Dr. Cervantes posed the question of why would Moll
Flanders and Caleb Williams be given five guineas apiece in their respective
tales? In Moll’s case she’s given the guineas after a rich man in Colchester
forcibly kisses her; in Caleb’s case, he’s given five guineas after Mr.
Falkland accuses him of being a spy after the investigation into his personal
history the night before. Though neither text fully states why each title
character is remunerated, one can infer from the text as to what the reason
was. I think it is important to consider the relationship between the givers
and recipients. Moll’s rich guy in Colchester gives her the guineas because
he’s in a position of power over her not only monetarily but also physically.
Similarly, Mr. Falkland is Caleb’s boss and has a certain amount of authority
over him—Falkland being the mentor and Caleb his secretary. The importance of
relationship is power is important because before the guineas are exchanged,
Moll and Caleb are put into uncomfortable if not compromising situations. And
upon receiving the guineas, Caleb remarks they are from “a mind pregnant with
emotions;” and, likewise, Moll says she was not sure why she was given the
guineas although she was told she was meant no ill harm. Therefore, the
remuneration could be seen as a compensatory symbol; a symbolic apology of
sorts meant to make up for an acknowledgement of harm done. I’m sure this
speaks to relationship between money and love and sex in Moll Flanders, and the way Moll begins to see money as identity and
money exchanged for sex; but as for Caleb
Williams, I see that money is a bribe for secrecy, not so much as identity.
But if the title is any indication into this scene—I could be reading too much
into this here—not everything is what it seems, and maybe Falkland giving Caleb
five guineas has some sort of sexual implication. Perhaps they have a bromance
the way Barnwell and Trueman did, or perhaps it is something more; after all, they
share a closeness that could complicate and blur lines. Whether this is true or
not, I propose the notion for no other reason than to speculate on the motives
of Godwin.
I think you're blog post is very clever in it's origin; Dr. Cervantes asked us to think about the five guineaus topic for Monday and you made a blog post out of it. In retrospect, I wish I had done the same. I really enjoyed your psychoanalysis of the five guineaus relation between these two novels; when I read this part in Williams I didn't think twice about it, nor it's relation to Moll Flanders. After reading your post, I'm dumbfounded as to how I didn't see it before. My favorite part of this section of Caleb Williams was in the line you quoted: "... a mind pregnant with emotions." That line brought Moll Flanders foremost to my mind. While Moll and Williams were both being paid for their services, Moll's is certainly more sexual and Caleb almost seems to respond to this with his use of the word pregnant. But there is always the possibility that I'm simply looking to far into it. Again, great blog post. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks Vince for explaining this to me. I was very confused about this topic and I think I have a better understanding of it now. When you say "I could be reading to much into this here", I don't think you read to much into it. I really don't think you can ever read to much into anything ever. When you talk about Moll receiving her guineas from the rich man, it just reminds me of a lot of the readings we have had this year. It seems like women in our books are constantly viewed as second to man
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