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STUART NOBLEWOMEN' WORLD IN THE MIRROR OF UTOPIAN SPACE (MARGARET CAVENDISH'S “THE DESCRIPTION OF A NEW WORLD, CALLED THE BLAZING WORLD').
Abstract
The aim of the paper is to study Stuart noblewomen's perception of their social experience and position in society through analysis of the famous female writer M. Cavendish's utopian novel †The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World' (1666). The method of studying women's history through the eyes of women and various forms of their cultural self-representation, including writing, can prove fruitful here. .Close reading of female literature allows us to see women's attitude to their daily routine, their social relations, and the spheres of activity that were important to them. We can conclude that even in the space of imaginary utopian world M. Cavendish, as a typical representative of her age, did not reject the dominant traditional ideology, regarding a feminine subject position in society. Her strategy of inclusiveness implied a reformation of the existing paradigm to give upper class women more latitude within the patriarchal system. Therefore, we can argue a problem connected with the origin of feminism as an ideological movement, and assert that Cavendish's feministic claims were addressed not to the broad female audience, but to the limited circle of talented aristocratic women possessing wealth, time, education and their husbands' support for creative self-expression.
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References14
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