In Rowlandson's Charlotte Temple and Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, ignorance plays an important role in the development of the characters and the trials they have to face. Although Rowson and Rowlandson wrote in different time periods and their main characters faced different trials, both novels indicate that ignorance of any kind can have a detrimental impact on someone's life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Rowson wrote a novel about a young girl, Charlotte, and her downfall as she mentors a malevolent woman and flirts with a British soldier. Charlotte is a very naive and ignorant girl who only now sees the interest that males have in her. Montraville is the first guy she's known to show her interest and seduction, so it's natural for her to be unaware of these situations. At first he realizes that he shouldn't become infatuated with someone of his own kind, but when he is under the influence of Madame La Rue, a jealous and ill-reputed character, he doesn't know how to deal with it. Her ignorance leads her to make irrational decisions and ultimately leads to her death. The narrator declares, "The mind of youth greedily grasps the promised pleasure: pure and innocent by nature, it thinks not of the dangers hidden beneath those pleasures, until it is too late to avoid them." Rowson seems to add general statements like this to make sure he reaches all the women reading this. It speaks to the ignorance of women in this time period. It was very common for women to start a relationship at a young age and have to deal with the consequences later in life. This is an important topic because not only was it prevalent back then, but it is still a very important topic to bring awareness to today's society. Montraville, the main male character of the novel, is a very confident person until the end of the novel when he sees Charlotte is in trouble but wants to marry another woman. He realizes that he acted on impulse and ignored the idea that what he might have done could have created a horrible outcome. He meets another woman and is having an internal battle with himself about returning to Charlotte, who is severely depressed. Montraville gives insight into his inner thoughts when he shares, “I am now too late convinced that my attachment to her was simply the spur of the moment,” and this is an important part in the story because he is finally realizing that what he did it was wrong. However, his uncertainty and hesitation in returning to Charlotte created even more chaos than if he had simply married someone else. Charlotte is very depressed and ill because Montraville cannot decide which marriage to pursue. The lesson of ignorance is important here because the reader is able to see the inner workings of the primarily hated character. The reader must understand that ignorance cannot only affect us but also other people. Just as Montraville killed Charlotte slowly, we too can hurt someone with enough impact to harm those closest to us. We must understand that if we are uneducated or ignorant about something, we must think things through and then act. Jumping into something and making assumptions will only lead to a negative outcome. In Rowlandson's novel, ignorance also plays a role in his survival. When she is captured by Native Americans, she is completely ignorant of their culture. For this reason he had to face many trials to survive, some of which concern food and style.
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