Defoe's Alternative Conduct

Manual: Survival Strategies and

Female Networks in Moll Flanders

Srividhya Swaminathan

A nalyses of Defoe's narratives tend to dismiss his secondary

r-l..characters because they lack well-developed personalities. The
extensive cast of women in Moll Flanders, for instance, has been
ignored largely because twentieth-century critics privilege interiority
and psychology, and discount stock or "flat" characters.' Ian Watt's
The Rise ofNovel canonized Defoe as the great novelist of self-maximiz-
ing individualism, identifying in Moll a "criminal individualism" that
"tends to minimise the importance of personal relationships.t"
Though Watt's analysis of Moll Flanders has been hotly contested,
critics focus on defining the nature of Moll's individualism, tacitly
agreeing with Watt's contention that personal relationships are
diminished in the novel." This neglect would not be a problem if

1 An exception to this discounting of "flat" characters is Deidre Shauna Lynch, The Economs
of Charaaer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998). In Moll Flanders, the main female
characters who have merited analysis are "Mother Midnight," the midwife who teaches Moll
to steal, Moll's biological mother, and, to a lesser extent, Moll's nurse. For a comprehensive
discussion of Mother Midnight and the role of midwives in English society, see Robert
Erickson, Mother Midnight: Birth, Sex, and Fate in Eighteenth-Cent'1l1)' Fiction (New York: AMS
Press, 1986). For an analysis of Mother Midnight, Moll's biological mother, and her nurse,
see Lois A. Chaber, "The Matriarchal Mirror: Women and Capital in Moll Flanders," PM.LJI
97 (1982),212-26. I would like to thank Kathryn Hume, Clement Hawes, Robert D. Hume,
and John T. Harwood for criticism of earlier versions of this essay.

2 Ian Watt, The Rise oJthe Novel (1957; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965), p. 111.

3 Manuel Schonhorn, Defoe's Politics: Parliament, Poioer, Kingship, and "Robinson Crusoe"

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION, Volume 15, Number 2,January 2003

186 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

secondary characters merely provided local colour, but the actions of

women in particular turn out to be critical to Moll's survival. Ignoring
the "minor" female characters has led to odd imbalances in critical
readings, notably with respect to feminist criticism. For example,
Defoe's "narrative transvestism" has been read as seeking to mis-
represent the "sexual other" and thus to co-opt the female voice." Other
feminist readings of Moll Flanders tend to focus on Defoe's obsession
with commerce and economics and their influence on gender rela-
tions." While Moll's narrative amply rewards these lines of critical
inquiry, such approaches ignore the relationships formed between
women: the factor in the story that makes Moll's survival possible.
In this essay I suggest that actions are usually more important than
thought to Defoe. Furthermore, I believe that he supplies us with an
extremely revealing context for novelistic actions among his non-
I
fiction writings, specifically his conduct manuals. Moll Flanders can be J
read as an alternative conduct manual, one that explores the options
available to women in unstable, often desperate circumstances. As an
alternative conduct manual, Moll's life teaches her reader more about
survival than religion, possibly transcending Defoe's intent in the
novel. Critics who read Moll's narrative as a series of relationships )
{
with men or as a solitary struggle for survival? miss the multiple layers
of social criticism in the text. I will argue that Defoe uses the novel to
depict a broader and less sanitized view of society, thereby illustrating

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991). Schonhorn's challenge to Watt's thesis

emphasizes the residual "monarchist" elements in Defoe's thought rather than a network
of supposedly minor characters.

4 Madeline Kahn, Narmiiue Trausuestism: Rhetoric mul Gender in the Eighteenth-Gentmy English
Nouel (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991): "I use the term 'narrative transvestism' to
refer to this process whereby a male author gains access to a culturally defined female voice
and sensibility but runs no risk of being trapped in the devalued female realm. Through
narrative transvestism the male author plays out, in the metaphorical body of the text, the
ambiguous possibilities of identity and gendel'" (p. 6).

5 The first such feminist analysis wasJuliet McMaster, "The Equation of Love and Money in
Moll Flanders" Studies iti the NOTlel2 (1970), 131--44. See also Chaber; William E. Hummel,
"The Gift of My Father's Bounty': Patriarchal Patronization in Moll Flanders and Roxana," i
~
Rocky Mountain. Renieui of Language and Literature 48 (1994), 119--41; Ellen Pollak, "Moll
Flanders, Incest, and the Structure of Exchange," The Eighteenth Century: 77teOlY and
Interpretation. 30 (1989),3-21; Mona Scheuerman, "An Income of One's Own: Women and
!
Money in Moll Flarulers and Roxana," Durlunn UniTlersity]0llmal80 (1988), 225-39.

6 The most notable essay with this theme isJohn Richetti's "The Family, Sex, and Marriage
in Defoe 's Moll Flrmders and Roxana," Studies in the LiteralY Imagination 15:2 (1982), 19-35.
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 187

a conduct for survival in unstable situations; that he represents a

female support network among his "minor" characters who success-
fully cope with unstable circumstances arising in the novel; and that
his picture of lower-class society suggests that for women, homosocial
networks are more important than heterosexual coupling, and that
gender solidarity, when exercised, permits them to circumvent social
restrictions on their behaviour."

Ideals of Conduct and Desperate Situations

Before exploring Moll Flanders, we must examine the structure and

content of Defoe's conduct manuals in order to understand the
context in which his novel may be analysed as an alternative conduct
manual. Written in didactic prose, post-Restoration conduct manuals
provide religious and secular instruction on proper behaviour and
delineate the duties of men and women within the home and within
society. While most conduct manuals published in the early
eighteenth-century employ a dry tone, Defoe's manuals offer more
inventive forms of instruction. The Family Instructor (1715), his most
popular conduct manual, teaches proper behaviour in a series of
dialogues between members of a bourgeois and conspicuously
nuclearized family." The manual presents the relationship between
parents and children, masters and servants, husbands and wives, in a
manner "design'd both to divert and instruct.?" Defoe creates an
"entirely new" format for the conduct manual, a "Religious Play."!" He

7 John Richetti, Defoe's Narratives: Situations and Structures (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975).
Richetti makes a reference to "the invisible league of self-conscious women ... an authentic
group manipulating the inauthentic relationships ordinary society offers" (p. Ill). He also
refers to a "female subculture," but he examines this league/subculture only in reference to
Moll's biological mother and Mother Midnight. He does not explore how this organization of
women coalesces prior to Moll's residence in Virginia and its crucial role in her survival.

