Point of View

The Winthrop Woman is told from an omnipotent point of view. The reader is able to see into the thinking and actions of all of the characters, not just through a narrator's eyes. Anya Seton allows us to understand the feelings of the characters, and the reader is able to empathize with their predicaments because one has a greater understanding of them than they do of themselves. For instance, Daniel Patrick's admission of his Catholic faith and his surprising submission to a priest reveals a side of him that he had forgotten, since he was raised an Irish Catholic but spent his adulthood in Holland and the colonies. The reader sees his angry, combative side relax and submit to his earlier values when he is before the priest. At times, Seton revers to a narrative style to catch the reader up to the point in time...