Abstract:
17th Century Britain was a deadly era for many of its citizens: Political and criminal violence were rife both on the streets and in the home, and offenses were prosecuted without ample protection for defendants – especially women. It’s no wonder, then, that single mother and businesswoman Letitia Wigington was tried and executed without provision of a forum for response. Yet, does this mean that working-class women were denied all opportunities to have their voices heard?
In this presentation we will consider a 17th century pamphlet, The CONFESSION AND EXECUTION of Letitia Wigington of Ratclif… through the lens of the pamphlet writing genre. In exploration of the possibility of the text’s female authorship, the research establishes a historical context for pamphleteering and provides evidence of middle class literacy. We will examine the 17th century pamphlet genre (specifically, the crime/scaffold speech pamphlet) within its historical context, the connections between women’s literacy and pamphleteering, and apply these connections to the deconstruction of Letitia’s confession pamphlet.
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