English 4371: Cultural Encounters

Householder, fall 2005

10/20/05: Disobedience and Degeneration in Jamestown

 

 

 

  1. Tentative beginnings

 

 

    1. 1603 – Death of Queen Elizabeth. 

 

 

    1. 1606 – Formation of the Virginia Company. 

 

 

    1. May 1607 – Establishment of Jamestown.   [Map1][map2]

 

 

 

  1. The initial struggle for authority, 1607-1609

 

    1. Key players

 

 

                                                              i.      Christopher Newport 

 

 

 

 

                                                            ii.      Edward Maria Wingfield

 

 

 

 

                                                          iii.      John Smith. 

 

 

 

    1. A Test of Leadership

 

                                                              i.      Hostilities with indigenous people, May-June. 

 

 

 

                                                            ii.      Internal dissent, September.

 

 

 

                                                          iii.      Starvation and Desperation, September-December. 

 

 

 

                                                          iv.      Reprieve, 1608.

 

 

 

 

c.      George Percy “A Discourse of the Plantation of the Southern Colonie in Virginia” (1606-7; 1625)

 

 

                                                              i.      Samuel Purchas, literary heir to Richard Hakluyt

 

 

 

                                                            ii.      In what ways does Percy’s narrative qualify as a promotional text?

 

 

 

                                                          iii.      How are Percy’s descriptions of the Algonquians similar to or different from those of Harriot and White?

 

 

 

    1. Anonymous, “A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colonie of Virginia” (1610)



 

  1. From the “Starving Time” to the “Peace of Pocahontas,” 1609-1614

 

    1. Bad luck. 

 

 

                                                              i.      Shipwreck. 

 

 

 

                                                            ii.      Stress on supplies:

 

 

 

                                                          iii.      Loss of Smith. 

 

 

 

    1. The Starving Time. 

 

 

                                                              i.      William Strachey’s “True Reportory.” 

 

 

 

 

    1. Stabilization. 

 

 

 

    1. Pocahontas, part II. 

 

 

                                                              i.      "A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia," by Raphe Hamor, 1614. 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next time:  The Tempest, acts 1-3.  As you read, can you identify any language, images, characters, conflicts, or plot elements that might be based on or inspired by Strachey’s “Reportory” or other Jamestown texts?