Human self-interest in Daniel Defoe `Moll Flanders` and Voltaire `Candide`
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Voltaire’s Candide and Dafoe’s Moll Flanders are both characters that symbolize the profound social and religious issues that preoccupied the writers and philosophers of their day. Both are social statements against the realities of a civilized world and the many lines that we draw to separate us from another. Of these lines, none perhaps is as abiding as gender labeling, or the stereotyping of individuals based on whether they are male or female. Society has imposed certain roles that the man and the woman must fulfill in order to be considered productive. Traditionally, the male is viewed as the stronger of the two sexes, and is given the responsibility of providing for the needs and safety of the family. The female on the other hand is expected to keep house and take care of the children. These classic stereotypes are slowly changing as more and more women are forsaking their traditional roles in society in pursuit of a more rewarding career in a still largely male-dominated world. Voltaire’s Candide and Dafoe’s Moll Flanders make for an interesting study in character because while these women have different personalities, their stories share the same intensity and explorations of the many problems that beset their society.
Moll Flanders and the Inequalities of Society
Moll Flanders is a pseudonym for a woman, who after a series of unfortunate life events became a criminal and a prostitute. However more than a character or an individual, Moll is a representative of the struggle between classes and gender. Moll Flanders belongs to that time when women had barely a voice in an oppressive, male-dominated society. Moll Flanders may be construed as an advocate for women’s rights, one whose life story forwards the cause of gender ideology. Moll Flanders can be analyzed as a cultural or social statement about the plight of women in a civilized society in the 17th century. The struggles of Moll Flanders stand on its own as a discourse on the pains and shames of a prostitute during the18th century. A lot has changed since Dafoe wrote Moll Flanders and for modern readers, some of the emotional depth of his work may have lost its edge because most of the issues during her time are no longer relevant today. However, Moll Flanders as a character deserves study because she has a beauty and intelligence that stands on its own and can be appreciated for that intrinsic value alone.
Moll’s birth augurs the life that she is to have. Her mother is a convict who escaped prosecution because she was pregnant. As Moll recounts, “My mother pleaded her belly.” (Dafoe 1930, p. 13) Moll grows up with foster parents and grows up as a servant in a rich family’s home where the two sons of the household are vying for her love. The elder son succeeded in getting Moll to have intimate relations with him, but he refuses to marry her because of her lowly station which would be scandalous for the family. The younger son, being more in love agreed to marry Moll. However Moll’s husband died. Unable to cope with the loss of station that her husband gave, she left her children to her in-laws and began using her physical endowments to attract rich men, until she finds one who will marry her and provide her with the security that she longs for. She cons men to marry her, but the marriage does not last because of the false pretenses upon which the relationship is built upon.
Moll Flanders makes a statement as far as gender stereotyping is concerned. Indeed women have gone a long way in terms of redefining their value to society, but some labels are lasting and continue to put the female at a decided disadvantage. A subset of gender stereotyping is the kind that categorizes women as “good” or “bad”. What makes this good girl-bad girl dichotomy interesting is that it is an archaic vestige of a morally uptight society that no longer exists today but something that Moll Flanders had to suffer during her time. Nowadays, woman are generally permitted by society to explore her sexuality and power without being required to get married, but the double-standard still exists. The male can be sexually promiscuous and we will never question his values, but a woman who is sexually liberated is perceived as a “slut”, and as such, should not be treated with any respect. In our modern society, some rules have changed, but some are consistently oppressive to women.
The tragedy of this cruel name-calling is that it creates a tension within the female, whether to pursue and define her own individual character or repress herself in order to avoid the nasty labels. . The woman’s sense of self gets lost in this tug-of-war; and feeling powerless, they end up lashing against themselves. This is particularly damaging to adolescent girls who are just at the threshold of discovering and defining their own identities. This conflict results in the girls second-guessing themselves, this in turn creates a vicious cycle of self-loathing and self-destructive behavior. The so-called slut girls become trapped in the negative expectations that the label carries. How they are perceived becomes how they perceive themselves, and it then becomes a tragically self-fulfilling prophecy.
On deeper inspection however, Moll Flanders is more than a statement about female oppression. More than anything, the tale of Moll Flanders is about a society that is so preoccupied with structure and institutions of class. In most democracies that exist during the 18th century, people are not as equal and free as it seems. The irony is that very idea of a democracy where everyone is free to pursue their own aspirations creates a society that is highly asymmetrical. These imbalances in the distribution of wealth also creates imbalance in power and privileges. In the highly developed Western world, the capitalist system creates deep and enduring inequalities. The upper class is a special group of people who number very few in terms of demographics, but whose influence exerts heavily on society. Their numbers may be very small, but their clout and influence tips the balance of power in their favor. However, this privilege is very much tied to money, so in a sense they are bound to their money as well. Without it they will lose everything. For the middle class, money is a means to an end; a tool to buy the things that they need. They are not servants of money because they know how to get by with very little of it. Social classes perpetuate themselves because one class can only create the kind of life that they can afford. People live within their means, and those who have little will have to do with less, and those who have more can afford the better things in life. The poor become poorer and the rich become richer, as one social class reproduces and perpetuates its own.
