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  • Essay / Themes of Money and Rank in Moll Flanders and Gulliver's Travels

    The themes of money and rank are clearly present in Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. In both works, the quest for money and high rank is depicted as a driving force behind human actions and the need for money is seen as a cause of deception. However, the protagonists of the works have completely different views on money and rank. Moll equates money and rank with what is good and important, while Gulliver, as his discussions with his master Houy show, notes the negative side of money and rank and equates them with illness, considering them as a contributing factor to the negative aspects of English. Company. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay One of the main similarities between the two works is that both authors describe the lack of money and rank and perceived power which accompanies them as the driving force behind human actions. Defoe integrates money and rank into almost every aspect of Moll's turbulent life and shows how the quest for money is the driving force behind many of Moll's actions and decisions. For a general example, Moll spends much of her life searching for a suitable husband who will provide for her financially. Therefore, the wish for a better financial situation in life makes her enter into relationships with many men. A more specific example is Moll's entry into a relationship with the banker in order to secure some wealth. After the marriage, Moll notes, “I immediately took possession of a well furnished house and a husband in very good circumstances” (Defoe 250). This quote shows Moll's emphasis on the power of wealth and reveals the real reason she married the banker. In the same way that Defoe illustrates the idea of ​​money and rank as the driving force behind human actions, Swift describes this motivation through Gulliver's discussion of wealth and rank in England with his master Houy. Gulliver highlights the fact that the perceived power that accompanies wealth and rank is at the forefront of the English mind: When a Yahoo had a large reserve of money, he was able to buy everything he wanted, the most beautiful clothes, the most beautiful clothes. dirt tracks..., and have your choice of the most beautiful females. Therefore, since only money was capable of achieving these feats, our fools believed that they could never have enough to spend or save (Swift 2419). This obsession with money leads to the class divide and the constant struggle of the lower classes to earn a living, while the upper class makes poorer individuals work in order to maintain their high status. Gulliver notes: “The rich man enjoyed the fruits of the poor man's labor, and the latter were a thousand times greater than the former” (Swift 2419). The lower class subjects themselves to forced labor in an attempt to obtain money, while members of the upper class do whatever they can to maintain their status. In the same way that Defoe and Swift include the theme of money and rank as the driving force of human action, the authors also illustrate the necessity of money as a cause of deception. In Defoe's work, Moll is the absolute queen of deception in order to obtain money, which she apparently cannot obtain any other way. Moll continually plays the role of a woman of wealthier status in order to attract a potential husband. She even goes so far as to disappear with a friend into the countryside for an extended period, to..