Moll Flanders

Brief Overview

«Moll Flanders» is a gripping confession of a woman whose life unfolds as a series of trials, falls, and triumphs in the harsh England of the seventeenth century. Born into poverty and deprived of parental care, Moll is forced from an early age to fight for survival. Fate leads her down winding paths: she becomes a servant, a wife, a widow, a lover, a mother, a criminal, and finally, a penitent soul. Moll changes names and identities more than once, her heart torn between a thirst for love and a longing for security. Her life is a tight weave of passion, despair, cunning, and hope. Through a succession of marriages, deceptions, thefts, and exile to the New World, she searches for her place in the world, never losing her inner strength and zest for life. Defoe’s novel is not only the story of one woman, but also a profound meditation on human nature, morality, and the possibility of redemption.