After Moll’s husband the Linen-Draper breaks out of debtors’ prison and flees to France, Moll reflects on her current situation, using a paradox in the process:
My Condition was very odd, for tho’ I had no Child, (I had had one by my Gentleman Draper, but it was buried,) yet I was a Widow bewitched, I had a Husband, and no Husband, and I could not pretend to Marry again.
The paradox here—“I had a Husband, and no Husband”—effectively communicates Moll’s situation: she is legally still married but knows she will likely never see her husband again, as he is hiding from the law in another country. In 17th century England, there was no way to get a divorce in situations like this, so Moll is technically still married to the Linen-Draper for the rest of the book (even as she marries other men as well).
A similar paradox emerges later in the book when Moll gets to know her fifth husband, the Banker:
He went on a good way with me, and I thought once or twice he was in earnest, but to my real Affliction, I found at last he had a Wife; but when he own’d he had a Wife he shook his Head, and said with some concern, that indeed he had a Wife, and no Wife.
The Banker “had a wife, and no wife” in the sense that, like Moll, he is legally married yet estranged from his spouse. His situation is different in that his wife ran away with another man and started a family with him. As a man whose wife abandoned him, the Banker has the power to divorce his wife, which he goes on to do. This is one of the many times that Defoe highlights the difference in experience between men and women in 17th century English society.
After Moll’s husband the Linen-Draper breaks out of debtors’ prison and flees to France, Moll reflects on her current situation, using a paradox in the process:
My Condition was very odd, for tho’ I had no Child, (I had had one by my Gentleman Draper, but it was buried,) yet I was a Widow bewitched, I had a Husband, and no Husband, and I could not pretend to Marry again.
The paradox here—“I had a Husband, and no Husband”—effectively communicates Moll’s situation: she is legally still married but knows she will likely never see her husband again, as he is hiding from the law in another country. In 17th century England, there was no way to get a divorce in situations like this, so Moll is technically still married to the Linen-Draper for the rest of the book (even as she marries other men as well).
A similar paradox emerges later in the book when Moll gets to know her fifth husband, the Banker:
He went on a good way with me, and I thought once or twice he was in earnest, but to my real Affliction, I found at last he had a Wife; but when he own’d he had a Wife he shook his Head, and said with some concern, that indeed he had a Wife, and no Wife.
The Banker “had a wife, and no wife” in the sense that, like Moll, he is legally married yet estranged from his spouse. His situation is different in that his wife ran away with another man and started a family with him. As a man whose wife abandoned him, the Banker has the power to divorce his wife, which he goes on to do. This is one of the many times that Defoe highlights the difference in experience between men and women in 17th century English society.
