Previous
Dramatic Irony
Flashbacks
Explanation and Analysis—Flashbacks:
As the plot grows more complicated in Volume 2, the narrator uses flashbacks as a motif, every so often filling in the reader on events that happened prior to or during the previous chapter. Each time a flashback occurs, it resolves some suspense while also creating more intrigue. For instance, in Volume 2, Chapter 1, Hope is missing long enough to worry everyone before showing up wet and bedraggled to Governor Winthrop's house. She won't say much and is extremely vague even with Esther about why she seems upset. Volume 2, Chapter 2, makes everything clear to the reader: through a flashback, it reveals that Hope met with Magawisca at the cemetery and found out that Faith is still alive. This helps Hope's strange behavior in the previous chapter make sense, and it creates satisfying dramatic irony because the reader is now in on Hope's secret from the other characters. However, it also introduces new conflict to the novel. Faith is now married to Oneco and is happy with her life. Even coming face to face with her will require clandestine operations Hope must coordinate with Magawisca. The reader now sits in suspense over whether Hope will pull off a meeting.
Flashbacks don't always fill in Hope's perspective. For instance, Volume 2, Chapter 7 flashes back to the same night when Hope met Magawisca in the cemetery, but it focuses on Sir Philip's perspective. As it turns out, Sir Philip was spying on the meeting. The flashback lays out how he hatched a self-serving plan to kidnap Faith so that Hope will be pleased with him. Meanwhile, he planned to gain favor with Governor Winthrop by telling him that valuable information could be obtained by kidnapping Magawisca and her family. This flashback not only adds to the suspense by proving that there is still more the reader does not know, but it also contributes to the aim the preface lays out. The novel is called Hope Leslie, but it aims to represent "the character of the times," not just Hope herself. Sir Philip is Sedgwick's caricature of a power-hungry Catholic aristocrat. This flashback is unflattering by design, allowing Sedgwick to flesh out an aspect of "the times" she finds unsavory.
Yet another flashback occurs in Volume 2, Chapter 13, when the narrator describes an emotional exchange between Oneco and Mononotto after Faith has been kidnapped and Hope Leslie has fled with Antonio. In contrast with Sir Philip's flashback, this one helps the reader empathize more with Oneco and Mononotto. In both flashbacks not focused on Hope, the narrator offers the reader a kind of omniscience that is unavailable to any of the characters within the novel. Through the flashbacks, the narrator holds up the events like a diorama that the reader is able to examine from multiple angles, whereas the characters can only see what is happening from their position within the events. Looking back at "the character of the times" only seems to be possible from the vantage point of a reader or narrator who is able to piece together a narrative complete with flashbacks that represent different perspectives.
Related Themes:
