Analytical Response: Catherine Maria Sedgwick's 'Hope Leslie'

Chris Shea
Professor Christine Doyle
ENG 348
02/09/16
Analytical Response for Hope Leslie, Volume 2
In Volume 2 of her 2-Volume novel Hope Leslie, Catherine Maria Sedgwick makes no attempts in hiding how much of a horrible person Sir Philip Gartner is. His infatuation and obsession with Hope Leslie and getting rid of Rosaline lead him to commit various actions such as springing up the trap that put both Magawisca and Faith in jail after Hope tells him she has no intentions of marrying him.
But it isn’t until Chapter VII that his horrible ways are initially exposed, even for a moment. This is the chapter in which Sir Philip (the one who had Magawisca go to jail in the first place) visits her in jail. To Magawisca’s initial delight, Sir Philip
provides her with the tools to escape. However this escape would come at a price: he believes Rosaline (although not mentioned by name) has been troubling to him and he wants Magawisca to make sure she doesn’t return to him.
Initially Magawisca doesn’t think too much into it.
However, it is when Sir Philip proposes she go to her tribe and trade Rosaline for Hope (also not mentioned by name). Magawisca raises an eyebrow at him and he tries to backtrack by saying she could also take Rosaline to a Romish priest who will take her to a hotel in Canada.
Magawisca drops the tools and becomes enraged at this exposure of who Sir Philip really is. She rejects his proposals with a rant that begins with “And dost thou think that I would make my heart as black as thine, to save my life?–life!” (Sedgwick 264). Sir Phillip later gets attacked by Thomas Morton, the one he told Barnaby he was visiting in the first place. Just desserts for a serpent and a sly fox like Sir Philip? Perhaps.
But this isn’t the only time Sir Philip is exposed. This happens to him later on in Chapter IX, where Magawisca is on trial. Note at this point (page 299) that Sedgwick is already referring to Sir Philip as having a “false testimony” in the trial. But then Magawisca further amplifies this by holding up a crucifix (against the request of Everell), the same one she says Sir Philip left in her cell the night he visited her. She tells Sir Philip “…then press it to thy lips now, thou didst then, and take back the false words thou hast spoken against me.”
(299).
Governor Winthrop then asks Sir Philip what Magawisca means by this, to which Sir Philip responds by asking the court to impose silence upon Magawisca. But then Mr. Eliot speaks up for her by saying that due to the credit of Sir Philip’s testimony being altered, Magawisca should be required “…to state in full that to which she hath but alluded.” (301).
Magawisca ultimately hesitates and becomes embarrassed to speak, much to the anger of the judges. However, she does say a parable about a hunter who is hesitant to shoot his arrow at an eagle because he may hurt the prey the eagle is holding. And then she points to, who else, Rosaline.
All eyes in the court point to her, to which she responds by getting massive stage-fright and running up to Sir Philip. And what does he do? He refers to her as a boy and scorns her with his foot, much to the disgust of the court. But here’s the irony for later on: in Chapter XII, Rosaline kills him and herself in a massive explosion. Did Karma against Sir Phillip here? Perhaps.
Work Cited:
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria, and John Matteson. Hope Leslie, or Early times in Massachusetts. Dover ed. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2011. Print.