It's not all that common, even today, for male authors to write stories with female main characters (and vice versa – apologies to J.K. Rowling), but it does happen. As we can see from Defoe's Moll Flanders, it's not actually that big of a deal. I don't really know how believable a woman would find Moll's character, but it certainly spoke to me.
As usual, Defoe's work starts off with great claims for its historical truth. "Moll" apologizes for not using her real name, telling us that her true name is still so well known in the law courts after all these years that its use would bring God knows what kind of trouble down on her head. Once we're through with that disclaimer, we move on to the story of Moll's life, from her earliest childhood all the way through the present day of her history at age 70 or more.
Moll is the daughter of a convict at Newgate Prison, raised and trained to a life of work and domestic service. She grows into an attractive woman, so much so that – as you might guess – she attracts the attention of far too many men for her own good. She marries, is widowed, and by one vicissitude and another eventually finds herself in the English colony of Virginia with another husband. Then it's back to England, where she falls in with a group of people able and willing to help her support herself by stealing. She gets pretty good at this, but eventually and inevitably gets caught. Herself in Newgate, she comes to loathe her previous life of vice and crime, and agrees to be transported back to Virginia for a time rather than hanged. As our story closes, she has returned to England and lives there in peace and contentment.
That description is a little dry. I assure you the story is nothing of the sort. Moll is likeable, energetic, strong, and very funny, although to the modern ear her archaic language and manner can be a trifle hard to follow. She can be a little judgmental, but then again so can the people around her, especially those in authority over her society. She's good to her friends and to her husbands. In short, apart from the fact that she breaks the law and can be rather money-hungry, she is better than many of those who pretend to be virtuous, and certainly no worse than most.
To the modern eye, an interesting feature of her life is that she believes her future lies in the hands of men, so spends a lot of her time hoping for, and looking for, a husband. This is no surprise regarding a woman growing up and living in the early 1700s, of course, but she does meet a few women who manage their own lives quite well, thank you – not always on the right side of the law, but what do you expect? She herself really only takes to a life of crime (of the non-violent variety, come to that) when she thinks she's too old to attract a husband who will take care of her. As a matter of fact, as it turns out, she's not too old. What's more, once she gets to the American colonies for the second time, it's she and not the man in her life who sets herself and him up in comfort, with the help of a few female friends. (That, incidentally, is why I'm calling this feminist literature; for its day it was nothing less.) It's hard to know for sure after all this time, but I wonder if Defoe's revolutionary attitude toward sex roles contributed to his success as an author.
Of course, he was also quite prolific (he has three works on the list of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die"), and his work is never less than entertaining. In his time, the English novel was still in its early days, but even with all that included – the notion that a novel should teach moral lessons, and the lack of an adventurous spirit at times – his work, "Moll Flanders" in particular, is a hoot to read.
Benshlomo says, Good books can stretch the form beyond what it used to allow.
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