The Roaring Girl | On Moll and Her Characterization

In regarding all of the works discussed thus far, I must say that Moll, of Middleton and Dekker's The Roaring Girl, has to be my favorite character. I love that she has a "I'm going to do what I want, how I want, regardless of your social constraints" attitude and that she is able to turn these social constraints (of which she seems to have a very acute awareness, despite her disregard of them) to her advantage. As for the first point, for instance, Moll is first described to the audience (by the gentlemen in act 1) as wearing male clothing, smoking tobacco, and getting into brawls, all of which are very "manly" characteristics. In this way, she goes against the social norm and instead adopts her own way of life which doesn't bend to these norms. Yet this is not a simple reversal of traditional gender roles. When we first see Moll, she is wearing a riding skirt with her male-fashion jacket, and a skirt is (at least, I think) a very feminine piece of clothing. Thus she is clearly still acknowledging that she is a woman at the same time that she chooses to dress, sometimes, as a man rather than simply dressing and acting like a man in every aspect of her life. And I think this specific point is what I like so much about her. In doing this, Moll demonstrates that she is not going against the social norms just for the sake of going against the social norms. Instead, her living and acting the way she wants happens to go against these social norms sometimes while other times they cause no problem.

As for the second point, Moll demonstrates that, while she certainly does display a disinterest in conforming to societal norms, she is nevertheless aware of what these expectations by society are. For instance, look at the scene wherein Laxton propositions Moll (in 2.1). Laxton describes his raunchy fantasy about Moll, wherein which we may certainly suspect that he is working under the impression that because Moll dresses like a man, she must be loose (sexually), and asks her to spend the evening with him. Moll accepts his proposal, yet when she and Laxton rendezvous later that evening, she attacks him for having such expectations of her and takes his money. Thus she plays along with Laxton's (society's) expectations of what the evening will entail, only then to rebuke him and take his coin. Which is brilliant!

It is both of these dualities which I think makes Moll a favorite character for me. She lives how she wants, following some social norms while going against others, and she displays a disregard for social norms and expectations at the same time that she displays an acute awareness of these society's views. I think that this gives Moll a certain depth to her character that would be missing if she, for instance, constantly and completely went against societal norms or if she acted independently of society's expectations while failing to show that she knew what these expectations are. And while these dualities are certainly present, to at least some extent, in several of the characters from previous works discussed, Moll certainly seems to me to be the strongest, most likeable, and most real.