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Situational Irony
The Preface
Explanation and Analysis:
Defoe’s writing style in Moll Flanders is informal and direct. Defoe engages readers more with Moll’s strong narratorial voice (and far-fetched stories) than with ornamental or literary language, though he does include metaphors, similes, and other figurative language in key moments. Because Defoe is trying to convince readers that this book was written by an actual ex-convict who lived as a criminal on the streets of London for decades, he intentionally writes in a style that would capture such a person’s voice. This intention comes across in the Preface:
It is true, that the original of this Story is put into new Words, and the Stile of the famous Lady we here speak of is a little alter’d, particularly she is made to tell her own Tale in modester Words than she told it at first; the Copy which came first to Hand, having been written in Language more like one still in Newgate, than one grown Penitent and Humble, as she afterwards pretends to be.
As this passage makes clear, the writing style is “a little alter’d” from how Moll (or someone like Moll) would have written the story—it is written in “modester Words” that are “Penitent and Humble.” Here Defoe is explaining why his writing style doesn’t necessarily match the style of someone who actually lived a life of crime in the 17th century (which would likely have included more vulgar language). While Defoe is presenting it as if an unknown person helped Moll write her story in a softer style, in reality Defoe wrote the novel based on assumptions of how someone like Moll would tell her story and wanted to explain the inconsistencies between that style and his own (more literary) style.
In addition to describing the style in which the book is written, this passage also embodies that style—“altered” is spelled “alter’d” and “more modest” is “modester.” While Moll’s style might have been “changed” in some ways, her dialect still comes across, as does her rough-around-the-edges nature.
The passage is also notable as, in it, Moll establishes that the book may present her as more “penitent and humble” than she actually is. This note coming at the beginning of the book keeps readers from fully trusting Moll when, later on, she says that she regrets her life of crime and has come to live a moral life.
Related Themes:
