How does the text present a moralistic view of criminality? The exert from Hannah More’s Cheap Repository Tracts was a very interesting read as it captured the story of a fortune-teller who was transported to Australia for robbery. The story presents a very moralistic view of criminality as it shows the story of a women who was deviant and as a result was punished and transported. In telling this story, More does the opposite of what popular chapbooks did in that time, which was presenting a story full of tricksters who did not work hard and cheated life through deviance. In this dangerous universe of chapbooks, anything was possible such as a fairy tale, which More was also against. Unlike the chapbooks, More’s story of Tawney Rachel had a clear message of cause and affect of committing such crimes and her story portrayed someone getting caught for acting immorally and being transported as a result of it. The story is reaffirming correct and moral behavior expected during the time period. How do you think this would have been received by the public? …show more content…
I think that those receiving these stories received this as a reminder of the laws and what were expected from the poor as well as establishing these expectations early on for children of the lower class citizens. The public receiving this may have felt threatened or put in their place, as it was commonly just given to them. Obviously anyone can commit a crime, even the wealthy however just the poor receiving these stories may have reminded these citizens of the break in society as well as a warning of the line they should not cross without