she has little recourse to other means of securing wealth. Furthermore, she recognizes the way the systemic disadvantages placed on women by patriarchy put women like herself in positions where “virtue” is simply not tenable. She notes that, without a community of women around her, she lacks guidance and protection: “when a woman is thus left desolate and void of counsel, she is just like a bag of money or a jewel dropped on the highway” (135)—that is, she is simply bait for the next man who comes along. One can only hope that the man is one of virtue; if he is not, it is only she who is ruined.
While Moll plays with conventional morality, she does uphold her own particular code of conduct. She will not submit to further sexual relations with her husband when she discovers that, to do so, would be incestuous. She will not marry the banker while she carries her Lancashire husband’s baby, and she will not induce a miscarriage to rid herself of the unfortunate pregnancy. She is also loyal to those who assist her—even Mother Midnight, whose business Moll finds unsavory, if not repugnant. Even though it remains unclear what happens to most of Moll’s children, she agonizes over giving up the Lancashire husband’s child, not knowing if it will be cared for. Moll’s rather weak maternal feelings for her children are partly explained by the lack of birth control, which means that pregnancy is one factor over which Moll has little influence.
Meanwhile, Moll herself is always concerned with the appearance of propriety insofar as she is aware that the appearance of propriety is strategically advantageous. As she is well aware, “it is for all women who expect anything in the world, to preserve the character of their virtue, even when perhaps they may have sacrificed the thing itself” (144). At the same time, it becomes increasingly clear that all of Moll’s pretensions and disguises, her games and dissembling—mostly by playing the role of a wealthy gentlewoman—lead to her numerous downfalls, once again pointing to the theme of The Role of Providence Versus Luck. If she had not presented herself as such, her Lancashire husband, who turns out to be a liar and a thief (if, ironically, a gentleman), would never have ensnared her. Still, she forgives him for his lies and shields him from the law. These actions would be puzzling at best and inexcusable at worst until one realizes that the two are very much alike. The question of whether Moll’s misfortune is providential punishment for her transgressions or random bad luck remains open.
By Daniel Defoe
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