The Female Academy: 'I will put my Daughter therein to be instructed''
()
About this ebook
Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was born in 1623 in Colchester, Essex into a family of comfortable means.
As the youngest of eight children she spent much time with her siblings. Margaret had no formal education but she did have access to scholarly libraries and tutors, although she later said the children paid little attention to the tutors, who were there ‘rather for formality than benefit’.
From an early age Margaret was already assembling her thoughts for future works despite the then conditions of society that women did not partake in public authorship. For England it was also a time of Civil War. The Royalists were being pushed back and Parliamentary forces were in the ascendancy.
Despite these obvious dangers, when Queen Henrietta Maria was in Oxford, Margaret asked her mother for permission to become one of her Ladies-in-waiting. She was accepted and, in 1644, accompanied the Queen into exile in France. This took her away from her family for the first time.
Despite living at the Court of the young King Louis XIV, life for the young Margaret was not what she expected. She was far from her home and her confidence had been replaced by shyness and difficulties fitting in to the grandeur of her surroundings and the eminence of her company.
Margaret told her mother she wanted to leave the Court. Her mother was adamant that she should stay and not disgrace herself by leaving. She provided additional funds for her to make life easier. Margaret remained. It was now also that she met and married William Cavendish who, at the time, was the Marquis of Newcastle (and later Duke). He was also 30 years her senior and previously married with two children.
As Royalists, a return to life in England was not yet possible. They would remain in exile in Paris, Rotterdam and Antwerp until the restoration of the crown in 1660 although Margaret was able to return for attention to some estate matters. The couple were devoted to each other. Margaret wrote 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 also relied upon him for support in her career. The marriage provided no children despite efforts made by her physician to overcome her inability to conceive.
Margaret’s first book, ‘Poems and Fancies’, was published in 1653; it was a collection of poems, epistles and prose pieces which explores her philosophical, scientific and aesthetic ideas.
For a woman at this time writing and publishing were avenues they had great difficulty in pursuing. Added to this was Margaret’s range of subjects. She wrote across a number of issues including gender, power, manners, scientific method, and philosophy.
She always claimed she had too much time on her hands and was therefore able to indulge her love of writing. As a playwright she produced many works although most are as closet dramas. (This is a play not intended to be performed onstage, but instead read by a solitary reader or perhaps out loud in a small group. For Margaret the rigours of exile, her gender and Cromwell’s closing of the theatres mean this was her early vehicle of choice and, despite these handicaps, she became one of the most well-known playwrights in England)
Her utopian romance, ‘The Blazing World’, (1666) is one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Margaret also published extensively in natural philosophy and early modern science; at least a dozen books.
Margaret was always defended against any criticism by her husband and he also contributed to some of her works. She also gives him credit as her writing tutor.
Perhaps a little strangely she said her ambition despite her shyness, was to have everlasting fame. This she has very much accomplished.
Margaret Cavendish died on 15th December 1673 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
Margaret Cavendish
Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) was an English philosopher, poet, playwright, and scientist. Born Mary Lucas, she was the youngest of eight children in a wealthy aristocratic family. With access to libraries and tutors, she showed intellectual promise and began writing at a young age, but felt pressure to pursue a more traditional feminine lifestyle. As a young woman, she found employment as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria, accompanying her into exile in France during the English Civil War. Although she struggled to acclimate to high society, she remained in her role for several years until marrying William Cavendish, the Marquess of Newcastle. With her husband’s support, Cavendish embarked on a career in literature, publishing broadly in the last decades of her life. Her major works include Poems and Fancies (1653), A True Relation of my Birth, Breeding, and Life (1856), Plays (1662), and Plays, Never Before Printed (1668), the latter of which includes her beloved comedy The Convent of Pleasure. The Blazing World (1666), a utopian novel, is considered a landmark work of science fiction and has earned praise from modern feminist scholars for its pioneering depiction of gender and sexuality. In 1667, Cavendish broke new ground as the first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society of London, where she engaged with such philosophers as Thomas Hobbes, Robert Boyle, and René Descartes. A vitalist, she rejected Aristotelianism and published six books on natural philosophy in her lifetime, including Observations upon Experimental Philosophy (1666). Largely derided by such contemporaries as Samuel Pepys and Dorothy Osborne, Cavendish has since been recognized as a groundbreaking figure in the history of English literature.
