Defoe begins with a preface to Moll Flanders’s “private History,” in which he concedes that Moll’s story may not be believable to some readers, as many of the characters’ names and circumstances have been concealed. Moll will explain her reasons for hiding her identity in the beginning of her story, but for now, readers must be content with their own opinions about what’s to come. Defoe also admits that Moll is a woman of “Debauchery and Vice,” and her story is one of wickedness and corruption. However, great care was taken to make her story suitable for the public, and readers who approach the story with “virtuous Purposes” are likely to find great moral instruction within it.
Moll claims her real name is well-known in the records of Newgate Prison and Old-Baily in London, so it is necessary that she use an alias, as some matters of criminal significance are still pending there. Moll is born to a convict mother in Newgate Prison, where, after stealing a few pieces of fabric, her mother was sentenced to death. However, Moll’s mother “pleaded her belly” (that is, asked to be spared due to her pregnancy) and her sentence was commuted to transportation to the American colonies. When Moll is just six months old, her mother is sent to Virginia to be sold as a servant, and Moll is left alone. Moll lives with some relatives for a time, but she ends up in a band of traveling Egyptians, who leave her in Colchester when she is just three years old. The local parish assumes Moll’s care, and they place her in the service of a nurse, who is employed by the church to care for children until they are old enough “to go to Service, or get their own Bread.” The nurse tenderly cares for Moll through her childhood and raises her with the utmost attention to manners, and she even keeps Moll from going to Service—working as a servant or maid, as most women of the lower class are expected to do—which Moll dislikes the idea of doing. When Moll is teenager, her nurse dies, and Moll is taken in by the lady, a woman of high social standing and wealth, and her family. There, Moll falls in love with the older brother, the lady’s handsome eldest son, who promises to marry Moll as soon as he inherits his estate. Of course, the older brother has no intention of marrying Moll—she is of the lower class and isn’t considered a suitable match—but he strings her along with declarations of love and gifts of money. Once their relationship turns sexual, which Moll only agrees to because he has promised her marriage, the older brother grows distant. He ultimately leaves her, and Moll is forced to marry his younger brother (who has also fallen in love with Moll despite her social status) or she will be put out in the street.
Moll and the younger brother are married for five years and have two children, but she never loves him and dreams of being with the older brother. At the end of five years, the younger brother dies, and Moll is again left alone. She leaves her children with the lady and, with a bank of about £1,200, goes out into the world. Moll is still young and beautiful, and she has many suitors, but she has vowed “to be well Married or not at all.” She soon marries the linen-draper, a man she believes to be wealthy and of high moral standing; however, after spending much of Moll’s money, he runs off to France to avoid debtors’ prison, and Moll is again left alone. As Moll must also evade the linen-draper’s creditors, she decides it is best to move to a neighborhood where no one knows her and change her name, so she goes to the Mint (a sanctuary in London for debtors) and answers to the name Mrs. Flanders. Moll’s bank is down to £460 (still a considerable amount of money in Moll’s time), and she soon marries a wealthy plantation owner—even though she is still technically married to the linen-draper. The plantation owner has an estate in Virginia, and Moll finally agrees to accompany him to the American colonies.
Moll and the plantation owner move to Virginia, where they live with the plantation owner’s mother, a delightful woman who often tells stories of her younger days in London. Moll’s new mother-in-law tells Moll quite openly that she is a transported criminal—which is no shame in America—and Moll realizes that she is looking at her own mother. What’s worse, Moll’s husband, the plantation owner, is her half-brother, and they have already had three children together. Moll lives with her secret for years, but she does confide in her mother, and after Moll’s relationship with her husband/brother deteriorates so much that he threatens to commit her to a madhouse, she finally tells him the truth. He slips into a deep depression and twice attempts suicide before finally consenting to send Moll back to England. Moll finds herself alone again in London, this time with her bank reduced to £300, so she decides to go to Bath, a city in England known for its public spas. She begins an affair with the gentleman, a married man whose wife has been committed to the madhouse, but he ultimately has an attack of conscience over their adulterous affair and leaves Moll after several years and three children. Alone again, Moll’s bank has increased to £400, but she is now 42 years old, and her options for a future husband are sparse.
Concerned about her future and with no one to advise her, Moll takes her money to a banker and asks him to manage her affairs. The banker is a kind man and agrees to help Moll. The banker’s wife has been cheating on him, and he asks Moll to marry him as soon as his divorce is final. Moll, not completely against the idea of marrying the banker, travels first to Lancashire, where she meets James, the man who will become her fourth husband. James says he is a rich Irishman, and Moll has convinced him that she is a wealthy widow; however, once they are married, Moll and James discover that they are both penniless. Having equally deceived each other, and both looking for a more suitable match, Moll and James part amicably, and Moll returns to London, where she discovers she is pregnant with James’s child. Unable to present herself to the banker—who still wishes to marry her—Moll boards with a midwife, who promises to see Moll through her pregnancy. Moll gives birth to a son, and the midwife helps her to place the baby with a family in the country for a sum of money. Then, with most of her £400 bank still intact, Moll sets out to find the banker.
Moll and the banker are married for five years and together they have two children, but the banker falls ill and dies after a dishonest business associate steals most of his fortune. Alone again and without any money in her bank, Moll returns to her friend the midwife, who agrees to let Moll board in her home at a reduced rate. There, in a state of absolute poverty and destitution, Moll embarks on a life of crime and prostitution. Moll becomes a successful thief and pickpocket, and she watches lesser criminals meet their ends at the gallows of Newgate. Moll steals indiscriminately from wealthy women, children, and aristocrats, and she even steals a man’s horse, although she doesn’t know what to do with it or how to sell it, so she is forced to take it back. Moll’s criminal career is incredibly lucrative and her bank grows to nearly £700, but she is ultimately arrested for stealing fabric from a London home and sent to Newgate Prison.
Moll is found guilty at Newgate Prison and sentenced to death, but once Moll repents her sins and vows to live a pious and moral life, a kind minister gets her sentence reduced to transportation to America. While Moll is in prison waiting to be deported, James, who has been making his living as a thief, is also arrested and sent to Newgate. James’s case, however, is weak, and it seems likely to be dismissed due to lack of evidence. James agrees to be voluntarily sent to the American colonies, and after a tearful reunion, James and Moll vow to go to America together and change their lives for the better. When they finally arrive in Virginia, Moll immediately goes to see about her mother and quickly learns she has died. Moll also learns that her brother still lives on his plantation with Humphry, his son with Moll, and the entire town knows about their scandalous history. Moll also discovers that her mother has left her a sizable inheritance and a plantation, which has been kept in operation by Humphry. Moll isn’t sure what to do—she wants to claim her rightful inheritance, but she doesn’t want James to know about her past. In the meantime, Moll and James build a successful plantation, and Moll decides to contact her brother. She sends him a letter, but Humphry intercepts it and immediately comes to see Moll. He greets her as a loving son and tells her all about her plantation, which is sure to bring her £100 per year in profits. Moll returns to the plantation she shares with James, and when her brother dies a year later, she finally tells James all about her past. James happily accepts Moll and her past, and they live many more years together, prosperous and happy. When Moll is almost 70 years old, she returns to England with James, and the two live the rest of their years “in sincere Penitence, for the wicked Lives [they] have lived.”
