Disguise in Moll Flanders

• Main Authors: Hsiang-Hsiu Chen, 陳香秀
• Other Authors: Rudolphus Teeuwen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2000
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/04931967817676838575

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 外國語文學系研究所 === 88 === Abstract This thesis attempts to examine the function of disguise used in Defoe’s Moll Flanders. I will relate Terry Castle’s studies on masquerade and disguise as an inspiration for my discussion so as to explore disguise in the novel on three levels. Clothes as well as language as a manipulable sign system manifested in masquerade become a useful means for Moll’s physical disguise. The often-debated problem of Moll’s penitence is brought out and explored in terms of spiritual disguise. The Editor’s Preface that prescribes an authorized interpretation of Moll’s story is considered a meta-narrative disguise that intends to mask Moll’s criminal autobiography as a moral tale. Therefore, the novel as a whole can be seen as an arena for competition between Moll’s disguise and the Editor’s meta-narrative disguise. For this reader, Moll’s disguise eventually hijacks Defoe’s novel and defeats the meta-narrative disguise. The thesis is composed of four chapters. The introduction presents the overall structure in a nutshell. Chapter One explains how disguise functions in masquerade and its relation to play and transgression. In Chapter Two, to enrich the discussion, Goffman’s idea on “impression management” is employed to explore Moll’s physical disguise in everyday life. In Chapter Three, the insincerity of Moll’s repentance is brought out and discussed as Moll’s spiritual disguise. In Chapter Four, the Editor’s Preface, which seems an appendage to the novel is seriously examined and regarded as a meta-narrative disguise for it involves a dispute of how a reader should read the novel.