Irony and Social Criticism in Defoe's Moll Flanders

Definition and Aim of Irony in Moll Flanders

• General Definition of Irony: According to Baldick ($2015$), irony is defined as ‐‐ ‘a subtly humorous perception of inconsistency, in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance.’

• Scholarship on Defoe’s Irony:

  • Some literary critics, such as Novak ($1964$: $198$; $2003$: $374$), have historically doubted whether Daniel Defoe was intentionally writing ironically.

  • Novak ($1964$: $198$; $204$; $203$: $374$; $379$) notes that irony is a hallmark of Defoe's typical style.

• The Aim of Irony: In the context of Moll Flanders, irony serves as a device for social criticism. It is used to highlight issues such as:

  • Poverty.

  • Rapid social changes.

  • Harsh living conditions.

  • Systemic injustice.

Historical Context: Women in the $17^{th}$ and $18^{th}$ Centuries

• Social Marginalization: Women faced significant discrimination in a patriarchal society (Jones $2000$).

• Limited Legal Rights:

  • Women possessed very limited political and legal rights.

  • Older Moll reflects on this restriction regarding her husband: ‐‐ ‘it was quite out of my Power to stir without his Consent, as any one that knows the Constitution of the Country I was in, knows very well’ (Defoe $2004$: $75$).

• Lack of Mobility: There was a profound lack of education, economic opportunities, and social mobility for women.

• The Marriage Market:

  • Older Moll observes that the social environment is hostile to women: ‐‐ ‘Betty wants but one Thing, but she had as good want every Thing, for the Market is against our Sex just now’ (Defoe $2004$: $19-20$).

  • Social expectations restricted female agency and autonomy.

  • Despite her resourcefulness, Moll remains at the mercy of the men around her.

  • While the young Moll lacks this awareness, the reader realizes her fate is largely sealed by these societal conditions.

Irony on the Level of Genre

• Ironic Parody: The novel is described as a kind of ‐‐ ‘ironic parody’ of spiritual autobiography or confessional narratives (Bell $2003$: $428$).

• Picaresque Influence: It is not a straightforward fictional confession; it is heavily influenced by the picaresque genre (Novak $2004$: $274$).

• Contradictory Characterization: Moll embodies a combination of ‐‐ ‘a zest for criminal ingenuity and a taste for moral preachment’ (Koonce, cited in Bell $2003$: $409$).

• Irony in the Preface:

  • The Preface claims that in the story ‐‐ ‘there is not a superlative villain brought upon the stage, but either he is brought to an unhappy end, or brought to be a penitent; there is not an ill thing mentioned but it is condemned… nor a virtuous, just thing but it carries its praise along with it’ (Defoe $2024$: $5$).

  • Bell ($2003$: $407$) argues this is ironic: ‐‐ ‘The reader is being alerted to the moralising potential of the text… but simultaneously being offered a text with little actual moral content.’

• Doubtful Penitence:

  • Moll claims, ‐‐ ‘In a word, I was perfectly chang’d, and become another body’ (Defoe $2003$: $221$).

  • However, Novak ($2003$: $372$) points out that even the Preface puts her penitence for her wicked life into doubt.

  • Moll herself warns readers to be skeptical of her moral admonitions: ‐‐ ‘I leave the Readers of these things to their own just Reflections, which they will be more able to make effectual than I, who soon forgot my self’ (Defoe $2003$: $101$).

  • Bell ($2003$: $429$) notes that her conversion seems ‐‐ ‘easy and brief’ and has no actual effect on her subsequent behavior.

Irony in Plot Developments

• The Quest for Stability: Moll seeks financial stability through marriage, yet ironically only achieves this after a series of disastrous marriages.

• Incestuous Marriage: She unknowingly marries her own brother. Novak ($1964$: $201$) notes that her desire for security is forced to yield to her ‐‐ ‘natural detestation’ of the relationship.

• Introduction to Transactional Love:

  • Moll’s initial immersion into a mercenary view of love is sparked by her first ‐‐ ‘true’ love.