8 For a complete history and analysisof this topic, see Paula R. Backscheider, DanielDe[oe: Ilis Lije
(Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989). "What was original about Defoe's conduct
book was his fully realized, even leisurely narration, the individualized characters, the realistic
dialogue, and, above all, his analytical interest in relationships" (p, 363). See also 17!e Ideology
ojCotuluct, ed. Nancy Armstrong and Leonard Tennenhouse (NewYork: Methuen, 1987) and
Nancy Armstrong, Desire and.Domestic Fiction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).

9 Daniel Defoe, The Fomily Instnuior; ed. Paula Backsheider (Delmar, NY:Scholars' Facsimilies
and Reprints, 1989), p. iii.

10 Carol Houlihan Flynn, "Defoe's Idea of Conduct: Ideological Fictions and Fictional Reality,"
in 17,eIdeology ojCouduct. Flynn argues that Defoe "locates one of the central confusions of
188 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

introduces the characters and sketches basic personalities for them by

identifying their role in the family and what type of Christian they are
(e.g., "Negative Christian," "loose-living Christian"). The dialogues
articulate the inner thoughts of the characters, but only in relation to
Christian/familial duty. Individual family members discuss no
concerns beyond those of spirituality and the dictates of conduct. The
focus is further narrowed by the family's isolation from other
members of society (except the servants). Defoe's intense scrutiny of
the middle-class nuclear family "anatomize]s]" their interactions in an
artificially restricted atmosphere by devising a limited and "ideal"
context in which to model proper conduct.'!
The family Defoe creates clearly comes from a comfortable and stable
socia-economic background. One series of dialogues deals with the
relationship of master and servant, indicating affluent, middle-class
circumstances. The older son is a profligate spender (not unlike Moll's
first lover), and the older daughter's going to the theatre and playing
cards indicates that she is a woman of leisure. Thus, a crucial compo-
nent of the "ideal" world involves ensuring that the basic needs offood
and shelter are met. I would not contend that Defoe believes financial
security is a necessary precursor to spiritual development; however, the J
comfortable circumstances of this family prompt twenty-first-century :~
readers to make that assumption. As a vehicle for portraying correct
religious instruction and conduct, Defoe's family is relatively free of
immediate monetary concerns, and they are members of the "moral"
middle class. The dialogues between husband and wife also reveal a
I)
stable marriage. The wife dutifully accepts instruction from her I
husband, and the husband strives to support his wife and family. The I'
Family Instructorillustrates Richard A. Barney's analysis of the revamped
patriarchy established by Whiggish Puritanism: "In the public sphere ... J
Puritanism supported a more liberalized approach to male authority
1
figures, while in the domestic sphere, the rule of the patriarch became
at least potentially more emphatic'l" Defoe describes a family in which

his century, the contradictory desire for freedom and limitation, for equality and
subordination" (p. 73).
j
11 Christopher Flint, FamilyFictions (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998). Flint claims
I
"that the single most effective means for the period's own complex theorizing about family
J
I
relations was prose fiction, largely because of its flexible incorporation of other discourses
such as conduct books, philosophical treatises, and demographic studies" (p. 10).

12 Richard A. Barney, Plots oJEnlightenment (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), p. 218.
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 189

the father is clearly the head of the household and all other members
of the family look to him for direction.
The Family Instructor subscribes to a rigid definition of gender roles
that confines women to the home under the dominion of their
husbands. Barney describes Defoe's depiction of "patriarchal author-
ity" as "readily proscribing behavior and meting out punishment" in
the family. "It is a government of command and submission, doubly
enforced by divine mandate.t'" Thus, the presence of the father is
crucial to both the economic and spiritual survival of the family.
Women are defined by their relation to the father, and as wives and
daughters must submit to his authority. What becomes ofthe women
who lack the financial and moral stability of the "ideal"? Defoe was
very aware of the complexities inherent in his society, and The Family
Instructor, however detailed, could not address all circumstances.
Defoe's novels, which he sets up as true or "historical" accounts,
may offer the opportunity to illustrate more realistic social conditions
than those which he creates for the family in his conduct manual.
Establishing this "historical" validity also lends credence to the moral
lesson advanced by his story. The conventions of fiction allow him to
depict a broader range of society and to include the lower classes,
whose religious faith could be severely tested by the conditions of
their existence. Defoe embeds in each novel a moral lesson that can
be read as an extension of the instruction he gives in his conduct
manuals. In the preface, he recommends Moll Flanders to the reader,
"as a Work from every part of which something may be learned, and
some just and religious Inference is drawn, by which the Reader will
have something ofInstruction, if he pleases to make use of it" (p. 5) .11
He gives Moll's narrative an added authenticity by calling it a "private
History," which sets it apart from the more popular "Novels and
Romances." This patina of authenticity, which allows him to depict
the less savoury aspects of society, excuses his own recounting of the
"wicked Part" of Moll's life.
In Defoe's fiction, the bourgeois ethos of the conduct manual
collides with the "true-crime" and underworld ambiance of the
Newgate Calendm'-another source for the emerging genre of the
novel. Lincoln Faller's Crime and Defoe identifies the criminal biogra-

