Moll Flanders

by

Daniel Defoe

Moll Flanders: Moll Meets the Midwife and Marries the Banker Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Moll knows she isn’t in any condition to see the banker. She isn’t foolish enough to marry one man while pregnant with the child of another, but she still doesn’t want to fully let the banker go. So, she vows to have him, if his interest holds, as soon as she is able. After all, Moll isn’t likely to ever see James again. Her belly grows, and people start noticing Moll’s condition. She knows she must remove herself from society, but again, Moll is without friends or anyone to advise her. She grows depressed and ill, and she hopes her illness causes her to miscarry. Of course, Moll clarifies, she would never make herself miscarry. 
Moll clearly isn’t happy about being pregnant, but this sequence of events makes it clear just how few options she has. Moll’s plan to hide her pregnancy from the banker and go to him once she has, presumably, gotten rid of the baby may seem despicable, but again, Moll has few chances to ensure her future stability and no way to take care of a child.
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In short time, the lady of the house where Moll boards sends a midwife to see her. The woman seems to be an experienced midwife, and she has a different calling as well, “in which she [is] as expert as most women, if not more.” Moll’s “Mother Midnight” begins to explain. She knows Moll needs assistance for her “Lying Inn,” and she can help. The Midwife tells Moll that Moll’s circumstances are of no concern to her—in other words, she doesn’t care if the baby’s father is Moll’s husband—and Moll understands that she is a “Whore” here. 
A “midwife” during Moll’s time is often used as an umbrella term for women who deliver babies and are also prostitutes. The midwife is an “expert” more than “most women,” and she is a “Mother Midnight,” both of which imply prostitution. Moll understands she is a whore in the midwife’s house because the midwife is literally operating a brothel. 
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The midwife tells Moll that she has an agreement with the local Parish to handle such cases, and she runs a house where many women go to “Lye-Inn.” Moll understands perfectly, she says, and tells the midwife that she doesn’t have much, but she can afford the cost of her keeping. The midwife returns the next day with details—she has three different care packages to choose from—and presents them to Moll. The three options range from £13 to £53 for three months’ service, and Moll selects the least expensive. But, Moll says, she still has a few months to go and might need to stay longer than three months. The midwife assures Moll she never puts anyone out before they are ready.   
The midwife’s business and her detailed plans to care for woman who are lying in again connects sex and money. The midwife makes a living from sex directly as a prostitute, and indirectly from caring for pregnant women. Again, local churches often assume the care of needy pregnant women, but the midwife’s agreement with the church means they will stay out of Moll’s business. The midwife sees Moll as a way to bring in more money, but she is also kind and likely won’t turn her away, which suggests it’s possible for seemingly immoral people like the midwife to be virtuous and compassionate at the same time.   
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Moll soon moves to the midwife’s house, where Moll is pleased to find the house clean and quite luxurious. The midwife has several businesses and one such business is finding people who, for a bit of money, will take children after they are born and provide for them. Moll questions what happens to the children after they are gone, but the midwife assures her she takes great care in all her business. Furthermore, the midwife says, she has saved the lives of countless children, who otherwise might have been destroyed by their desperate mothers. The midwife also offers to provide Moll with something to make her miscarry, if she wants to be rid of the problem that way, but Moll refuses.
The midwife’s business of selling babies is certainly an immoral practice, but she views it through more moral terms. She says the babies would likely have been aborted or neglected had she not found them appropriate homes, which makes her work seem more morally sound. She still offers Moll an abortion, though, which suggests she isn’t looking to judge Moll regardless of her decision.
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During Moll’s time with the midwife, Moll is comfortable and well cared for. It is obvious to Moll that the midwife has a thriving business, which is clearly a “whoring Account.” The Midwife has 12 “Ladies of Pleasure” and a number of other women “Lying Inn.” Living in such a place “shock’d [Moll’s] very Senses,” and she feels sick to her stomach. However, Moll admits, she never sees anything indecent take place there. Before long, Moll receives a letter from the banker. He has divorced his wife, and Moll is pleased, but she writes back and claims to doubt the lawfulness of such a decree.
If Moll wasn’t sure before that the midwife is a prostitute and her house a brothel, Moll certainly knows now. Moll’s morals are clearly offended by being in the brothel, as being there makes her sick to her stomach. Moll’s response to the brothel again implies that she isn’t innately immoral; she is simply a poor woman in a sexist society and is without other reasonable options. Moll doesn’t really doubt the legality of the banker’s divorce; she simply must string him along for a little longer until her lying in is over.  
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By mid-May, Moll gives birth to another son. Soon after, she again receives a letter from the banker. He has obtained a divorce from his wife, and after she was served with the papers, she committed suicide. With his cheating wife out of the picture, the banker invites Moll to come to London and be with him. Moll is pleased, but she isn’t sure what to do with the child. In search of advice, Moll tells the midwife all about her predicament—her marriage to James, his inability to go to London, and his blessing for Moll to move on—and she says that she has found a good offer in the banker. The problem, Moll says, is the child. If she returns to the banker with the boy, the banker will know that Moll has been with another since she left London for Lancashire. 
Moll is again scheming to ensure she gets the banker and she is willing to give up her child to do it, which again suggests Moll has rather loose morals. Furthermore, both the banker and Moll seem r pleased that his wife is dead. This rather heartless response is likely in response to the wife’s status as a whore, but since Moll considers herself a whore too, this makes her appear even more heartless and immoral. But still, Moll remains motivated by concerns for her own safety; Defoe implies that she probably wouldn’t do or feel any of these things if she weren’t desperately trying to avoid poverty.
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However, the thought of giving up her child deeply pains Moll. The midwife reassures Moll and tells her that the children she places are cared for just as their mothers themselves would care for them. If she knew for sure that her baby would be well cared for, Moll says, she would happily agree to place the child in the midwife’s hands. The midwife arranges—for an added fee, of course—for Moll to have the option of seeing the child whenever she wants. Moll agrees, and the next week, a woman arrives from the country. She will take the child off Moll’s hands for £10, and for an additional £5 a year, she will allow Moll to see him whenever she desires. 
Moll clearly loves her child and giving him up isn’t easy for her, which again indicates that she’s not simply an uncaring person. Defoe implies Moll is simply faced with difficult choices and limited options. In this way, it is again society that is truly to blame for Moll’s decisions. If she had a reasonable way to support herself and her children, she likely wouldn’t be looking for an alternative.
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Afterward, Moll begins to write the banker in a more friendly tone, and she tells him that she will be in London come August. The banker suggests instead that they meet in Brickhill, a town just outside London. They find lodging and go to dinner, and Moll gets the feeling that the banker is going to propose to her. She knows that she will not deny him. The innkeeper asks to speak to the banker alone, and Moll overhears the men talking about a minister, who is willing to serve them as discreetly as they like. After dinner, the banker begins kissing and sweet-talking Moll, and then he takes out several official documents and places them before her.  
Presumably, the banker wants to meet Moll in Brickhill because he wants to marry her before taking her back to London. That way, when he brings Moll home, she is already his wife, and he won’t appear to be fooling around with a woman he isn’t married to, which, in the eyes of society, would reflect poorly on his own morality. However, the banker makes his plans without consulting Moll, which again illustrates how little agency women have in their society.
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The banker presents Moll with documentation of his divorce from his wife and proof of her crime as a “Whore,” and he further presents Moll with proof of his wife’s death and burial. Moll can see he has yet another document, and she asks him what it is. “Ay,” he says slyly. He then produces a box, which contains a very nice diamond ring. Moll is so happy that she can’t refuse. The other document, the banker says, is a marriage license, and he begins to “violently” kiss her. He knocks Moll to the bed, all the while kissing her and professing his love, and he refuses to let her up until she agrees to marry him. She won’t refuse him, Moll says, so he might as well let her up. 
The banker’s “violent” kisses and his refusal to let Moll up until she marries him again implies that he has control over her as a man and she is powerless to resist him. He doesn’t know that Moll has no plans to resist him, and he is willing to force her, which is evident in both his violent force and his preparation. He goes to a lot of trouble securing documentation to ensure their marriage because he has no intention of taking no for an answer.   
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The banker is so happy that Moll has accepted him, there are tears in his eyes as he stands. Moll must turn from him, because there are tears in her eyes, too, and she begins to feel remorse for the wicked life she has led. She briefly wonders how her life would have been had she met a nice, loving man like the banker earlier. She starts to feel bad that she has deceived him as to the full truth of her past. Little does he know, Moll thinks, he has gotten rid of one “Whore” just to take up with another. What will the banker think if he ever finds out that Moll is the daughter of a thief, born in Newgate Prison?
Since Moll is still legally married to the linen-draper, Moll is technically a whore, just like the banker’s first wife, and Moll’s guilt over this fact again reflects her sexist society. Moll’s husband left her through no fault of her own, yet she is supposed to take a vow of chastity and wait for him to come back—which is unlikely to ever happen. Moll’s question as to how her life would have been had she not been poor again suggests that her immorality is a product of her poverty, not of some innate depravity.
