In Hope Leslie, Sedgwick develops a plot that rewards characters who demonstrate loyalty and punishes those who do not. Magawisca serves throughout the novel as the most complex case study in loyalty because she remains loyal to multiple conflicting ideas. From the very beginning, she must balance her loyalty to her tribe by not warning the Fletchers about the impending Indian raid while still protecting Everell. Although Magawisca sacrifices an arm, her loyalty does not go unpaid throughout the novel. While Sedgwick could’ve ended the novel with Everell abandoning Magawisca and letting her stay imprisoned, he persists until she is free. Even though Everell is destined to be with Hope Leslie, Sedgwick emphasizes that Magawisca is not a victim, but instead gains emotional satisfaction from her undying friendship with Everell as seen on pg 266 after Everell first attempts to release her (“…seemed for a moment…in her exultation to forget the rocks and quicksand that encompassed her”).
In contrast to the noble Magawisca, Sir Phillip Gardiner’s story ends in a tragic fashion when his spurned lover Rosa decides to ignite gun powder on the ship set for England. If Gardiner had any sense of loyalty, he would never become the “guilty destroyer” of a “hapless pitiable girl”(336) and would not have met such a violent end. Sedgwick clearly defines the villains and heroes in Hope Leslie and one must argue loyalty is one of the criteria used to distinguish between the two.
Breeze, this is a very interesting point that you bring up. I think that the idea of loyalty must have been a very big part of Sedgwick's reasoning when she was writing this novel because, as you've noted, it shows up throughout. Another point that I found interesting with regards to loyalty was the cyclcal nature that it took in the novel. What I mean by this is that no act of loyalty was left without repayment. As you've noted, Everell did not have to go to the lengths that he did for Magawisca, but he did because of the idea of loyalty. Similarly, Magawisca did not have to jeapordize her life nor the life of her family for Hope when she brought Faith to see her sister, but she did because she felt she must repay the debt she owed from the time Hope freed her. In contrast, it's interesting to see the opposite factor, disloyalty, also act in a similarly cyclical pattern. The least loyal, and not surprisingly least liked, characters seemed to continue upon an unlucky path throughout the novel that seemed to have much to do with their utter lack of a sense of loyalty and honor. This is definitely a very good point that you address about this novel, Breeze.
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