13 Barney, p. 215.

14 Daniel Defoe, Moll Florulers, ed. Edward Kelly (New York: W. W. Norton, 1973). References
are to this edition.
190 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

phyas one of Defoe's models for his fictional tales. Defoe's novels are,
however, more "provoking" and "capacious" than the criminal
biography. "Encouraging strategies ofreading far more complicated
than anything required by their putative genre, [the novels] can put
readers into highly complicated, highly self-conscious, highly ab-
stracted 'reading positions. '''15 The primary "reading positions"
evident in Moll Flanders are designed both to titillate and to instruct
the reader. Defoe's preface justifies his potentially sensational
depiction of the desperate circumstances of lower-class existence by
stressing what the reader can learn by negative example.
Marriage and family are the basis of social organization, according
to The Family Instructor and other such publications, so Defoe's novel
answers the question of how a woman copes when she falls outside
the purview of marriage and family." Each of Moll's attempts to claim
a permanent place in the domestic realm is thwarted, mainly because
men prove to be highly unreliable as providers. Each of her five
marriages leaves her increasingly poorer, and she seems unconcerned
about her children, only one of whom is even named. From birth,
Moll continually struggles to maintain herself and fulfil her basic
needs, and Defoe's repeated inclusion of accounts keeps the reader
apprised of her limited economic resources. She cannot provide for
herself through her own labours. I? Though she desires the life of
"gentlewomen," which she defines as an ability to support herself,
Moll achieves a kind of independence only by stealing. More impor-
tant, the extent of her independence is complicated by the many
crucial alliances she makes with women throughout her life. Her
I
narrative teaches that in an unstable world no woman can survive in i

isolation from society at large. Moll must establish friendships with a

succession ofwomen most of whom are widowed and have to support

15 Lincoln Faller, Crime and Defoe:A New Kind of Writing (Cambddge: Cambridge University
Press, 1993), p. 31.

16 For a discussion of the interaction between the nuclear family and civil society, see
Christopher Flint's Family Fictions and Gordon J. Schochet's The /vutlunitnrian Family and
Political Attitudes in Seoenteentli Cent-my England: Palrutrchialisni in Political Though; (New
Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1988).

17 Chaber asserts that Moll's many failed marriages are the result of a shift to capitalist social
structure in which women are confined to the "domestic cell." She states, "Given the failure
of men to allow women property, security, or productivity, no wonder the book's real
structure is matriarchal" (p. 219). I expand upon her thesis to include all the secondary
female characters as contributors to this matriarchy.
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 191

themselves. These women do not have men upon whom they can rely
for "guidance." They struggle to exist in a society that confines middle-
class women to the domestic realm, while tacitly condoning predatory
male behaviour toward women considered unworthy of respect.
In contrast to the ideal of the conduct manual, Moll's narrative
portrays neither a stable family life nor secure economic conditions,
and she regularly deals with the underworld that shadowed polite
society. Defoe is able to portray the darker elements of society in
which basic needs such as food and shelter overshadow (at least
initially) religious and moral instruction. Ultimately, Defoe comes
back to a specific idea of moral and religious conduct, which he
believes must prevail even in desperate circumstances. Admiration for
Moll's resourceful survival techniques is not intended to overshadow
the rewards that came from true repentance at the end of the novel.
Authorial intent collides with reader interpretation in the actions of
secondary female characters. Defoe extends the moral and religious
instruction of the conduct manual to include non-ideal circum-
stances, but the imaginations of his readers are really excited by the
collective ingenuity displayed by the characters in negotiating those
circumstances. Thus, Defoe's alternative conduct manual both fulfils
and exceeds his desire to complicate the ideal and offer religious
instruction. Conduct in underclass circumstances, such as economic
and marital instability, becomes a conduct for survival, and Moll
Flanders suggests that the most successful practitioners of this conduct
for survival are women.
An exemplar of survival is Moll's first benefactress, the nurse with
whom she is placed as an infant. Left penniless after the death of her
husband, the nurse must find a way to support herself and her
children. Since the parish refuses to maintain a widow for her
lifetime, she earns a living by entering the public realm, that is, in a
socially acceptable manner. She earns her "little livelihood" by taking
in homeless and orphaned children to educate and train them for
service. Moll notes that her nurse once lived in "better circumstances,"
and these circumstances provide her with the skills to bring up the
children "as mannerly as if we had been at the dancing-school" (p. 9).
In other words, the nurse's conduct, learned while she was a wife, can be
put to use in supporting her. She assumes both the masculine and
feminine role by providing guidance for conduct and spiritual instruc-
tion without a man to instruct her. The nurse also offers an example of
192 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION
I,
acceptable encroachment into the public or masculine domain by
broadening the domestic rather than stepping out of it. Her example
provides a stark contrast to other women, Moll included, who survive
the public realm in a socially unacceptable manner.
One such character, "Mother Midnight," the midwife who teaches
Moll to steal, displays a great deal of resourcefulness in surviving.
While it cannot be said that Defoe sets her up as a positive example,
her integral role in both Moll's survival and repentance establishes
her importance in the novel. She, like the nurse, displays a strong will
to survive, though her means of survival takes her outside the law. She
helps Moll hide the birth of an illegitimate child, earning Moll's
loyalty. Moll trusts Mother Midnight to train her as a thief and share
in the spoils." She completes Moll's education in the conduct for
survival by teaching Moll to achieve financial independence without
marriage or servitude, both of which had already proved unfruitful.
Mother Midnight adheres to her own code of morality by supporting
Moll emotionally throughout the latter portion of her narrative.
Apart from Moll, Mother Midnight is the strongest female character
in the novel, and she proves to be Moll's most loyal friend and ally.
Marital stability constitutes a critical component of Defoe's ideal;
however, Moll's narrative primarily illustrates marital instability.I9
Once again, Defoe portrays the "non-ideal" to complicate and expand
the limits of the ideal. The women in Moll's narrative cannot form
stable family units because of such factors as their age and financial
situations." Older, impoverished widows are not sought by suitors;
younger, well-off widows need be wary of fortune-hunters. Moll
comments cynically that men have the upper hand in marriage. This
truth forces a woman to be creative in protecting her own interests.
The sheer number ofwidows in this narrative sharply problematizes the
stability and duration of married life. In Moll's own experience, her
most stable marriage ends horrifically with the discovery of incest.

