Benedict Arnold, Peggy Shippen & John Andre: A Look at The Tragic Hero vs The Treasonous Villain

Abstract

During war the decisions people make define who they are and how they are perceived and remembered. This was the case with Benedict Arnold and John André. Both men were spies trying to get information to the English about Washington's movements and how best to defeat the Americans. But after both Arnold and André's plot to hand West Point over to the British was discovered how they were remembered took on two very different paths. Arnold was considered a villain despite his heroism throughout the war and André was the tragic hero. What was it that differentiated these two men within the spy game that made them both guilty of treason but made one be embraced as a tragic hero and the other as a villain? Did the mindset of the time influence and shape the two reactions to these two men? And what role if any did Arnold's wife have in this decision to turn their back on their nation?