Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Segment of Frontispiece from The Blazing World

The Blazing World

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-15 December 1673), was an English aristocrat and a prolific writer. Born Margaret Lucas, she was the youngest sister of prominent Royalists, Sir John Lucas and Sir Charles Lucas. She became an attendant of Queen Henrietta Maria and travelled with her into exile in France, living for a time at the court of the young King Louis XIV. She became the second wife of the 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1645, when he was only a marquess.

Cavendish was a poet, philosopher, writer of prose romances, essayist, playwright and, some say, a tireless self-publicist. Cavendish published her work under her own name at a time when most female writers published anonymously. Her writing addressed a number of topics, including gender, power and manners. She also wrote on the subject of natural philosophy, a largely male-dominated field. Her romance The Blazing World is one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Cavendish has been championed and criticized as a unique and groundbreaking female writer. Samuel Pepys called her "mad, conceited and ridiculous."

As a natural philosopher, Margaret Cavendish rejected the Aristotelianism and mechanical philosophy of the seventeenth century. She criticized and engaged with the theories of members of the Royal Society of London and the natural philosophers Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes and Robert Boyle.

Cavendish's works include:

Poems and Fancies (1653)
Philosophical Fancies (1653)
World's Olio (1655)
Nature's Pictures drawn by Fancies Pencil to the Life (1656)
A True Relation of my Birth, Breeding, and Life (1656)
Orations (1662)
Plays (1662)
Sociable Letters (1662)
Philosophical Letters (1662)
Observations upon Experimental Philosophy (1666)
Life, a biography of William Cavendish (1667)
Plays Never Before Published (1668)
The Convent of Pleasure (1668)
The Blazing World (1666)

Several of these works are available from the Women Writers Project and Literature Online (LION).

A True Relation of my Birth, Breeding, and Life (1656)

Margaret Cavendish published her autobiographical memoir A True Relation of my Birth, Breeding, and Life as an addendum to her collection Natures Pictures Drawn by Fancies Pencil to the Life in 1656. The memoir relates Cavendish’s lineage, social status, breeding, fortune, upbringing, education and marriage. Within the memoir, Cavendish also details her pastimes and manners and offers an account of her own personality and ambition, including her thoughts on her extreme bashfulness, contemplative nature and writing. Cavendish also shares her views on gender (appropriate behaviour and activity), politics (parliament versus royalists) and class (the proper behaviour of servants). Ultimately, Cavendish’s memoir enables the reader to gain insight into the author’s life and art as she would have it known.

In her memoir, Cavendish details the lives, pastimes and deaths of her parents and siblings, as well as of her husband and other relatives. Cavendish also addresses the economic and personal hardships she and her family faced as a result of war and political allegiance, such as the loss of estates and death. Some particulars of Cavendish’s memoir are as follows.

Lineage

Education and Breeding

Cavendish notes that her mother employed reason, rather than threats, to influence the behaviour of her children. While Cavendish remarks that she was not very interested in serious study and that her memory was poor, she and her sisters were tutored in several subjects, including reading, writing, music and needlework. Cavendish notes that her mother’s main concern, however, was that she and her sisters were virtuous. Cavendish states that her brothers were bred to be similarly virtuous, as they were loyal, valiant, just and truthful.

Maid of Honour to Queen Henrietta Maria

When Queen Henrietta Maria was in Oxford, Cavendish successfully appealed to her mother for permission to become one of her Maids of Honour. Cavendish accompanied the Queen upon her exile and moved to France. This took Cavendish, for the first time, away from her family. She notes that while she was very confident in the company of her siblings, amongst strangers she became extremely bashful. Cavendish explains that she was afraid she may speak or act inappropriately without her siblings’ guidance, which would go against her ambition to be well received and well liked. She spoke only when absolutely necessary and, consequently, she came to be regarded as a fool. Cavendish excuses her behaviour and states that she preferred to be received as a fool rather than as wanton or rude. Regretting that she had left home to be a Maid of Honour, Cavendish informed her mother she would like to leave the court. Her mother, however, persuaded Cavendish to stay rather than disgrace herself by leaving and provided her with funds that, as Cavendish notes, quite exceeded the normal means of a courtier. Cavendish remained a Maid of Honour for two more years, until she was married to William Cavendish who was, at the time, Marquis of Newcastle (he was later made Duke). Cavendish notes that her husband liked her bashfulness. She also states that he was the only man she was ever in love with, loving him not for title, wealth or power, but for merit, justice, gratitude, duty and fidelity. She believes these to be attributes that will hold people together, even through misfortune. She further credits such qualities as assisting her husband and her family to endure the suffering they experienced as a result of their political allegiance.

Economic Difficulty

A few years after her marriage, Cavendish and her husband’s brother, Sir Charles Cavendish, returned to England. Cavendish had heard that her husband’s estate (confiscated due to his being a royalist) was to be sold and that she, as his wife, could hope to benefit from the sale. Cavendish, however, received no benefit. She makes a point to note that while many women petitioned for funds, she herself only petitioned once and, being denied, decided such efforts were not worth the trouble. After a year and a half Cavendish left England to be with her husband.

Extreme Bashfulness

Cavendish asserts that she is naturally bashful. She states that she is not ashamed of her mind, body, birth, breeding, actions, fortunes or behaviour, but that her bashfulness is innate. Despite her efforts, she notes, she was unable to become less bashful. Cavendish states that her bashfulness concerned the number, not type, of people she addressed, although she does reveal that she imagines the people she meets to be virtuous and wise, as she believes such people will receive her with less harshness than others. Her main complaint about her bashfulness is that it affected her speech and behaviour so that she seemed constrained. This somewhat contradicts her earlier contention that her bashfulness at court was due, in part, to her fear of misspeaking or acting inappropriately.

Writing

During her one and a half years in England, Cavendish wrote a book of poems (see Poems and Fancies below) as well as Philosophical Fancies (1653). Cavendish asserts that she rather scribbles than writes. She states that her stories are often serious or melancholy and states that she often speaks her stories aloud before writing them so that she can better capture and record them. She also notes that her writing is difficult to read as a result of her quick writing, which is intended to capture her ideas as quickly as they are created. She remarks that many of her fancies have been forgotten before she could capture them on paper. Cavendish further notes that even her best handwriting is difficult to read, which she finds to be a problem when her work is ready for print. Still, Cavendish expresses that she delights in writing, which she links to her preference for contemplation, solitude and melancholy over conversation, society, mirth and needlework. While presenting herself as a bashful, contemplative and largely solitary woman, Cavendish states that she does venture out occasionally, in part so that she may acquire new material on which to think and write. On the whole, however, Cavendish notes that her contemplative nature resulted in a fairly inactive life.

Fashion and Fame

In her memoir, Cavendish expresses that she enjoyed inventing herself through fashion. She states that she aimed for uniqueness in her dress, thoughts and behaviour, and remarks that she disliked wearing the same fashions as other women. She also expresses her desire to achieve fame. Several passages of her memoir remark upon her virtuous character, and she states that while she acknowledges the goodness in others, she thinks it acceptable that she should hope to be better than they are. Cavendish states that she hopes to have everlasting fame. Cavendish also notes that she expects to be criticized for her decision to write a memoir. She responds by stating that she wrote the memoir for herself, not for delight, but so that later generations will have a true account of her lineage and life. She says that she felt justified in writing her memoirs as it has been done by others, such as Caesar and Ovid, thereby apparently considering herself to be similar to them.

Poems and Fancies (1653)

Poems and Fancies is a collection of poems, epistles and some prose written by Cavendish on a variety of themes. Topics addressed in Cavendish’s poetry include natural philosophy, atoms, nature personified, macro/microcosms, other worlds, death, battle, hunting, love, honour and fame. Her poems at times take the form of dialogues between such things as earth and darkness, an oak and a man cutting it down, melancholy and mirth, and peace and war. As noted by Mistress Toppe (see below), a friend of Cavendish’s, Cavendish’s writings take the forms of poetical fiction, moral instruction, philosophical opinion, dialogue, discourses and poetical romances. Poems and Fancies also includes The Animal Parliament, a prose piece consisting largely of speeches and letters. The collection concludes with Cavendish’s thoughts on her writing and an advertisement promoting one of her upcoming publications.

Cavendish’s Authorial Intent

Cavendish concludes the collection by stating that she is aware that she does not write elegantly and that her phrasing and placement of words will likely be criticized. She expresses that she had difficulty creating rhymes that could communicate her intended meaning. In short, Cavendish states that she strove to keep her meaning at the expense of elegance, as her aim was to successfully communicate her ideas. She also notes that she expects her work will be criticised for not being material or useful. In response, she states that she writes not to instruct her readers in the arts, sciences or divinity, but to pass her time, asserting that she makes better use of her time than many others. Cavendish returns to these assertions throughout her epistles and poems.

Epistle Dedicatory

Like authors such as Aphra Behn and William Wordsworth, Cavendish reveals much about her intended audience, writing purpose and philosophy in her prefaces, prologues, epilogues and epistles to the reader. Cavendish wrote several epistle dedications for Poems and Fancies. The epistles are most often justifications of her writing both in terms of her decision to write at a time when women writers were not encouraged and in terms of her subject choice. Cavendish uses the epistles as a means to instruct readers in how they ought to read and respond to her poetry, most often by inviting praise from supporters and requesting silence from those who do not like her work. Cavendish commonly uses the epistles to call attention to and excuse potential weaknesses in her writing. The epistles are directed to specific audiences and vary accordingly. The following is an account of several of Cavendish’s epistles from Poems and Fancies.

Mental Spinning

In her epistle dedication to Sir Charles Cavendish, her brother in law, Cavendish compares writing poetry to spinning and describes poetry as mental spinning. She notes that while it is commonly thought to be more appropriate for women to spin than to write, she herself is better at writing. There is no such thing as "mental Spinning" she is mental. This is one of several occasions wherein Cavendish calls attention to stereotypical gender roles, such as the belief that women should spin and not write, and then expands upon her reasons for not adhering to them. As in this epistle, Cavendish often employs metaphors to describe her writing in terms of stereotypically feminine tasks or interests, such as spinning, fashion and motherhood. While Cavendish criticises her work, she asserts that it will seem better than it is if Sir Charles Cavendish looks favourably upon it. Cavendish often appeals to the reader to applaud her work, asserting that if it is well received it will actually be somewhat improved. She concludes by complimenting Charles’ charity and generosity. She is not special in any way.

The Pursuit of Fame

In her epistle to noble and worthy ladies, as in many of her epistles, Cavendish straightforwardly expresses her desire for fame. Cavendish states that she is not concerned that the best people like her writing, as long as a great many people do. She justifies this by linking fame to noise and noise to great numbers of people. Cavendish often assumes a defensive position in her epistles, here justified by her assertion that she expects critiques from males and females not only on her writing, but on her practice of writing itself, as women writers were not encouraged. To this Cavendish argues that women who busy themselves writing will not act inappropriately or gossip. Though she anticipates criticism from females, she calls for female support so that she may gain honour and reputation. She closes by stating that if she should fail, she would see herself as being martyred for the cause of women.

Defence of Writing and Fame

In her epistle to Mistress Toppe, Cavendish states that her main reason for writing is her desire for fame. Again, Cavendish acknowledges her writing as a digression from accepted gender norms and asks for acceptance. While Cavendish often speaks of her writing in metaphors of domestic or stereotypically feminine activities, here she attempts to excuse her desire for fame by distancing her ambition from the feminine. She describes her ambition as a quest for glory, perfection and praise, which, she states, is not effeminate. Further, she points out that even while writing and pursuing fame she has remained modest and honourable and notes that she has done nothing to dishonour her family. Cavendish attributes her confidence in what she describes as a time of censor to her belief that there is no evil, only innocence in her desire for fame. As to her writing without permission, Cavendish excuses herself by stating that it is easier to get pardon after the fact, than to obtain permission prior. She privileges writing over gossiping, which she treats as a common and negative female activity. She considers writing to be a comparatively harmless pastime. She credits her books as tangible examples of her contemplation and contrasts her self-proclaimed harmless ideas with wild thoughts which, she states, lead to indiscreet actions.