18 Flynn characterizes this arrangement as a "triumphant matriarchal system that transcends

circumstances of sexual and financial transaction" (p, 87).

19 For critical analyses of Defoe's attitudes towards maniage, see Tommy G. Watson, "Defoe's
Attitude toward Marriage and the Position ofWomen as Revealed in Moll Flanders," Southern
Quarterly: A journal oj the Arts in the South 3 (1964), 1-8; and David Blewett, "Changing
Attitudes toward Marriage in the Time of Defoe: The Case of Moll Flanders" Huntington
Lilmny Qlwrteriy 44:2 (1981),77-88.

20 Flynn, pp. 84-85.

 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 193

Defoe is hardly a proto-feminist in depicting the instability of marriage,

but he acknowledges that a woman's position in marriage is tenuous
and dependent upon the benevolence, solvency, and longevity of her
husband. Even more tenuous is the position of the widow who has no
male intermediary with society. Thus, Moll's narrative proposes an
.alternative method of surviving in the absence of a stable male figure.
Her life illustrates the importance of female networks as a way of
overcoming the inequities of marriage and widowhood.

Female Networks and the Exercise of Power

Christopher Flint suggests that eighteenth-century narrative is caught

between "the urge ... to create a new and convincing discourse about
individual autonomy, and a desire ... to exalt the notions of social
obligation and causality.?" Defoe alleviates this tension by sacrificing
"social obligation" to "individual autonomy" in order to justify Moll's
scandalous behaviour. Modern readings of Moll's narrative stress her
individualism and deliberate alienation from a male-dominated
society. Her life is analysed as a depiction of self-centredness that
motivates all the behaviour in the novel. "Self-enclosure, which is
both cause and effect of individualism, justifies belief in one's own
supremacy and in the relative unimportance of others."22 Thus, Moll
ignores the restrictions of organized society and puts self-preservation
before social mores. Critics also credit Moll's individualism as the only
successful example of how a character can thwart patriarchal author-
ity. For example, she evades the "Magistrates" who seek to put her
into service too soon, and she manages to support herselfwhen men
and marriage prove unreliable. However, Moll's self-maximizing
individualism does not preclude a considerable amount of aid from
other characters in the novel. Critics have given Moll more credit for
survival than she deserves, and they have grossly overstated the degree
of Moll's autonomy.
Throughout her life, Moll relies on a series of female confidantes
who keep her financially and emotionally solvent within the context

21 Flint, p. 36.

22 Helene Moglen, 771e Trauma of Gender: 11 Feminist 77teOl)' oj theEnglish Nouei (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2001), P: 41. While Moglen acknowledges that Moll's individualism is
deeply conflicted within the novel, she locates the sources of conflict in capitalist structures that
disempower women and Moll's unsuccessful relationships with men.
194 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

of her society. This society consists mainly of lower-class women and

men whose primary concern is having enough money with which to
shelter and feed themselves. While male characters exploit Moll's
body, female characters are crucial to her survival. Women, not men,
provide structure and impetus for Moll's narrative. This contention
contradicts work by feminist critics like Nancy K. Miller who claim
that the "fundamental structuring sequence" involves the conflict
between masculine and feminine.f The minor female characters who
come to Moll's aid can be loosely grouped into three categories: first,
women who house Moll; second, women who counsel Moll and
facilitate her relationships with men; and third, women who foster
Moll's criminal career. The female support system contrasts strongly
with Moll's unsuccessful dealings with men. Female characters
outnumber male characters almost two to one in the narrative,
possibly indicating their greater importance to Moll's well-being. As
a result, the picture of eighteenth-century lower-class society that
emerges from her narrative is a society of women. While solidarity is
not a concept one associates with Defoe-s-much less female solidar-
ity-the female characters in Moll Flanders, with few exceptions,
manipulate patriarchal restrictions on their gender in solidarity. This
solidarity, not Moll's individualism, enables her to triumph over her
misfortunes and redeem herself in the end.
Defoe appears acutely sensitive to the differing ways in which men
and women exercise power. Social conventions ascribe overt power,
such as the ability to practise a trade, to men. They are Magistrates,
"Gentlemen Traders," involved in "business schemes," essentially
operating in the public realm. Women, by contrast, are confined to
the private/domestic realm, even as a method of supporting them-
selves. When forced to make a living for themselves, they run small
schools and inns, or they function as midwives and bawds. In fact, the
women who appear to have the most "individual autonomy" in the
novel are those who practise disreputable trades such as prostitution
or thievery. Even these women are forced to contend with patriarchal
restrictions that limit their behaviour. The "patriarchal authority"

!
illustrated in The Family Instructor encompasses all social interactions.
Society functions by the willingness of women to do their duty and
subordinate their desires to men. Defoe's women, however, are far

23 See Nancy K. Miller, 17IeHeroine's Text: Readings in the French and English Nouel, 1722-1782
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1980).
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 195

