Abstract

This study discusses the importance of the idea of the material soul in the writings of Margaret Cavendish and, more broadly, in the literature of early modern England, showing that the seemingly arcane notion that discourse is the product of the psychic mechanism was central to Cavendish's works. I suggest that cultural proscriptions against early modern women's discourse were more complex than has been recognized. These proscriptions were both supported and made problematic by conflicting ideas about the nature of the soul. I argue that, in engaging these conflicting ideas, Cavendish exhibits not her personal inadequacies as a writer as has often been thought, but rather, simultaneously, a highly self-conscious strategy of self-representation and a sophisticated materialist psychology. In so doing, my study provides a new perspective on a tradition of early modern women's literature concerned with psychic development and management of the passions and shows that Cavendish responded to epistemological and class conflict in a singularly resourceful manner.