Moll Flander's strategies of manipulation

Essay by Janina_608University, Bachelor'sA, October 2014

download word file, 13 pages 0.0

Janina Tiede

Bei der Tweel 1

18059 Rostock

Janina.Tiede@web.de

Matrikelnr.: 211201821

3. Semester

Datum der Fertigstellung: 31.03.2013

Lehramt: Haupt.- und Realschule, Englisch, Biologie

Introduction

Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, who was born to a condemned criminal and brought up by strangers, always followed her dearest wish of belonging to the upper class and becoming a Gentlewoman. Throughout the whole book she somehow continuously accomplishes her purposes. Due to this phenomenon, it is interesting to analyse which strategies of manipulation Moll performs to make people not only think of her as an honorable woman but also to make them do things that benefit her. In order to understand why Moll is using a variety of strategies, it is necessary to give a complete overview of Moll's intentions. Regarding this, it is necessary to introduce the term gentlewoman as well as the term manipulation. The second chapter will refer to the actual analysis of her strategies and will therefore deal with three selected scenes from the book, which allow outlining her strategies in detail.

To clarify the evolvement of her strategies, these scenes will portray her in different parts of her life. It will begin with Moll living with the nurse as a child. Thereafter, it will go on with Moll's encounter with the elder brother when she was a young woman and end with Moll's marriage to her own brother as an adult. Furthermore, it will determine the change of her needs and wishes throughout the scenes. The last chapter will be the conclusion in order to evaluate this paper. Because of the complexity of this topic, the paper will not discuss the reliability of honesty of the protagonist. It is assumed that Moll is a conscious contriver of her fellow men with the aim to grow richer and more...