Why Daniel Defoe Writes from the Margins: Dissent, Experience, and the Making of Moll Flanders

To understand Moll Flanders, it is not enough to look only at its plot or its protagonist. We must also ask a more fundamental question: who was Daniel Defoe, and what prompted him to write about criminals, outsiders, and the marginal sections of society?

One of the most significant facts about Defoe’s position as an individual in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England is that he was born into a minority religious group—the Presbyterian Dissenters. These were Protestant Nonconformists who did not belong to the Church of England, the dominant religious institution of the time. As a result, they were subjected to various forms of marginalization and exclusion.

Defoe’s life was shaped by this experience of dissent. He was not allowed to study at institutions like Oxford or Cambridge, since admission required adherence to the Church of England. Instead, he was educated in a dissenting academy. From an early stage, therefore, Defoe inhabited a position outside the dominant structures of power, both religious and institutional.

This marginal position was not merely social; it was also political. Defoe participated in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 against James II, a Catholic monarch, and later faced severe consequences for his writings. In 1703, after publishing a satirical pamphlet critical of the Church and the monarchy, he was arrested on charges of sedition, imprisoned, and subjected to the pillory. These experiences of punishment, humiliation, and confinement were not abstract ideas for Defoe—they were lived realities.

At the same time, Defoe’s life was marked by economic instability. Born to a tradesman, he did not possess aristocratic lineage or inherited wealth. He engaged in various mercantile ventures—trading in wine and other goods—but frequently faced financial failure and bankruptcy. Writing, for Defoe, was not initially a purely literary pursuit; it was also a means of survival.

The early eighteenth century witnessed the rise of the professional author, particularly after the Copyright Act of 1710. Literary production began to shift from courtly patronage to the marketplace. Authors increasingly wrote for a broader reading public and earned their livelihood through print. Defoe was one of the earliest figures to recognise and adapt to this changing literary economy.

However, it would be a mistake to assume that Defoe wrote merely for financial gain. His position as a dissenter, combined with his experiences of exclusion and punishment, shaped his intellectual outlook. He remained consistently critical of the injustices of English society—its religious intolerance, its class hierarchies, and its economic inequalities.

This background is crucial for understanding Moll Flanders. Defoe’s interest in the “other” history of London—the history of criminals, prisoners, and marginalised individuals—emerges directly from his own position as an outsider. He writes not from the centre of power, but from its margins.

The choice of a criminal protagonist is therefore not accidental. Moll Flanders embodies multiple forms of marginality: she is a woman, a criminal, a prostitute, and someone born in prison. Through her, Defoe brings into focus those sections of society that are excluded from official narratives. The novel becomes a space in which these excluded lives are represented, examined, and given a form of narrative legitimacy.

At the same time, Defoe’s own experiences with prison and punishment enable him to represent these worlds with a degree of immediacy and detail. The descriptions of Newgate Prison, the procedures of the court, and the conditions of criminal life are not merely imaginative constructs; they are informed by lived experience. The boundary between observation and experience becomes blurred.

Defoe’s position as a dissenter also shapes the ethical framework of the novel. His writing reflects a constant engagement with questions of sin, repentance, and redemption. The trajectory of Moll’s life—from crime to apparent penitence—can be read in relation to this religious and moral context. Yet, as the narrative itself suggests, this movement towards repentance is not entirely straightforward or unproblematic.

What makes Defoe particularly significant is that he combines these elements—marginality, experience, economic awareness, and moral reflection—within a single narrative framework. He writes at a moment when literature is becoming increasingly connected to the realities of everyday life. His work reflects a world in transition, where traditional structures of authority are being challenged, and new forms of social and economic organisation are emerging.

In this sense, Defoe can be understood as an intellectual who does not merely represent his society but critically engages with it. His writing does not simply reproduce dominant values; it interrogates them. By focusing on the lives of those at the margins, he exposes the limitations of official histories and offers an alternative perspective on reality.

Moll Flanders thus becomes more than the story of an individual. It becomes a reflection of a broader historical moment—a moment marked by dissent, instability, and transformation. Through the figure of Moll, Defoe explores the complexities of identity, survival, and morality in a world where traditional certainties are increasingly difficult to sustain.

To read Defoe, therefore, is to encounter a writer who stands at the intersection of literature, history, and social critique. His position as a dissenter is not merely a biographical detail; it is the foundation of his intellectual project. It is what enables him to see, and to represent, what others might choose to ignore.

Further Reading

Edward Said, Representations of the Intellectual 

Maximillian E. Novak, Daniel Defoe: Master of Fiction 

John Richetti, The Life of Daniel Defoe 

Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel