MOLL FLANDERS
Moll Flanders is the story about Lady Betty, forsaken by her
mother in tender age. After she has been for a little while with the gipsies,
she went to Colchester (Essex), where the
magistrates assigned to her a settlement with a nurse; she was a very kind
woman, who became attacked to the young lady and decided to keep her under her
protection. The girl grew up and became so beautiful and polite that an
aristocratic family took her in their residence. Betty received a good
instruction and became friend with the 2 rich sisters; in the house also lived
2 brothers who immediately started noting the charm of Betty. At first the
elder boy felt in love with her till she gave up: they exchanged each other
promise in marriage in secret but after a little time the second brother asked
Betty to marry him. Obviously she refused but nobody could understand why. The
first brother, because of saving himself from disgrace, convinced Betty to
accept the offer of marriage and to refuse their love. With great suffering,
the lady became the wife of Robert, but he died after 5 years.
So she was widow and she inherited
a great estate and decided to marry a second time; she had a lot of lovers and
she chose a cloth merchant. Unfortunately he wasn't very able to administer the
patrimony and, in a little time, he spent all money they had. Become bankrupt
he was arrested and told his wife to make all their wealth remained saved and
to escape from London.
She moved to Mint and changed her
name into Moll Flanders. Here she met a lady and in exchange of her help with a
lover, her new friend assisted Moll to find a new husband. Just spread the
voice that she was very rich, a lot of lovers step forward and she decided to
marry a man who had many properties in Virginia.
They went to live there with his mother and Moll Flanders discovered a terrible
truth: the old woman was her mother, so her husband was her brother.
Upset Moll decided to escape from Virginia and went to live in Bath with very little money. Here she started
attending a man of London: they became lovers
but Moll remained pregnant and the faithful lover gave her a home in London where she could
have been assisted: after she had a child the man repented and left Moll with a
discreet sum of money. Where she lodged, also lived a lady of the North who,
believing that Moll was very rich, decided to send her to her brother, a
gentleman of Liverpool. Before going there
Moll went to a bank for saving her exiguous patrimony.
Here she met an employee who, after
telling her that he was divorcing, asked her hand. But Moll said that she
couldn't accept till the divorce was completed. So she went to Liverpool to meet her friend's brother, they felt in love
and got married. But in a little time they remained without money: her husband
became a thief and let Moll for saving himself from misery.
Moll returned in London and married the bank's employee, but
after an economical breakdown he felt hill and died. So Moll, poor and lonely,
went to live in London
with her old nurse, who had become a thief. Moll learnt the art of the robbery
and, till the age of 50 years she lived this way. But, one day, she was
arrested and condemned to deportation in America.
After a little time also her last
husband arrived into Newgate and they succeeded in being deported together.
They arrived in Virginia
and started a tation and, little by little, became rich. One day Moll
decided to go and visit her brother and son. Her brother was died and her son
received her with great emotion and gave her the heredity that her mother had
left her. So Moll Flanders lived happy in Virginia
with her family for a long time and, returned in England with her husband, conducted
a life of repentance.
