Moll Flanders: a reliable narrator?

This week I am exploring the concepts of Daniel Defoe’s 18th century novel. What I intend to question is to what extent, character Moll Flanders is reliable in her narration?

Although, throughout the novel she narrates persistently in the first persona, allowing audiences to retrieve a first hand perception of her, we are additionally led to believe differently by ambiguous elements to her character, highlighting such contrasts from “wife” to “whore”.

In relation to the experiences Moll has led since birth, for example from being an orphan to being part of several marriages, we can initially understand that Moll in herself is a complex character, furthermore demonstrated by her criminal profile.

Her criminal behaviour is in fact what allowed her to adopt the name “Moll Flanders”. “..knew me by the name of Moll Flanders, so you may give me leave to speak of myself under that name till I dare own who I have been, as well as who I am”. Moll somewhat suggests here she  lacks in trust within the reader and to an extent, wants to keep her real self hidden, which clearly reinforces the idea of her ambiguity. When referring to her reliability as a narrator, this makes me question how can you be led to believe what an individual declares whilst at the same of being unbeknown to her real name?

With regards to gender stereotypes, Moll Flanders opposes to the idea of the stereotypical woman in the 18th century. Typically, any role requiring physical strength was usually associated with the concept of masculinity, which in some cases in this novel, Moll breaks this stereotype. Her criminal persona suggests how she is not a timid and submissive female character, she portrays delinquent behaviour which somewhat correlates with the idea of masculine traits.  Additionally within the 18th century, women were held against the expectation to be child bearers and hold the purpose to bring life into this world. Moll lives up to this expectation, “…he call’d me not only an unkind Wife, but an unnatural Mother, and ask’d me how I could entertain such a Thought without horror as that of leaving my two Children…without a Mother”. Here, Moll displays a compassionate persona when discussing her children, which challenges the idea of her antagonistic character.