A response from Mistress Toppe follows this epistle in Poems and Fancies, in which Toppe praises Cavendish and her skill in poetical fiction, moral instruction, philosophical opinion, dialogue, discourses and poetical romances.

Language, Knowledge and Error

Cavendish also includes an epistle to natural philosophers, which begins with a consideration of language. Cavendish states that she does not know other languages well and that she has, in fact, an imperfect knowledge of English. She notes these facts as reasons for her lack of knowledge concerning the opinions and discourses which precede her own. She then dismisses any errors she may make as trivial and asserts that she does not mean for her text to be taken as truth. Rather, Cavendish states, she wrote simply to pass time and expects that her work may be read for the same purpose. This epistle is also the site of her explanation for writing in verse. She states that poets are thought to write fiction, and that fiction is aligned with pastime, not truth. Verse, then, is expected to contain errors. Cavendish laments that her work is not more entertaining and advises readers to skip any part of the book that they do not like.

Writing to Pass the Time

In her epistle to the reader, Cavendish states that as she has no children and, for some time, no estate, that she has had a lot of spare time. Cavendish, therefore, does not engage in housewifery, but fills her time with writing. She states that good husbandry in poetry is well ordered fancy composed of fine language, proper phrases and significant words. Cavendish excuses any errors that may be found in her work as due to her youth and inexperience, and explains that she wrote only to distract herself from thoughts of her husband’s and her own hardships. This contradicts her other claims of writing for fame. Comparing her writing once again to accepted female roles, Cavendish compares her book to a child. She states that the book/child is innocent, young, well-behaved, bashful and sensitive and requests that the reader blame her, the author/mother, not the book, if they do not like it. If, however, the book is well liked, she makes it clear that she expects fame.

Instruction on Comprehension and Judgement

In her epistle to the poets, Cavendish notes that as women seldom write, her own act of writing may be ridiculed, as the strange and unusual seem fantastical, the fantastical seems odd, and the odd seems ridiculous. She requests that her work be judged by reason, not prejudice. She then excuses any weaknesses in her poetry by stating that she writes only to get away from melancholy thoughts and to fill idle time. She employs a food/feasting metaphor and states that her poems are not ripe, but that applause and praise will make them pass as a ‘general feast’ to those of vulgar taste who take quantity over quality. As is typical to Cavendish, applause is welcome and criticism censored, as she advises those who do not like her poetry to keep silent. She also states that hers are poems of fancy and thereby require study. She recommends that as one with a troubled conscience ought to look to a minister for guidance, so should the reader ask a poet for help in understanding her poems. Attempting once again to guide the reader to a positive reception of her book, Cavendish draws a distinction between poets (able judges of poetry) and rhymers (faulty judges of poetry) and advises people not to say that her book is nonsense or poorly constructed out of their own ignorance and malice. Returning again to her desire for fame, Cavendish notes that if an honest poet, who is not envious, judges her work, it will receive applause.

Cavendish asks that the reader read her fancies (poems) slowly and pay attention to every word because every word is a fancy itself. She warns that if a reader loses their place or misses lines they will miss the meaning of the entire work.

Poems: Excuses and Instructions

Cavendish follows some of her epistles with poems that instruct the reader in how the poems came to be published and how they should be received. The proximity of the poems to the epistles and their similarity in subject and tone, suggest that they may be interpreted as being written from Cavendish’s own point of view.