from disempowered. Women in the novel exercise covert power by

forming mutually beneficial unions that physically and emotionally
shelter them from a male-dominant system.
The actions of numerous widows and landladies who house Moll
and protect her reputation provide the most obvious examples of
female networking. Women prove more capable of providing Moll
with basic shelter than any of her husbands. As a young child, she is
sheltered by the nurse and rich patronesses, thereby avoiding a life of
drudgery. After the death of her first husband, she moves in with a
widow who is "one of the maddest, gayest things alive" (p. 48). When
her second marriage dissolves, Moll escapes the Mint by lodging with
another young widow. Her narrative abounds with examples of
sympathetic widows and landladies who provide her with lodging for
no apparent remuneration. The consistency of their help also
indicates that Defoe understood the importance of networking to
Moll's survival. The actions of these women transcend mere sympathy
or pity for Moll's straightened circumstances. By providing shelter,
they enable Moll to preserve her reputation, which is a valuable
commodity in the patriarchal system. For example, Moll's move to the
Mint, which is populated largely by men, taints her with "the scandal
of a whore without the joy" (p. 52). In order to restore her good
name, Moll leaves the company of these men to move in with the
young widow. The apparent ease with which she restores her tar-
nished reputation suggests that the lower classes need only maintain
a facade of middle-class respectability. Public demonstrations of virtue
are more important than private behaviour; thus, this incident
demonstrates the value of the female network in seemingly legitimat-
ing Moll's virtue.
A second function of the network involves women who serve as
confidantes, marriage counsellors, and marriage facilitators. When
Moll discovers she has committed incest by her second marriage, she
confides first in her mother-in-law (her biological mother) for advice.
At three specific points in the narrative, Moll comments on the
importance offriendship and having friends in an advisory capacity.
Each time the subject arises, Moll lacks the necessary friend or
confidante to help her through the lower points in her life. Moll's
statements regarding friendship re-emphasize the interconnectedness
of women in the novel. One such instance occurs after Moll ends her
relationship with the Bath gentleman. Left friendless, she sees her
196 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

situation as "one of [her] worst Misfortunes" because she "had no

adviser" or confidante. Moll concludes "that to be Friendless is the
worst Condition, next to being in want, that a Woman can be reduc'd
to: I say a Woman, because 'tis evident Men can be their own Advisers,
and their own Directors" (p. 100). Moll's canny observation about her
society underscores the powerlessness women experience, unable
openly to "direct" their own lives. Since all of Moll's interactions with
men to this point involve licit or illicit sex, the "Friend" to whom Moll
refers can only be a woman. Women serve as advisers to other women
in order to offset the "danger ofbeingwrong'd and deceiv'd," and
women are especially important as advisers regarding marriage.
Despite the constant trouble each husband brings her, Moll
continues to view marriage as the avenue to respectability and the
"gentlewoman" status she desired as a child. Before her second
marriage, a female friend suggests Moll consider becoming a mistress.
Moll resists the suggestion because "a Woman should never be kept
for a Mistress, that had Money to keep her self' (p. 48). Furthermore,
"I was resolv'd now to be Married or Nothing" (p. 48). While Moll
adheres to this philosophy whenever possible, she does not benefit
more from marriage than from being a mistress. In fact, she has more
financial security with her Bath gentleman than her second and
fourth husbands. Why would a woman seek to marry if the potential
for disaster is as great as Moll's experiences imply? Defoe's under-
standing is that all liaisons outside of marriage are equivalent to
prostitution.i" Thus, Moll's description of her own relationships
indicates that the only legitimate union between men and women is
j
marriage, regardless of the quality of the union. A young woman's I
most attractive means of achieving financial well-being requires an
alliance with a man. If this alliance is "unholy" then the woman runs
the risk-specifically through unwanted pregnancy-of damaging her
reputation. Thus, a woman must take steps to protect her reputation
through wedlock.
Marriage as an institution subordinates woman's choice to man's
whimsy, overtly ascribing power to men. Moll acknowledges that not
only do men have the upper hand in choosing a wife, but women's

24 Defoe's definition of "marriage" has more to do with spiritual than with legal matters. Since
there is no mention of divorce from husband number two, Moll's marriages to husbands
i
I
three, four, and five are not technically legal. However, Defoe considers those marriages to
be legitimate unions by marking her other liaisons as "prostitution." J

I
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 197

choice is an illusion: "as the Market run very Unhappily on the Mens
side, I found the Women had lost the Privilege of saying No, that it
was a Favour now for a Woman to have THE QUESTION ask'd ... The
Men had such Choice every where, that the Case of the Women was
very unhappy; for they seem'd to Ply at every Door, and if the Man
was by great Chance refus'd at one House, he was sure to be receiv'd
at the next" (p. 54). Once again, Defoe demonstrates an awareness of
the inequality between men and women in society. In exploring the
reasons for marriage, Moll concludes cynically that "Marriages were
here the Consequences of politick Schemes for forming Interests, and
carrying on Business, and that LOVE had no Share, or but very little in
the Matter" (p. 53). Given the emphasis on finance over emotion,
Moll cautions women to investigate a man's position carefully before
committing themselves to marriage. Female networks allow a woman
to implement Moll's suggestion, so advice and counsel from female
friends become particularly valuable with regard to marriage.
With the exception of her first, each of Moll's marriages is facilitated
by a woman, as are all of her illicit liaisons with men. In some instances,
Moll even acknowledges the superior wisdom of her friend in choosing
a beneficial alliance." If the nature of the union is illicit then women
negotiate the proper remuneration for Moll's services. They also enable
Moll to take care of unwanted children from her licit and illicit unions
with men. The narrative illustrates numerous ways in which women
facilitate marriage. Women friends expand Moll's social circle and
allow her to meet eligible men. They also provide men with informa-
tion, often false and exaggerated, about Moll's finances. This false
overstatement of Moll's fortune makes possible her third marriage to
the Virginia planter (her half-brother). When Moll discovers that she
has committed incest with her brother, she distances herselffrom him
and their children. Her husband then relies on his mother (Moll's bio-
logical mother) to intercede with her on his behalf.
Moll's fourth and fifth marriages exemplify the trust she places in
the female network to arrange her unions. Though Moll is involved
with a banker, whom she describes as the most trustworthy man or
woman she has ever met, she abandons him on the advice of the

25 The "gayest"widow tries to pander for her brother and negotiate Moll's services as his mistress.
Moll declines and marries a man of her choice, the Linnen-Draper, which leads to her
disastrous second marriage. As a result of this disappointing union, Moll finds "I had much
better have been Sold by my She Comrade to her Brother, than have Sold my self as I did to
a Tradesman that was a Rake, Gentleman, Shopkeeper, and Beggar all together" (p. 48).
198 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