  • She naively believes the elder brother’s feelings are genuine, which ironically initiates her own mercenary approach (the intersection of Love, Money, and Morality).

  • The elder brother professes love but immediately follows it with financial payment: ‐‐ ‘professing a great deal of Love for me… and with that he put five Guineas into my Hand, and went away down Stairs’ (Defoe $2004$: $23$).

Institutional and Social Irony: Hypocrisy and Class

• Attack on Social Hypocrisy:

  • Defoe attacks a society that demands morality but prioritizes wealth and status.

  • McMaster ($1970$: $132$) states that Defoe exposes a world where ‐‐ ‘financial considerations have taken the place of sexual, moral and spiritual ones.’

  • A woman without money is considered ‐‐ ‘no Body,’ regardless of her beauty, birth, breeding, or modesty: ‐‐ ‘nothing but Money now recommends a Woman; the Men play the Game all into their own Hands’ (Defoe $2004$: $21$).

  • Conditioned by this, Moll’s mercenary motives often supersede her emotions. For example, after a deep, heartfelt farewell where she claims she would have ‐‐ ‘beg'd my Bread’ to stay with a man, she immediately checks her pockets to tally her assets: ‐‐ ‘I felt in my Pocket, and there I found ten Guineas, his Gold Watch, and two little Rings, one a small Diamond Ring, worth only about six Pound…’ (Defoe $2004$: $121$).

• Attack on Class and ‘Gentility’:

  • Defoe uses irony to reveal that the bourgeois characters are actually rogues (Chaber $1982$: $213$).

  • Defoe critiques rakish ‐‐ ‘gentlemen’ who add no wealth to society and plague women (Novak $1964$: $203$).

  • Moll’s experiences show that those with social status often lack moral behavior. After being seduced by such a man, she reflects: ‐‐ ‘I finish'd my own Destruction at once… I had nothing of Value left to recommend me, either to God's Blessing, or Man's Assistance’ (Defoe $2004$: $26$).

  • Ironically, genuine gentility is sometimes represented by characters who are technically thieves, liars, or cheaters (Chaber $1982$: $212$).

Textual Irony: Dramatic and Situational

• Dramatic Irony:

  • This occurs through the discrepancy between young Moll’s naivety and the awareness of other characters or the reader.

  • Example: Young Moll expresses a desire to be a ‐‐ ‘gentlewoman’ by referencing a local woman called ‐‐ ‘Madam,’ not understanding the ladies' amused reaction to her misunderstanding of class status: ‐‐ ‘I did not understand any thing of that… they call her Madam… and I would be such a Gentlewoman as that’ (Defoe $2004$: $15$).

• Situational Irony:

  • The Lancashire Husband: When Moll and her Lancashire husband marry, both are broke but both believe the other is wealthy (he believes she is a gentlewoman with a fortune; she believes he has an estate in Ireland). Moll calls this a ‐‐ ‘hellish Juggle’ and a ‐‐ ‘double Fraud’ (Defoe $2004$: $117$).

  • The Banker Husband: A future husband expresses a desire to divorce his wife for being unfaithful, unaware that Moll possesses the exact same traits. Moll reflects on the irony: ‐‐ ‘How little does he think, that having Divorc’d a Whore, he is throwing himself into the Arms of another!’ (Defoe $2004$: $144$). She further lists her ‐‐ ‘abominable’ history: lying with two brothers, having three children with her own brother, being born in Newgate to a ‐‐ ‘Whore’ mother, and lying with $13$ men.

Conclusion on Defoe’s Methodology

• Defoe utilizes irony to critically examine both the personal choices of his heroine and the structures of her society.

• The narrative demonstrates deep insight into how a person's plight can be determined by their environment.

• While the book moralizes, it simultaneously shows sympathy for Moll’s struggles.

• The treatment is humorous rather than bitter, aiming to educate the audience on the social conditions of women (comparable to the works of Chaucer or Shakespeare).

• Defoe's masterful formulation of sociocriticism ensures the lasting impact of Moll Flanders.