The poem The Poetresses hasty Resolution, like many of Cavendish’s epistles, expresses excuses for any errors that may be found in the poet’s work and begs for praise. In the poem, the poet states that self-love influenced her judgement of her own poetry, which she found she liked so much that she was moved to continue writing in hope of fame. She states that she wrote without thought to how her work would be received by critics. The poet then recalls how she was visited by Reason who advised her to stop writing. Reason told the poet that her writing was a waste of time, that her work would not be well-received and that she should not have her work printed so as to avoid causing the printer to lose money. Reason also informed the poet that there are already too many books and that she should burn what she has written and spare the world. The poet notes her angry response and states that she sent her book to press before she could be persuaded not to. Hindsight, however, has made the poet regret her actions. Informing the reader that she feels shamed by her writing, the poet tells the reader to pity her and wipe away her tears with praise.

In The Poetresses Petition, the poet compares a negative reception to her books as their death. If the books must suffer such a death (criticism), the poet requests silence and that they be forgotten, without altar or inscriptions, and left undisturbed unless new merit is found in them. Again, Cavendish would censor criticism and promote fame, instructing that only positive criticism should be voiced.

In An Apology for Writing So Much upon This Book, the poet compares her book to a child and compares the book/child and author/parent to birds. The book, she states, is like a baby bird just going on its own. The author, like a parent bird, is unsure whether or not the book/baby bird will be safe and writes/chirps in an attempt to protect it.

Observations upon Experimental Philosophy' (1666)

Cavendish’s Natural Philosophy

Eileen O’Neill offers an overview of Cavendish’s natural philosophy and its critical reception in her introduction to Observations upon Experimental Philosophy. O’Neill describes Cavendish’s natural philosophy as rejecting Aristotelianism and mechanical philosophy and favouring Stoic doctrines. She notes that while women rarely wrote about natural philosophy in the seventeenth century, Cavendish published six books on the subject. O’Neill points out that Cavendish herself was not formally educated in natural philosophy, though William Cavendish and his brother Charles shared an interest in the subject and supported Margaret’s interest and study in the area. Cavendish may also, as O’Neill notes, have been influenced through social encounters with philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes. O’Neill believes that Hobbes (who had instructed Charles in philosophy) had significant influence on Cavendish’s natural philosophy and notes that Cavendish was among the few seventeenth century supporters of Hobbes’ materialist philosophy, which argued that incorporeal souls do not exist in nature. Beginning in the 1660s, O’Neill notes, Cavendish began to more seriously study the work of her contemporaries. O’Neill suggests that such study was intended to enable Cavendish to better argue her own points by contrasting them with those of other natural philosophers.

Critical Response to Cavendish’s Natural Philosophy

O’Neill notes that Cavendish’s natural philosophy, and writing in general, was criticized by many of her contemporaries as well as by more recent readers, such as Samuel Pepys, Henry More and Virginia Woolf. Cavendish’s work has also received positive criticism and she is lauded by many for such reasons as having written on typically male dominated subjects, such as natural philosophy. Letters and poems of praise written by her husband were included in several of her published works.

Writing as an Honourable Disease

In her preface to Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, Cavendish states that she expects readers to say that her practice of writing prolifically is a disease. If so, Cavendish states, then many others, including Aristotle, Cicero, Homer and St. Augustine, have also been very ill of the same disease. She remarks that it is an honour for someone of great ambition (as she has often identified herself) to share the disease of such wise and eloquent men. Here she seemingly considers herself to be on par with these thinkers, as when she excused her writing of a memoir by stating that Caesar had done the same. Also common to her other writings is her assertion that she writes for herself and that her writing is a harmless pastime when considered in comparison with those of many other women. She does contradict herself, however, by adding that she writes for delight, which she had denied in her previous work. Also somewhat contradictory is her assertion that she would continue to write even if she had no readers, which is not in line with her desire for fame. Ultimately, Cavendish excuses her criticism of and engagement with the theories of other natural philosophers as a necessary step in the search for truth.

