ENG 328: The Novel to Jane Austen
Criminal biographies were seen as a low-level form of literature. Commonly written over collective pieces of literature of writing during that time, the London underbelly was seen as a promiscuous unsuitable area. A prominent location in London during the 18th century was Newgate Prison as it held people awaiting trial, debtors, and people awaiting execution. The prison had unsuitable conditions and overcrowding, even leaving a fee for basic amenities. This disparity around the criminal underworld arose a new form of literature to appease the general masses, the criminal biography.
The criminal biography genre arose in 18th-century London as a reflection of urban disparity. Illustrating the drunken debauchery of London, novels under the genre mirrored characters of previous harlots, thieves, and petty criminals. Authors of criminal biographies were typically anonymous or used pseudonyms and written in English prose. Criminal biography are written towards, and by, the lower class collectively. Alexander Smith’s Moll Cutpurse, A Pick-Pocket and Highwaywoman, is an example of the criminal biography genre. The novel written, possibly under a psydeom, illustrated the London Underbelly of Cutpurse’s journey and transformation. Even her name is not her own as, “Mary Frith, otherwise call’d Moll Cutpurse, from her ORingal Profession of cutting Purses” (Smith p. 320), she changed her appearance and adopted the moniker of “Roaring Girl”.
Characters in the genre often experience a lack of control in their lives as authors attempt to adapt fate into their writing. As if these characters are destined for misfortune, the criminal biography gives reason to their misdoings as a means to an end. Thus, leading the characters to be rendered lower than most in comparison to notable heroic characters. For instance, Cutpurse “went Dress’d in Man’s Apparel; which puts me in Mind how Hercules, Nero, and Sardanapalus are laugh’d at and exploded for their Effeninacy and degraded Dissolutness in this extravagant Debauchery” (Smith p.322) is compared to epic heroes for their outward appearance. Only to be described as a monster of men as “she was not made for the Pleasure or Delight of Man” (Smith p.322) but assumes the notion she was destined for the life of crime due to her stance in society. Her appearance, her economic status, and her surroundings place her in a destined position of debauchery.
The novel by William Godwin, Caleb Willaims, is classified under the criminal biography genre through the relationship between Caleb Williams and Mr. Falkland. Caleb Willaims is a poor man met with an ill fate of unfortunate circumstances bestowed upon him. Caleb can not control his life as Falkland is holding the reigns on him. Throughout the course of the investigation conducted by Caleb, he is led through the guided path Falkland leads him through. “My life has for several years been a theatre of calamity. I have been a mark for the vigilance of tyranny and I could not escape” (Godwin p. 5). Similar to Moll Cutpurse being compared to epic heroes, Godwin chose the name Caleb for the main character as a biblical allusion to Caleb. Coinciding with the genre of relating the characters to high, in this case, Holy, characters to show how low our subject is in comparison. “In the Bible Caleb was one of the men Moses sent to ‘spy out the land of Canaan’,…, but also ‘faithful’ to his master” (Godwin p. xxxiii). The life of, and overall narrative of, Caleb is an episodic narrative similar to that of a criminal biography. He matched the typical characters of the genre by presenting fairly ordinary people of the lower class. Caleb is a literary assistant to Falkland with nothing to his name, compared to Falkland who holds over a dominion of power and land. The narrative is episodic as it shows the unfortunate twists and turns of Caleb tumbling through life. “I have not deserved this treatment. My own concise witness in behalf of that innocence” (Godwin p.5), as Caleb pleads his innocence for his ill fate to come. Falling into a life of crime and later imprisonment, due to the misdoings of Falkland.
Rather than Caleb himself being the criminal, the narrative follows his path to uncovering the true crime of Mr. Tyrrel. This directly opposed the previous notion of the criminal biography genre as the subject of criminal behavior is cast upon Mr. Falkland. Although, due to Falkland’s power over the judicial system he escapes the law at multiple points. “Young man, take warning!… Why do you trifle with me? You little suspect the extent of my power” (Godwin p. 150). Mirroring the way an author of the criminal biography deems overall control of the character, Falkland is the author of Caleb Willaims’s ending. “This is the empire that man exercises over man” (Godwin p.188) illustrating the power Falkland poses over Caleb’s life and overall narrative. Dictating his choices, his investigation, and inevitably his doomed outcome.
In a typical narrative in the criminal biography genre, the main character is typically the one enacting the crime in the story. In the case of Caleb Williams, he is the one trying to uncover the murder of Mr. Tyrrel. He pleads his case towards the arrest of Mr. Falkland but his investigations only landed him in jail. Caleb’s character contrasts the general form as he is trying to do good but ends up in shackles. “I consulted my own heart, that whispered nothing but innocence,…, This is the object, the distribution of justice, which is the end of human reason” (Godwin p.189). His main motivation is justice while Cutpurse is survival and self-gain.
The criminal biography immersed many readers in the realities of the lower class as they are constantly met with misdoings. Caleb Williams follows the format of introducing a character who is met with misfortune but reintroduces the narrative by deconstructing who remains in control. Typically the author seizes control of the characters’ lives, especially that of a criminal biography, as the main characters are led by fate. They are destined for their situation, whether that be good or bad, they have no control. In this case, Falkland is the one in control of Caleb Williams’s narrative due to his immense power over the system. In the biblical allusion Godwin presents, if Caleb mirrors one of Moses’ disciples, Falkland mirrors God as he is untouchable and remains in control.
Works Cited
Foe, Daniel De. Moll Flanders: An Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. Edited by Albert J. Rivero, W. W. Norton, 2003.
Foe, D. D., & Smith, A. (2003). Moll Cutpurse, a Pick-Pocket and Highwaywoman. In Moll flanders: An authoritative text, contexts, criticism (p. 321). essay, W W NORTON.
Godwin, W., & Hindle, M. (2005). Things as they are, or the adventures of Caleb Williams. Penguin.
Maya Young 