The question as to whether Moll ever really becomes a hardened criminal is an interesting one.Yet it is evident that Defoe meant us to sympathize with Moll; and we are able to sympathize with her because he portrays her as a very likeable woman, who, despite her thieving and prostitution, is well-liked by her contemporaries, and seems to like them as well.Defoe uses irony ingeniously in the passages telling us of Moll's thoughts during her various crimes.