In a capitalist system where consumption and production are the main drivers of progress, the men are considered the primary source of manpower for the production of goods and services, and the women relegated to the home in order to reproduce more children: boys who will be future workers and girls who will perpetuate the cycle of reproduction. This is at the heart of the capitalist system where women are perceived to be mere vessels. This is the situation where Moll Flanders was born into and grew up in. Being of poor birth, Moll Flanders already has the odds stacked against her side. As a member of the lower class, she struggles to climb the social ladder by mingling with the wealthy. By doing so, Moll unearths the empty lives of the rich. Moll realizes that the rich people she looks up to have their own chains of bondage. Most of this privilege is very much tied to money, so in a sense the rich are prisoners of their money. Without it they will lose everything. For people like Moll Flanders, money is a means to an end; a tool to buy the things that they need. They are not servants of money because they know how to get by with very little of it. The moral of the story is that the inequalities of class are not always what they seem. Both the poor and the rich have bondages that they must all struggle with.
Candide: Deconstructing the Masculine
While Moll Flanders is an empowered woman in an oppressive male-dominated society, Candide is the opposite. Voltaire’s hero is far from the traditional notions of masculine might. He is very naïve, and as such, is highly vulnerable to the influence of more aggressive characters. Voltaire’s Candide is not so much as a portrayal of a specific person’s character but is more symbolic of a point that Voltaire wants to point out. less a realistic individual than the embodiment of a particular idea or folly that Voltaire wishes to illustrate.
Candide’s character is the embodiment of innocence and idealism, with an untainted view of the world. He grows up with a tutor, Pangloss, who influenced Candide’s unrealistic optimism. As the years go by and he grows older, Candide acquires wisdom and wealth. It was during this time that he begins to question his values and persistent views about the goodness of men. However, when Candide seems on the brink of realigning his values, life seems to conspire that he remains naïve and innocent. Whenever he begins to question his values, events happen in his life that confirm his belief in optimism and that good shall always overcome. In the end, Candide embraces the idea that it is only be working with one’s hands that one can truly enjoy the fruits of one’s labor. There is satisfaction and contentment in the knowledge that we have worked hard for what we have achieved in life. As Candide himself said, “I know also, that we must cultivate our garden.” (Voltaire 2007, p. 166) Such simple words but with very profound meanings that can be interpreted on so many levels.
On the surface Candide may have indeed changed his values, but deep inside he remains essentially the same. He is essentially a person with a pure-heart and goodwill to all people. He does not know how to manipulate people to advance his own ends. He sticks to his promises and is generous with his wealth, little though at times it may be. His choice to lead a simple life embodies the richness of his soul. Candide is a refreshing tale because it veers away from the traditional models of masculine strength and rigidity, to symbolize the tenderness and fragility of humanity, all too susceptible to the designs of the powers that be.
Discussion
Indeed both Candide and Moll Flanders are products of their own times. Both can be considered as morality plays, with the characters and the events in their lives symbolizing the many follies of their society. In Moll Flanders case, it was about the many abuses of capitalism and the social inequalities that it breeds in its wake. A main fulcrum of Voltaire’s Candide is the people’s struggle with the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church, something that is considered highly controversial, given that France is a devout follower of the Catholic Church. Voltaire presents his statements in humorous ways in order to soften the blow of the serious issues that he explores. Hidden within the naiveté of Candide is a society only too willing to accept religious teachings and political abuses because we have been trained to obey the rules. In his search for values Candide is shown to have accepted some of the realities of life, but he still remains a follower of his personal convictions.
Moll Flanders takes a more serious attack on the illusion of civility of social classes and 17th century’s preoccupation with money. It is a glaring look at how capitalism can erode our values and our sense of justice and equality. Moll Flanders and Candide have picaresque qualities. Their characters are their flaws and these flaws are products of a society that breeds them and then judges them. Moll struggles to bridge the gap between her life as a low class female with great physical allure by victimizing upper class men. She ends up in the middle, finally finding peace as working class woman. In Candide’s case, he essentially was born from the upper class, and his naiveté is a statement to the indifference of the rich to the plight of the poor people in society. While in the end, Candide appreciates and even embraces the ideals of the working class, the circumstance of his birth does not allow him to fundamentally change, and that perhaps is no fault of his. In the end both Voltaire and Dafoe succeed in making their statements and the value of their work goes beyond literary genius, they are genuinely concerned about their society and campaigns for enlightenment and change. Candide and Moll Flanders are larger than life characters that are given greater substance and urgency for the necessity of certain actions that they challenge society to do.
References
Voltaire. (2007) Candide. Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.
Defoe, D. (1930) Moll Flanders. Plain Label Books.