"Lady from Lancashire." She cajoles her banker to draw up a marr-

iage contract and then avoids signing because the "Lady" promises
her greater fortune in Lancashire. Luckily, Moll manages to marry
her banker in spite of the unsigned contract, but only after another
doomed marriage and unwanted pregnancy. This friend brokers
Moll's fourth marriage by grossly exaggerating the extent of Moll's
fortune. The reader later discovers this friend's intent is to find a
wealthy wife for her former lover, and she is paid £500 for her
services. Her duplicity underscores both the power and the danger of
the network in ensuring her future. Moll's fault lies, not in trusting
the network, but in trusting this woman. Despite her friend's selfish
motives, Moll's fourth marriage ultimately succeeds happily in the
New World. Thus, this episode serves more to caution than totally
discredit the power of female networks. Moll continues to place her
trust in the network to arrange her fifth marriage.
Further evidence of the integral role women play in facilitating Moll's
relationships with men occurs in the circumstances surrounding Moll's
fifth marriage. The banker still wishes to marry Moll, but Moll is
pregnant with her fourth husband's child. As the banker is unaware of
her fourth marriage, Moll must go to great lengths to conceal her
pregnancy. The "Gentlewoman" with whom Moll lodges sends for a
"Midwife of the right sort, that is to say, the right sort for me" (p. 126).
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The midwife, Mother Midnight, serves as confidante, adviser, and

problem solver. After Mother Midnight delivers the child with discre-
tion, Moll resolves "to unbosome" herself to the midwife and seek
advice about whether or not to marry the banker. Moll's describes the
midwife's reaction: "She fell a Laughing at my scruples about marrying,
and told me the other was no marriage, but a cheat on both Sides ,.. in
short, reason'd me out of my Reason" (p. 135). Freed from this burden
of conscience, Moll can safely marry her banker.
Moll's relationship with Mother Midnight introduces the third
function of the female network: fostering Moll's criminal behaviour.
In Mother Midnight, Robert Erickson characterizes her as a "pro-
fessional secret-keeper" and the architect of Moll's "ill-fate. ,,2(; Other
critics view her as more self-involved than Moll, ascribing her concern

26 Erickson, p. 53. He further mythologizes Mother Midnight as "a figure of impenetrable

darkness" with "almost godlike ambivalence and omniscience" (p. 55). His analysis
completely devalues the devotion and care Mother Midnight displays after Moll's capture
and imprisonment in Newgate.
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 199

for Moll to a fear of having her criminal activities revealedr? However,

her actions reveal a real concern for Moll's well-being that no other
character in the novel demonstrates. Though "honest Business did not
come within her reach," the crooked midwife provides cheap enough
housing that Moll "for a good while ... left off the wicked Trade" (p.
155). Only when Moll's ineptitude as a thief threatens her life does
Mother Midnight teach Moll how to steal safely. She instructs Moll,
disposes of her stolen goods, manufactures disguises for her, and
provides her with an alibi when she is almost caught. Mother Midnight
even finds a female "Comrade" to help Moll perfect her "Art."
In this stage of her narrative, Moll still describes a predominantly
female criminal element which challenges the overt power exerted by
men. The women are prostitutes and dexterous pickpockets who have
no legitimate means of support. Defoe depicts the extreme poverty of
these women as the factor that drives them to criminal acts. The "wise
Man's Prayer, Give me not poverty least I steal," resonates for Moll
because of her "want of Friends and want of Bread" (p. 149). She
states, "Poverty presses, the Soul is made Desperate by Distress, and
what can be done?" (p. 149). However, Defoe does not use poverty as
a justification for stealing. Though destitution drives Moll to sin,
depravity causes her to repeat the sin in the absence of any pressing
need. Interestingly enough, even women's criminality is defined in
relation to men. Moll describes numerous instances when female
thieves tempt men with their bodies and then rob them. What Defoe
describes is the strong survival instinct these women possess that does
not justify so much as explain their actions. The survival instinct
operates within the structure of female networks and ultimately
succeeds in subverting patriarchal power.

The Dialectic of Survival and

the Manipulation of Patriarchal Restrictions

The "real movement" of Moll's narrative has been described as a

"depiction of a dialectic between self and other which has as its end
a covert but triumphant assertion of the 'self" that presupposes a
uniformly constructed "society.T" This description is based on three

27 Gregory Durston, "Moll Flanders": iln Analysis o] an EiKhteen/h Cen/-w)' Criminal BioKmjr!ly
(Chichester: Barry Rose Law Publishers, 1997).

28 Richetti, Defoe's Narratiues, P: 96.

200 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

erroneous assumptions: 1. that the "self' (Moll) is a self-enclosed

individual moving independently through the narrative; 2. that the
"other" refers to the structures of society impeding the individual's
progress through the narrative, and 3. that society functions uni-
formly against the individual. The female networks in the narrative
complicate Moll's individuality and independence. In Moll's opposi-
tional relationship to an "other" (that is, society), men and women
perform distinctly different functions in the narrative. The social
structures involved with the domestic realm (e.g., homes, taverns,
orphan asylums) controlled by women work to Moll's benefit. Men
and women do not constitute a uniform "society" against which Moll
works to preserve her interests.f" The "other" to Moll's "self' is more
accurately defined as patriarchal restrictions imposed by specific
gender roles, and Moll's self is interdependent rather than strictly
individual. Women collectively challenge societal mores established
to support the public and domestic split, so their behaviour illustrates
a counter-culture that thrives on group efforts and establishes alter-
native norms.
The dialectic underlying the episodes of her life should be con-
ceived as part of a continual conflict between patriarchal restriction
imposed by men and a pervasive support network formed by women.
Critics are fond of creating binary oppositions between individual and
society, Moll and men. By focusing on the actions of the characters,
however, readers can see that the binary opposition illustrated by
Moll's tale opposes male dominance to female networks to illustrate
the constant struggle for survival. This dialectic of survival highlights
the ambiguous social position of women who lack financial and
marital security. The alternate society of displaced women forms a
powerful "matriarchal counterthrust'f" in the novel. Critics have
located this counterthrust only in the "mother figures" in Moll's life,
namely her nurse, her biological mother, and Mother Midnight. The

29 In A Heroine's Text, Miller notes, "Moll's successful female bonding is indeed key to the
shape of her quest for security and identity and as such might also be seen as a muted
challenge to the paternal metaphor, as a male fantasy-acted out through the fiction of the
female-c-of independence from the law of the father" (p, 161, n. 15). I would contend that
female bonding is less fantasy than reality and the challenge to patriarchal restriction is
more open than muted.

