English 3510

Our introduction to Hope Leslie suggests that Sedgwick sees her texts as teaching morals: “Nineteenth-century critics endowed literature with both an aesthetic and moral purpose, which accorded with her perspective. Their laudatory recognition of her moral intent gave her particular gratification” (xiii). What moral is she trying to impart? How does she go about teaching readers in her text? What rhetorical strategies does she use? Lentricchia and Burke describe such strategies here, but what do you think? Defend you ideas with specifics from the text.