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Before long, a minister arrives, and the banker presents him with the marriage license. Satisfied, the minister asks where the bride is, and the banker goes to fetch Moll. She is shocked that he means to be married now—at an inn and so late at night, far from the sacred church. The minister convinces Moll that a marriage performed at an inn is just as legal and binding as one performed in a church, and she finally agrees to marry the banker now.
Again, the banker doesn’t consider Moll’s feelings and preferences for getting married. He wants to marry her now because it is better for him, and he cares very little how Moll feels about it. The banker’s indifference to Moll’s desires again mirrors the overall oppression of women in 17th-century England.
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Moll and the banker’s marriage is kept completely secret, and they return to their room as husband and wife, where they “enjoy’d [themselves] that Evening compleatly.” The next morning, they remain in bed until nearly noon, at which time Moll rises and goes to the window. She looks outside, and to her absolute surprise she sees James go into a house across the street with two other men. She panics. The banker cannot see her so undone, and she quickly thinks about her options. She wants to know what James is doing there, but she doesn’t want to see him—running into him could ruin her life with the banker. Two hours later, Moll watches as James and the two men exit the house and head out of town.
The banker keeps their marriage a secret, which implies that he is ashamed in some way. Likely, the banker isn’t ashamed of Moll per se, but he does seem to be ashamed that he wasn’t married before. This shame reflects the importance of marriage in society, and it also implies that he doesn’t want to be seen with a woman who isn’t his wife. Moll’s claim that she and the banker enjoyed themselves completely again suggests sex and is another example of the modest language Moll must use to tell her story.
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The next day, as Moll and the banker are getting ready to return to London, excitement breaks out all over town. Three highwaymen robbed nearly £560 in money and goods from travelers, and three strange men have been seen in the area. Moll tells the constable that she indeed saw the men in question, and one of them she knows very well from Lancashire. He is an honest and good man, Moll says, and he can’t possibly be one of the highwaymen. The constable tells his men they are mistaken; the three men seen in town have nothing to do with the robberies. The excitement delays Moll and the banker’s departure, and they finally head back to London four days later.
Obviously, James is a highwayman—a thief who robs travelers and stagecoaches—which is likely why he can’t return to London. The reader can infer that James is wanted in London for some sort of crime, probably robbery, which also implies James has loose morals himself—but again, that may just be because he’s impoverished and has few options. Moll and the banker don’t leave for London right away because with known highwaymen in the area, they stand to be robbed on their way back.
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Moll returns to London a married woman and she moves directly into the banker’s house, which she finds well-furnished and more than adequate. There, Moll lives a very happy life. She has “landed in a safe Harbour,” and she “sincerely” repents her wicked past. But, Moll points out, as “Covetousness is the Root of all Evil, so Poverty is, I believe, the worst of all Snares.” Moll lives an easy life for five years, until the banker loses a large sum of his money to a dishonest business associate. The banker grows depressed and lethargic after losing so much money and promptly dies, leaving Moll alone with two children.
The “safe Harbour” of Moll’s marriage and her subsequent financial security again imply that Moll only resorted to the wickedness of her past out of desperation and a need to survive. This implication underscores the connection between poverty and vice, and it suggests vice isn’t necessarily a choice that is freely made. Poverty is “the worst of all Snares,” in which one is bound to break the law and commit other immoral acts just to survive—especially as a woman with few options otherwise.  
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Literary Devices
After the death of the banker, Moll isn’t left in debt, but she doesn’t have enough money to support herself either. She is again without friends or anyone to advise her, so she sits and cries, lamenting her miserable existence. Moll lives this way for two years, and then she decides to leave her house and move on. She sells everything she owns and lives on that sum for nearly a year, but she has no hope of bringing in any additional money. Moll interrupts her story and begs the reader not to continue without “seriously reflecting on the Circumstances of [her] desolate state.” And, Moll adds, it is best to remember the adage: “Give me not Poverty lest I Steal.”
Moll’s interruption and her insistence that the reader consider her state of absolute poverty before continuing suggests that Moll is going to make some immoral choices in the upcoming pages, and that her poverty is directly the cause of these choices. The biblical quote Moll references (Proverbs 30:9) implies that people wouldn’t steal if not for poverty, and Moll likewise wouldn’t behave in immoral ways if not for her “desolate state.”
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Quotes
Literary Devices