30 Chaber, P: 219. Chaber positions this counterthrust with respect to control of capital and
economic structures within the novel. She does not discuss how the counterthrust
challenges patriarchal authority with respect to marriage or social power relations.
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 201

concept of matriarchy, however, should accommodate the other

women in the novel who work together against patriarchal restric-
tions. Any analysis of power and gender within the context of Moll
Flanders should not focus exclusively on the individual as opposed to
a group or "society." Rather, analyses should expand to interrogate
the interactions between the multiple groups depicted.
Not all of the interactions between women in the novel are support-
ive or positive, but the women who work against the female solidari ty
are thwarted. Only within the network can they succeed. For example,
working for one's family and against female networks does not bring
greater familial happiness. When Moll marries her first husband, the
women in his family vehemently oppose the match. Oddly enough,
Defoe excludes any mention of the father's reaction and focuses on
the reactions of the mother and the sisters, the same women who
brought Moll into their home. When one sister expresses her distaste
for Moll as a sister-in-law, Robin (Moll's future husband) ridicules her
and dismisses her concern as petty jealousy. The insulting inter-
change sets brother against sister and trivializes her cautions. Criticiz-
ing Moll and working against gender solidarity creates conflict within
the family that has the potential of alienating family members. In a
sense, the mother and sisters come together to form a counter-
network that focuses inward, solely on family, to exclude the outsider,
an unacceptable woman. Rather than promoting familial welfare, this
counter-network creates a schism within the family, which works
against the specific intentions of the characters.
Gender solidarity can also be disrupted by class stratification. Moll's
narrative reveals that solidarity between women breaks down across
class lines, as the women in the household consider themselves of a
higher social rank than Moll. Even a beloved and well-respected servant
cannot marry the master of the household. Moll is unsuitable as a wife,
though she was very suitable as a charity project. In other words, women
of the upper classes are willing to work within the network for specific
reasons. These same women fought to bring Moll into their home, but
their kindness only extends to providing her work in the household.
They are not prepared to accept Moll as an equal. Ultimately, the
wishes of the mother and sisters are completely disregarded, and they
are forced to accept Moll as a daughter and sister-in-law. Thus, working
against the network does not benefit these women either by building
solidarity within the family or maintaining class distinctions. .
202 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

Another episode, involving the "Lady" from Lancashire, provides an

interesting test case for female networks. The "Lady" works against
gender solidarity for her own interest, which seems to contradict the
efficacy of networking. She sets forth the cost-effectiveness of country
living in order to lure Moll to Lancashire against Moll's best interests.
The "Lady" has been "hired" by her former lover to find a rich
agreeable widow whom he can marry. She finds Moll and, believing
the greatly exaggerated reports of Moll's wealth, she arranges the
match. Because each woman has a false perception of the other, little
good comes of the arrangements. Like Moll, this "Lady" masks her
damaged reputation, and she manages to make her former lover pay
for her services as a matchmaker. Unfortunately, the match is a
financial disaster for everyone involved, though the "Lady" manages
to escape with some money. Defoe includes this episode to highlight
the duplicity of each member of this triangle. Mother Midnight calls
it a "mutual Cheat" and dismisses the validity of the marriage. Moll is
able to recover from this marriage, however, and move to her next
marriage because of her reliance upon networks.
By looking beyond the selfishness of the characters, we can see how
the network is actually the tool that facilitates the events of this
episode. The fact that the Lancashire husband requires a woman to
find him a wealthy widow reinforces the existence and effectiveness
of the network, despite this episode's negative repercussions. Moll's
(misplaced) trust in her comrade underscores her reliance upon
women to contract suitable marriages. Considering the number of
times the network has worked to her advantage, this experience
proves to be an exception to the general value of gender solidarity.
The faith Moll places in her female friends allows the reader to
expand the examination of gender relations to include the bonds
women form with each other. The novel shows how these bonds
enable women successfully to subvert institutions and attitudes that
Defoe acknowledges primarily favour men.
The dialectic of survival operates decisively throughout the novel in
the actions women take collectively to ensure their personal well-
being. Whether plying a legal or illegal trade, women demonstrate
resourcefulness in the novel. Their resourcefulness only increases
when they make use of female networking. The nurse's small school
benefits greatly from the patronage of powerful women like the
Mayoress. The widow who leaves the Mint and invites Moll to live with
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 203

