Moll Flanders: Fact or Fiction

Moll Flanders: Fact or Fiction? Although Daniel Defoe endeavors to portray Moll Flanders as an autobiography and convince readers that the sordid affairs of Moll actually occurred, readers can find through the reading of his work that Moll Flanders is undoubtedly a completely fictional character. It can be evidenced in the preface and mainly in the dichotomous nature of Moll that she could not possibly be a real person and is just a fictional character. Defoe betrays the credibility of Moll as a real person mainly through the extremeness of her seemingly ever-changing personality. Instead of just having slight to medial shifts of ideas or character, Moll swiftly goes from one end of the spectrum to the other. In the preface is the first evidence of Moll Flanders’ fictitious nature. “The World is so taken up of late with Novels and Romances, that it will be hard for a private History to be taken for Genuine,” (Defoe v) this introduction to Defoe’s work is simply a literary ploy to make his work stand out and thus becomes more desirable to the readers of the times. Especially when people believe that the biography of the person in question might be someone they know or might have known, it makes the book that much more of a must-read. Just like in modern society, 18th century society could hardly satiate their voracious appetites for scandal and gossip, which Moll Flanders would supply if it was thought to have happened to someone that was currently living in their midst. The largest piece of evidence pointing towards the fictionality of the work is Moll’s ever-changing dichotomous character and personality. One moment, Moll is self-sufficient and able to provide for herself, the next she is at the whim of someone else for her very survival. In certain passages Moll comes across as a very manipulative and self-serving individual, then at other times she is unable to recognize the same traits and ploys that she uses and she herself becomes the manipulated.