Insight into the inequalities of sex and the power struggles between men and women in Emma and Moll Flanders Anonymous College

The English novel is a mode that is highly sympathetic to the inequalities of sex. At its inception, it was considered a very feminine form, unworthy of serious academic consideration. The novel had to struggle to establish itself as a legitimate and important literary form just as women struggled, and continue to struggle, to establish themselves as equal to men. In this way the novel seems intrinsically linked with the power struggles between men and women and is adept at sympathizing with the plight of women. This essay will examine both Defoe’s Moll Flanders[1] and Austen’s Emma[2], specifically looking at their exploration of sexual politics.

Moll Flanders is a female first person narrative written by a man. Defoe was sympathetic towards the position of women at the time and this is demonstrated in the manner in which he handles Moll’s first sexual encounter with the older brother. Although she has lost her virtue Defoe writes ‘no Body could have blam’d me’ (pg. 24) and as the reader tends to sympathize with the narrative voice we are encouraged not to condemn Moll for this. Hummel claims that this encounter is the point where she ‘begins to grapple with the confines of her gender’[3] as she seems to realize that poor...