her also maintains her own reputation by having a female compan-

ion. Moll's female "Comrade" expertly picks pockets while Moll
distracts potential victims. Defoe also depicts the way women take care
of unwanted pregnancies. Moll's landlady, who negotiates her liaison
with the Bath gentleman, allows Moll to preserve her reputation by
concealing the birth of Moll's child. The children from Moll's
legitimate unions seem to disappear from the novel because they do
not present problems to her, but Defoe recounts what happens to her
illegitimate or unwanted progeny in great detail. Moll's marriage to
the banker cannot proceed until she delivers and conceals the birth
of her child by Jemmy. Mother Midnight offers a meticulous account-
ing of the cost of delivery and concealment in chart form, demonstrat-
ing that covert midwifery was rather profitable. This arrangement
proves that virtue is a facade and shows how little middle-class morals
mean to lower-class women. Women are quite adept at concealing their
"sins" and thwarting patriarchal definitions of respectability. Neither
Moll's fourth nor her fifth husband is ever aware that she was a man's
mistress and had several children. Defoe does not find this behaviour
admirable, but as author he demonstrates that Moll benefits greatly
from this system of concealment. An alternative system of norms, at
odds with the dominant system, comes into sharp focus.
Two episodes in the narrative illustrate how a covert circumvention
of patriarchal restrictions is enabled by female networking. The first
episode occurs when Moll helps a female friend avenge herself
against a suitor. Defoe's text makes the reader acutely aware of the
tenuous position in which unmarried women who possess a fortune
are situated. When this widow makes inquiries into the condition of
her suitor's finances as a precautionary measure, he is outraged. He
expects full disclosure of her finances, but he considers a similar
disclosure beneath him. As a result, the suitor courts a woman of
lesser wealth and the widow unfairly earns a reputation that keeps
other suitors at bay. Clearly, the widow is a victim of patriarchal
restrictions that rigidly define the acceptable modes of behaviour for
women. However, "the Advantage is not so much on the other Side,
as the Men think it is" (p. 59). Moll helps the widow to get revenge
and to regain her suitor by using the network ofwomen. She instructs
the widow to "take care to have it well spread among the Women ...
that she had enquired into his Circumstances, and found he was not
the Man as to Estate he pretended to be" (p. 55). The success of her
204 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

ploy rests on two facts: the widow and Moll are both trusted sources
of information, and the information spreads widely to surrounding
areas. The suitor is unable to find another woman who will accept his
suit without demanding to know his circumstances. Ultimately, the
widow marries her suitor after a full disclosure of his assets without
revealing the extent of her own fortune. This episode illustrates how
women working together can turn the tables on male "Advantage."
Defoe approves of the methods used in this episode since they bring
about a happy marriage for the widow.
The second episode that demonstrates a subversion of the restric-
tions on women occurs during Moll's criminal career. She and
Mother Midnight work together to ensure each other's personal well-
being. Moll takes all the risks of stealing and her Governess (Mother
Midnight) converts the stolen goods into money. Periodically, Moll
will work with a partner to steal more efficiently. In order to protect
her identity, the Governess proposes to Moll that she dress up in
"Mens Cloths." Defoe is not a proponent of such cross-dressing, and
Moll's discomfort with the disguise underscores his opinion: "it is
impossible to be so Nimble, so Ready, so Lexterous at these things, {
in a Dress so contrary to Nature" (p. 167). However, the disguise .•
proves unexpectedly useful in eluding capture by the authorities. The ,
Governess finds her a male partner, who is unaware of Moll's true sex,
to co-operate in petty thievery. When he breaks into a house against
Moll's advice to steal goods, he and Moll are discovered and chased
by a crowd. The young man is caught, but Moll remains safe by ft
running to her Governess's home and casting off her disguise. The J
crowd, in search of another young man, sees Moll in her nightgown ,
doing needlework and moves on. The possibility that a woman could
have disguised herself as a man does not even occur to anyone in the
crowd, nor does it occur to her male accomplice. Though Moll does
not continue this disguise, she successfully crosses rigid gender boun-
daries to her benefit.
Defoe's novel presents a highly complex series of actions and
interactions that expand the boundaries of what respectable women
can do. Defoe's concept of proper womanhood, based on his conduct
manuals, defines women in relation to men. They are daughters and
wives who look to their fathers and husbands for guidance. What
happens in a world when men are largely absen t, unable to give
guidance, and act against the ideals of conduct manuals? Moll Flanders
 DEFOE'S ALTERNATIVE CONDUCT MANUAL 205

answers this question by reproducing desperate conditions that

illustrate how porous the boundaries which limit women can become.
Women are neither passive nor wholly submissive to their husbands
and lovers. They prove to be highly competent in managing their own
affairs, and they form intelligent alliances that work around the
restrictions imposed by society. In the narrative, women seek out other
women, and their actions reveal a consciousness of the benefits of
networking. The women pushing the boundaries are largely lower-class
and marginalized women who operate on the fringes of polite society.
While Defoe's stated desire is to provide instruction in repentance,
the underlying narrative of female networking teaches an altogether
different lesson. Moll repents of her criminal activities and as a result
of her new-found piety lives a happy life in the colonies, finally
returning to England. Moll's success in the New World, however,
owes more to Mother Midnight than to Christian remorse. This fact
directly undermines Defoe's conversion narrative because female
friendship proves more beneficial to Moll than repenting of sin.
Mother Midnight represents a seedy, unholy aspect of lower-class
society, and her behaviour should presumably be condemned, not
imitated. However, she stays with Moll to the very end of her life in
England. In fact, Mother Midnight repents before Moll and proves to
be a "Penitent to the highest Degree for her Sins" (p. 224). While the
prison minister attends to Moll's spiritual awakening, Mother
Midnight arranges Moll's reunion with her husband and provides her
with money to make a fresh start in the New World. Once again, a
woman steps in to ensure Moll's happiness and survival.
Ultimately, Moll's narrative subordinates moral instruction to a
more practical purpose: lessons in survival. The complexity of her
relationships and her canny nature prove more interesting than her
eventual conversion and reward. In a sense, the Defoe who wrote The
Family Instructor loses control over Moll's narrative and tells a very
different story from the one he may have intended. Moll's fictional
life provides a template for undomesticated women in eighteenth-
century society. The novel proposes a conduct for survival in order to
overcome desperate circumstances. When trapped by financial and
social insecurity, women must work collectively, in solidarity, for
individual survival. Most important, men are not to be relied upon for
financial, social, or emotional security. Rather than reading the novel
as a series of liaisons between Moll and men, we should see in the
206 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION

story a more complex struggle for survival in which female network-

ing is crucial. As an alternative conduct manual, Moll Flanders offers
rules for the proper behaviour of women on the fringes of polite
society. First, make female friends, and second, rely on those friends
for your survival. Moll looks to men for potential security, but in fact
she survives because of women.

Pennsylvania State University

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