Comparing and Contrasting Personas: Best and Hariot

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In George Best’s A True Discourse and Thomas Hariot’s A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, both men share a common goal, which was to get people to America. George Best used a persona that portrays someone logical, or a thinking man; but does not stray from his religious background and the beliefs of the time period. Thomas Hariot presented an authoritarian persona, someone who knows the ways, people, and the commodities of the colony. While both men chose a different persona, they knew to use what would be best for their purpose and their audience. Each persona was chosen for its effectiveness and each came across differently in these works. They both, however, wanted the same thing and that was funding for further exploration and/or colonization.
In the excerpt from George Best’s work, he covers a topic that is a big issue for the time, and that is the natives of the Americas. By first addressing the commonly held theories and then directly showing why they may not be true, he is able to begin explaining his theories to a newly educated mind; he does this with the hopes of replacing the wrong information with what he deems is the right information. While he does try to educate his readers, Best stays true to his British roots; he makes sure to use the pronouns we and us inclusively. For example, in the opening of A True Discourse, he states “Wee have among us in England black Moors, Æthiopians, out of all parts of Torrida Zona, which after a small continuance, can well endure the cold of our Country. And why should not we as well abide the heat of their Country” (Best 54)? This gives him the advantage of the audience identifying with him as one of their own, not an outsider trying to change their beliefs. ...

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...h. Best and Hariot take very different approaches to reaching their intended audience; Best is identified as the traveled and informed British man and Hariot as the “Americanized” expert with British roots and loyalties. Both knew where these distinctions should lie, and were very successful in their representation. They considered all topics and how they should stand in regards to them. Best included himself in every topic, without distinguishing between “me” and “you”. Hariot switched from distant expert, to loyal Brit from one paragraph to the next. He knew that he could not risk drawing a line between the two sides that left him on one or the other. He needed to expertly straddle the line between the new world and the old one. These works show the difference between one who reports the information of exploration and one who makes the discoveries a part of him.

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