Read more from Margaret Cavendish
The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ultimate Sci Fi Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blazing World and Other Writings Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Blazing World (Dystopian Novel) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Convent of Pleasure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blazing World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Apocriphal Ladies: 'As fear frights tears from the Eyes, so grief doth send them forth'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Presence: 'Marriage is the grave or tomb of wit'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings90 Masterpieces of World Literature (Vol.I): Novels, Poetry, Plays, Short Stories, Essays, Psychology & Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNature's Three Daughters - Part I (of II): 'The Ladies are admired, praised, adored, worshiped; all other women are despised'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings90 Masterpieces You Must Read (Vol.1): Novels, Poetry, Plays, Short Stories, Essays, Psychology & Philosophy: The Madman, Moby-Dick, Siddhartha, Crime and Punishment, Hamlet, Great Expectations, Little Women, Meditations, The Einstein Theory, Heart of Darkness, The Red Badge of Courage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sociable Companions: 'For Pleasure, Delight, Peace and Felicity live in method and temperance' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bridals: 'Some Women have modest countenances and natures all their life-time'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Comical Hash: 'As for my brothers, of whom I had three, I know not how they were bred'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic Imaginary Voyage Stories (Golden Deer Classics): Gulliver's Travels, Gargantua, Pantagruel, The Blazing World, Utopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNature's Three Daughters - Part II (of II): 'The Ladies are admired, praised, adored, worshiped; all other women are despised'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blazing World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Female Academy
Related ebooks
The Presence: 'Marriage is the grave or tomb of wit'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Convent of Pleasure: 'For we are commanded to give to those that want'' Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sociable Companions: 'For Pleasure, Delight, Peace and Felicity live in method and temperance' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bridals: 'Some Women have modest countenances and natures all their life-time'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath’s Jest-Book: 'There is some secret stirring in the world, A thought that seeks impatiently its word'' Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ethan Frome: with an introduction by Edith Wharton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Turn of the Screw Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mary Wollstonecraft: A Revolutionary Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Virginia Woolf: Masterpieces: Jacob's Room, Night and Day, The Voyage Out... Illustrated (Bauer Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbortion: a personal story, a political choice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tree of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's All Connected: Feminist Fiction and Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWoman, Church and State: A Historical Account of the Status of Woman Through the Christian Ages With Reminiscences of Matriarchate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMelmoth the Wanderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women's Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890-1940 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Beth Book Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Woman on the Edge of Time: a son’s search for his mother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen against cruelty: Protection of animals in nineteenth-century Britain: Revised edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFailures of Feeling: Insensibility and the Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tubercular Capital: Illness and the Conditions of Modern Jewish Writing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anatomical Venus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemoirs of the Life of Henriette-Sylvie de Moliere: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFairy Tale Review: The White Issue #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApology for the Woman Writing and Other Works Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Innocence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHudson River Bracketed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Pond Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other Romanian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Performing Arts For You
Lucky Dog Lessons: From Renowned Expert Dog Trainer and Host of Lucky Dog: Reunions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unsheltered: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Midsummer Night's Dream, with line numbers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Women's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Dolls House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Woman Is No Man: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whale / A Bright New Boise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Female Academy
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Female Academy - Margaret Cavendish
The Female Academy by Margaret Cavendish
Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was born in 1623 in Colchester, Essex into a family of comfortable means.
As the youngest of eight children she spent much time with her siblings. Margaret had no formal education but she did have access to scholarly libraries and tutors, although she later said the children paid little attention to the tutors, who were there ‘rather for formality than benefit’.
From an early age Margaret was already assembling her thoughts for future works despite the then conditions of society that women did not partake in public authorship. For England it was also a time of Civil War. The Royalists were being pushed back and Parliamentary forces were in the ascendancy.
Despite these obvious dangers, when Queen Henrietta Maria was in Oxford, Margaret asked her mother for permission to become one of her Ladies-in-waiting. She was accepted and, in 1644, accompanied the Queen into exile in France. This took her away from her family for the first time.
Despite living at the Court of the young King Louis XIV, life for the young Margaret was not what she expected. She was far from her home and her confidence had been replaced by shyness and difficulties fitting in to the grandeur of her surroundings and the eminence of her company.
Margaret told her mother she wanted to leave the Court. Her mother was adamant that she should stay and not disgrace herself by leaving. She provided additional funds for her to make life easier. Margaret remained. It was now also that she met and married William Cavendish who, at the time, was the Marquis of Newcastle (and later Duke). He was also 30 years her senior and previously married with two children.
As Royalists, a return to life in England was not yet possible. They would remain in exile in Paris, Rotterdam and Antwerp until the restoration of the crown in 1660 although Margaret was able to return for attention to some estate matters.
Along with her husband's brother, Sir Charles Cavendish, she travelled to England after having been told that her husband's estate (taken from him due to his being a royalist) was to be sold and that she, as his wife, would receive some benefit of the sale. She received nothing. She left England to be with her husband again.
The couple were devoted to each other. Margaret wrote 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 also relied upon him for support in her career. The marriage provided no children despite efforts made by her physician to overcome her inability to conceive.
Margaret’s first book, ‘Poems and Fancies’, was published in 1653; it was a collection of poems, epistles and prose pieces which explores her philosophical, scientific and aesthetic ideas.
For a woman at this time writing and publishing were avenues they had great difficulty in pursuing. Added to this was Margaret’s range of subjects. She wrote across a number of issues including gender, power, manners, scientific method, and philosophy.
She always claimed she had too much time on her hands and was therefore able to indulge her love of writing. As a playwright she produced many works although most are as closet dramas. (This is a play not intended to be performed onstage, but instead read by a solitary reader or perhaps out loud in a small group. For Margaret the rigours of exile, her gender and Cromwell’s closing of the theatres mean this was her early vehicle of choice and, despite these handicaps, she became one of the most well-known playwrights in England)
Her utopian romance, ‘The Blazing World’, (1666) is one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Margaret also published extensively in natural philosophy and early modern science; at least a dozen books.
She was the first woman to attend a meeting at Royal Society of London in 1667 and she criticized and engaged with members and philosophers Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, and Robert Boyle.
Margaret was always defended against any criticism by her husband and he also contributed to some of her works. She