Performative Rhetoric and the Early American Female Criminal By
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Performative Rhetoric and the Early American Female Criminal by Amelia Christine Lewis A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama August 1, 2015 Female Criminality, Rhetoric, Performance, Eighteenth-century America Copyright 2015 by Amelia Christine Lewis Approved by Hilary Wyss, Chair, Hargis Professor of American Literature Sunny Stalter, Associate Professor of English Diane Eidson, Assistant Professor of English Abstract Female criminals, in a variety of ways, entered into public discourse and utilized forms of performance in order to leave their mark upon a culture that often severely limited the ways or extent to which women could engage with it. A label such as criminal is meant to erase, but can also become a moment of powerful cultural subversion. In this dissertation, I provide a closer examination of performance in female criminals in order to start untangling a complicated negotiation of identity. Analyzing the rhetoric surrounding those deemed female criminals through this lens allows us to enhance our discourse about the ways women communicated, expressed agency, and maintained a voice even under stringent methods of control and effacement. I examine the gendered performance of criminality in eighteenth-century American texts through the intersection of performance and rhetoric in order to deconstruct the idea of a dominant cultural narrative. My first section explores the Salem witch trials where witches took the central focus of a community in turmoil from war, economic issues, and religious strife. Their bodies intertwine with rhetoric during the trials to create meaningful texts of fear and control. My second section examines eighteenth-century infanticide narratives that had ministers attempting to adapt the voice of the female criminal to be suitable as a warning for the community. My third section analyzes how this same process can be read through the example of Elizabeth Wilson whose texts span all the possibilities of female crime literature in this time period in America from trial narrative to fictionalized sentimental account. Though often controlled by a dominant voice, such as ministers or leaders of the community, female bodies and behavior also became the vehicle through which women gain visibility and, at times, a voice. ii Acknowledgments I have numerous people I need to thank for helping make this project possible. First, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Hilary Wyss for her role as an advisor and mentor. Your patience and guidance over the course of the completion of this project have been invaluable. Likewise, thank you to Dr. Sunny Stalter for her valuable insights and always asking the right questions necessary to move my thought processes forward. I express my gratitude to Dr. Diana Eidson for her help especially with rhetoric. I would also like to thank Dr. Tricia Serviss and Dr. Paula Backscheider for helping shape this project. I also must thank my remarkable writing group, Michelle Cook, Heather Finch, and Kirsten Iden, who have been with me every step of the way giving feedback and moral support. I want to express special thanks to Michelle Cook for the extra writing and emotional support sessions that happened along the way. Finally, I also want to thank my partner, Paul Shelton, for providing endless support in every way imaginable. I also thank my family, Tom, Paulette, Paul, Heather, Micah, Mason, Ruki, and Sophie Lewis for always supporting me unconditionally. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................ iii Introduction: Female Criminality, Power, and Rhetoric ......................................................................... 1 Section 1: The Body, Rhetoric, and Hysterical Puritans in Salem .................................................. 25 Section 2: Aberrant Mothers: The Religious Rhetoric of Infanticide .............................................. 91 Section 3: The Fictionalization of Elizabeth Wilson’s Body ......................................................... 154 Conclusion Criminal and Sentimental Bodies ................................................................................. 207 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................ 214 iv Introduction Female Criminality, Power, and Rhetoric In the mid-1630s, Anne Hutchinson became the focal point of a controversy that upset the very equilibrium of the new Massachusetts Bay Colony. During her two trials and eventual exile, she becomes infamous in her community and surrounding ones. On the surface, her crimes are ones of a religious nature. There is a disagreement between her and many prominent religious figures over the issue of a covenant of grace versus a covenant of works. However, this is not the only reason that Hutchinson becomes, perhaps, the most well-known of all the early female criminals in early America. Her trial offers clues as to the reasons that she was seen as such a threat that she must be removed forcibly from the community. During her trial, when she asks what crime she committed, her accusers, including Governor John Winthrop and prominent Puritan minister John Cotton, answer with “why the Fifth Commandment” (Hutchinson 483). This small question and response gives valuable insight into the nature of the trial and controversy. The trial itself includes many instances of her questioning the men standing before her when a path of submission would have been more acceptable. It is also notable that, in the eyes of Winthrop and other prominent male leaders of the community, this is a sin of not respecting authority. The accusations levied against her in trial and otherwise echo this sentiment of her, essentially, leading where she should be following. Another crime of hers includes her leading a spiritual discussion group with women from the community. Cotton reprimands her by claiming that the “filthy sin of the community of women…” will lead to various other sins including the mixing of men and women “without distinction or relation of marriage” (Adams 522). To the powerful men of the community, her spiritual groups with women represent their lack of control over community members. These groups of women, given too much freedom, 1 would lead to dirty, sinful consequences including the breakdown of authority even at the level of marriage. Hutchinson represented the worst of this anxiety, leading the charge defiantly. She is quickly perceived as an element that is no longer welcome in the community. Reverend John Wilson reads the exile sentence to her with the following words: Forasmuch as you, Mrs. Hutchinson, have highly transgressed and offended ... and troubled the Church with your Errors and have drawen away many a poor soule, and have upheld your Revelations; and forasmuch as you have made a Lye ... Therefor in the name of our Lord Je[sus] Ch[rist] ... I doe cast you out and ... deliver you up to Sathan. (Round 142) This declaration clearly illustrates the perceived threat of Hutchinson to the community. She is dangerous because she is perceived as powerful enough to lead many souls away from God and the authority of the Church. She is also delivered to Satan and, even after her exile, watched by the community. John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and prominent Puritan leader, continues to follow her life after exile and uses her stillborn child and her being killed by the Siwanoy during Kieft’s War as proof of her evil nature and his righteousness in exiling her. These occurrences become proof of her sins in the eyes of Winthrop and also represent the continuing preoccupation of the community with Hutchinson and her actions. Hutchinson is a complicated historical figure and her life illustrates many of the concerns that influence the perception and treatment of female criminals in Early America. At the core of her story is the perceived threat and desire to control the female body and voice that is disrupting the proper order of society. She is acting in ways that are not considered proper including leading groups of people and acting defiant during her trial. In short, she is not 2 performing her gender as expected and this incurs the wrath of those who fear that slippage away from gendered norms. Their reaction to her reveals their interpretation of her failure to maintain gendered expectations for behavior and the consequences of not following those expectations. Her exile highlights the issue of control at the center of many of these texts. She must be removed from the community to control her actions, but in this removal and through these trials she also becomes an incredibly well-known figure. Finally, these tensions are also mired with concerns over the female body particularly. This is most clearly seen when Winthrop uses her stillborn baby as evidence against her. The gendered body becomes part of the evidence at the same time as her words. All of these various facets of meaning and perception become the heart of my discussion of female criminals in Early America. Criminality opens a space for women to be visible and vocal in ways that might not be available otherwise.