Essay on Freedom and Fate in Moll Flanders :: Moll Flanders Essays

Freedom and Fate in Moll Flanders   Are lot who believe in freewill simply ignorant of the reasons of their actions?  In the context of Defoes Moll Flanders, this question may result in considerable debate. Was Flanders free or was she predetermined to live a wicked and improper life mired in years of penitence? Did the whorish behavior of Molls mother predetermine Molls actions? Certainly on that point is no question that Flanders was a criminal - she was a whore, a thief, and she practiced incest.    In regards to Flanders having sex with her own brother it would be difficult to argue that this was a predetermined event considering she truly did not know her husband was of her own flesh and blood. If, indeed, she was aware of the relation and then chose to proceed then one could disc it further in the context of freewill. As for being a whore there is no question that Flanders, especially later in her life, involved herself with much(prenominal) happenings, but for me it was the thievery that seemed to capture the essence of Flanders continual undoing and constant need for penitence. There is no better part of Defoes work to capture the feelings of reveal despondency then when Moll is going to steal for the first time from the apothecarys shop. Defoe prefaces the scene with a few paragraphs where Moll explains her absolute desolate state. The abomination is then set in what James Sutherland explains, ...Molls first theft he sets the scene with such careful attention to detail that he fixes it in our minds, and gives to it that lineage of authenticity which, for Defoe, is almost justification of fiction. This is where Defoes journalistic stylings shine. The reader is indeed in the apothecary and sees Molls gaffe unfolding before him.   We are free to count on whether or not we would take the bundle that so often becomes Molls pursuit in the future. It is at that instant that we can decide whether Moll was free to do so or controll ed by something unavoidable, such as fate. If Moll was acting on freewill it is arguable that she would not repeat the same crime in the future, in fact she would most likely avoid any such acts that resulted in the terrible feelings she experienced during and after the first offense. For she says herself, It is impossible to express the iniquity of my soul all the while I did it.