I found it very interesting how the author portrayed the character of Hope Leslie, especially towards the end of the novel. During the whole event of planning and freeing Magawisca, Hope fools a lot of people to eventually be successful with this criminal act. She starts by convincing Mr. Cradock to leave late from the Governor's home with her to go to the visit Magawisca without a pass from the Governor. Mr. Cradock knew that the pass would be necessary for them to get into the jail but he kept moving just because Hope said so. She seems to wrap the male figures in this tale around her little finger, and they jump when she says jump. It was especially interesting to watch Barnaby Tuttle melt because she began to cry on page 319-320. It was also interesting to see how little Mr. Cradock fought Hope when she took his clothes to dress Magawisca for her escape.
It's just interesting how the author uses Hope's gender as a way for our heroine to always get her way with the male characters in the story, as well as a way for her to follow what her heart believes. She felt that freeing Magawisca was the right thing to do, for she knew her friend was innocent and did not deserve imprisonment. But it was a criminal act for her and Everell to conspire to free who the colony believed to be a fugitive. After the governor found out that these events had transpired in the night he went and spoke with Barnaby at the jail to speak with him about the events. Barnaby described Hope Leslie as a "thoughtless child", which sounds as if the author is showing that the people in this novel see Hope as a child of innocence. There is not a moment in the novel where Hope is portrayed in a negative light, she is portrayed like a lamb without blemish, at least by most characters within the novel. I believe she did the right thing freeing her friend and following her heart, but as a reader I can see that she portrays innocence to the characters in the novel but in reality she is very smart and tactful in her schemes for getting things done.
I find it interesting that Hope Leslie does so many manipulative things throughout the novel, but is always portrayed in a positive light. I believe that she gets away with many things because of her underlying good intentions. I find her character very fascinating, because she seems to act by her own set of moral guidelines. I believe that she values the opinions of others, but in the end, she always acts in ways that fit into her personal beliefs. Her character, for me, is quite the opposite of a "thoughtless child"; I think she is a character that makes very mature decisions for the benefit of others, even in times when it puts her own life at risk.
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