Learning versus Wit

In her epistle to the reader, Cavendish asserts that woman’s wit may equal that of man, and therefore females may be able to learn as easily as men. She asserts that wit is natural, whereas learning is artificial. Cavendish also notes that, in her time, men have more opportunity to become learned than women do. Cavendish remarks upon her own experience reading philosophical works. She notes that many such works challenged her understanding, as they often contained many difficult words and expressions that she had not previously encountered. It follows that Cavendish advises writers of philosophy to use language appropriate to aiding the understanding of those less expert than themselves. Cavendish defends her position by stating that philosophical terms ought to ease communication of one’s thoughts on the subject. She believes that successful communication is possible in all languages and criticizes those who complicate communication (particularly English writers) as aiming to gain esteem from those who admire writing simply because they do not understand it, without considering that it may be nonsense. In her own work, Cavendish states, she chooses not to uses difficult terms, although she points out that she understands such terms. Her stated reason for this is that she desires her work to be accessible to people regardless of their degree of learnedness. Her aim, she states, is to clearly communicate her ideas. She requests that any errors that may be found within her work be overlooked and that readers remain focused on her main ideas. Here, as in many of her epistles, Cavendish instructs her reader in how to approach her work, requesting that readers read her work in its entirety and that they withhold criticism until they have done so.

The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World (1666)

Main article

Cavendish’s prose tale was published in 1666 and was republished with Observations upon Experimental Philosophy in 1668. As noted by many, including Silvia Bowerbank and Sara Mendelson, this early version of science fiction criticised and explored such issues as science, gender and power. Cavendish writes herself into the book, which details a fictional new world (not just a new continent but an entirely separate world) and its empress. She remarks in her epilogue to the reader that she herself is empress of the philosophical world. In fact, in Cavendish’s epistle to the reader she remarks that, in much the same way as there is a Charles the first, she would be considered Margaret the first.

Other Works

Cavendish also published collections of letters, such as Sociable Letters and Philosophical Letters (1664), orations, as in her collection entitled Orations (1662), and plays, many of which are printed in Plays Never Before Published (1668). Many of her works address such issues as natural philosophy, gender, power and manners. Not all of Cavendish’s plays were acted during her time and some have been staged since. As noted, several of Cavendish’s works have epistles, prefaces, prologues and epilogues in which she discusses her work, philosophy and ambition while instructing the reader in how to read and respond to her writing. Cavendish’s writing has been criticized and championed from the time of its original publication to present day.

Formal titles from birth to death

Miss Margaret Lucas (1623-1645)
The Most Hon. The Marchioness of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1645-1665)
Her Grace The Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1665-1673)

Sources

Books

Bowerbank, Sylvia and Sara Mendelson, eds. Paper Bodies: A Margaret Cavendish Reader. Peterborough: Broadview, 2000.
Cottegnies, Line, and Nancy Weitz, eds. Authorial Conquests: Essays on Genre in the Writings of Margaret Cavendish. Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2003.
Cavendish, Margaret. Observations upon Experimental Philosophy'. ed. Eileen O'Neill. New York: Cambridge UP, 2001.
Cavendish, Margaret. Sociable Letters. Edited by James Fitzmaurice. Ontario: Broadview, 2004.
Cavendish. Margaret. The Description Of A New World Called The Blazing World And Other Writings. Edited by Kate Lilley. London: William Pickering, 1992
Rees, Emma L. E. Margaret Cavendish: Gender, Genre, Exile. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2004
Whitaker, Kate. Mad Madge: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, Royalist, Writer and Romantic. London: Chatto and Windus, 2003.

Articles

Paloma, Dolores. Margaret Cavendish: Defining the female self. Women's Studies 1980 7.
Kegl, Rosemary. ‘“The World I Have Made”: Margaret Cavendish, feminism and the Blazing World’’, Feminist Readings of Early Modern Culture: Emerging Subjects. Edited by Valerie Traub, M. Lindsay Kaplan, and Dympna Callaghan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp.119-141.
Special Issue on Margaret Cavendish, Women's Writing, Vol. 4, No.3, 1997
Mendelson, Sara Heller. ‘Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle’, The Mental World of Three Stuart Women. Brighton: Harvester, 1987, pp.12-61.
Woolf, Virginia. The Duchess of Newcastle’, ‘The Common Reader’ in The Essays of Virginia Woolf, Volume IV, 1925-1928. Edited by Andrew McNeillie. London: Hogarth Press, 1994, pp.81-90.

External links