In literature, themes, such as love and money, are often present because they are an important aspect of many readerÃÂs lives. Often, these themes overlap; what love and money mean to one person might not hold true for another. Hence, when examining Daniel DefoeÃÂs novel Moll Flanders and the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Selected Letters, the themes love and money can easily be compared and contrasted since DefoeÃÂs bawdy main character, Moll Flanders, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, a refined female writer of the Eighteenth century, both hold differing views of love and money. While Moll appears at the outset to love money above everything else and even shows that she is willing to sacrifice love for affluence, MontaguÃÂs writing reflects the opposite. She maintains ÃÂhappynesse [in a marriage] must consist in loving one AnotherÃÂ (83). Thus, both women assert opinions concerning love and money, but in a clearly opposite manner.
Moll de Barcelona - Alsina
Detail of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu with her son, ...
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu with her son, Edward Wor...It is interesting to notice that throughout theirs lives, even though both women differ greatly among the social spectrum in Eighteenth century England, each woman actually becomes more like the other throughout their respective texts. Specifically, their initial concerns about love and money become contradictions as each woman finds herself with new needs; Moll realizes she needs love and Lady Mary recognizes that she canÃÂt live without money. This paper will show how Moll and Lady MaryÃÂs attitude towards love and money are ultimately transformed because of various factors in their lives which enabled them to understand that they need both love and money equally to be incandescently happy. To understand why both women initially have differing opinions on love and money and what accounted for each womanÃÂs transformation we must look at each womanÃÂs life carefully: concentrating on MollÃÂs life first, I will examine her early relationship...