At the time that Defoe wrote and published Moll Flanders, “rogue literature”—or stories centered on the lives of thieves and other infamous English criminals—was in vogue. They primarily centered the stories of men who, in a confessional style, described with pride all of their criminal acts.
With Moll Flanders, Defoe is parodying this sort of rogue literature. This is clear in his decision to present the novel as if it is confessional—or autobiographical—when, in fact, he wrote the book himself. Further, the extreme nature of Moll’s experiences—the fact that she has 12 children with six different men, accidentally marries her own half-brother, and more—shows how Defoe is playing with the genre. In other words, though Moll’s story is tragic, the unbelievable amount of tragedy she experiences effectively turns her story comical at points. The intensity of Moll’s story is just one way that Defoe parodies the often not-so-believable stories that appeared in the rogue literature of his day.
Defoe’s decision to focus on a woman criminal rather than a man is notable as this is one way in which he diverges from the established norms of these rogue biographies. In a way, he is parodying the “macho” nature of popular rogue books by showing how women earning a living on the streets face even more challenges than men, as they face the realities of financial instability and gender-based oppression simultaneously.
