Frank in her pursuit of fame, Margaret Cavendish published an astonishing number of works in a diverse array of genres—including letters, essays, autobiography, utopian romance, natural philosophy (science), and drama. Her works display the “doubleness” female authors often worked through when modeling their work on male authors and male-dominated literary traditions while at the same time subverting and rebelling against them. She challenged culturally-imposed limits on her desire to pursue pleasure, mirth, and fame; she elevated the goddess Natura as the world’s true and benevolent guide, implicitly criticizing male abuse of the world God placed under their care; she identified with nature and animals, especially in their vulnerability to aggressive—even violent—male mistreatment. As she declares in “The Hunting of the Hare:” “Man doth think himselfe so gentle, mild,/ When he of Creatures is most cruell wild” (101-102).

Her contemporaries took a double view of Cavendish herself, with some viewing her as eccentric and egotistical—then considered a deplorable characteristic in a female—and others admiring her abilities. For a woman of her position, born to wealthy Royalist parents, Cavendish followed somewhat conventional expectations by becoming a maid of honor to Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-1669), remaining loyal to her when she was exiled to Paris. She also followed the dictates of society when, in Paris, she met and married William Cavendish (1592-1676), a Royalist general and exile with Charles II, a writer and patron of the arts who was thirty years her senior, and a Duke who recovered his property and title after the Restoration. But through this conformity Cavendish reached comparative freedom, as her husband wholeheartedly encouraged and financially supported Cavendish’s writing and philosophical education. For instance, her career entailed a visit to the Royal Society and acquaintanceship with philosophers of her time, which helped solidify her status as an integral figure in the fields of philosophy and writing in her time.

Further Reading:

Folger Library Collection of “Grounds of Natural Philosophy”

Folger Library Information and Images Regarding Margaret Cavendish

Source:

“Margaret Cavendish, The Duchess of Newcastle” edited by Bonnie J. Robinson, Ph.D. and Laura J. Getty, Ph.D. from British Literature: Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century and Neoclassicism licensed by CC BY-SA