Science, Politics and Utopia in Margaret Cavendish's Works

Abstract

As one of the most prolific female figures of the seventeenth century, Margaret Lucas Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673), wrote a great number of literary works in the male-dominated literary world of the time. Despite all the obstacles, Cavendish’s endless imagination, curiosity and enthusiasm stimulate her to write on subjects and genres like science, politics and utopia that were not seen as suitable for women writers. Accordingly, the primary objective of this dissertation is to examine Cavendish’s “Atomic Poems” in Poems, and Fancies (1653), Bell in Campo (1662) and The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing World (1666) in order to show how as a woman writer, she redefines the position of women by presenting her own accomplishments in several fields. To this end, in the first chapter, Cavendish’s “Atomic Poems” is scrutinised with respect to her own appreciation of atomism and materialism, which provides her a means to express her thoughts on scientific matters in particular. In the second chapter, her play Bell in Campo is explored to discuss Cavendish’s ideas on the accomplishments of women during wartime when they dare enter man’s political world. In the third chapter, her fantastic utopian fiction, The Blazing World is analysed to demonstrate her way of constructing a personal utopia. It is argued that in this imaginary world, Cavendish assumes numerous new roles that are unattainable in reality, and it is through these roles that she manages to freely express her views on a wide range of topics like science, art, life, marriage, war, monarchy, and politics. Accordingly, this dissertation concludes that Margaret Cavendish redefines her identity as a woman writer in the male-dominated literary tradition by expressing her scientific, literary, philosophical, and political views in her works. Substituting fancy and her endless curiosity for formal education she manages to employ such topics. Moreover, by creating fictional female characters who are indeed the projections of herself, she offers various possibilities of how women can step out the traditional roles that the society imposed on them.