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Lucretia and the Impossibility of Female Republicanism in Margaret Cavendish's Sociable Letters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Sandrine Bergès
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Abstract

Margaret Cavendish is known for her personal allegiance to monarchy in England. This is reflected in her writings; as Hobbes did, she tended to criticize severely any attempt at rebellion and did not think England could become a republic. Yet it seems that Cavendish did have sympathy with some republican values, in particular, as Lisa Walters has argued, with the republican concept of freedom as nondomination. How can we explain this apparent inconsistency? I believe that the answer lies in a lack of fit between the republican theories that were available to her and the values she accepted and according to which she was expected to live her life.

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Hypatia , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , Fall 2018 , pp. 663 - 680
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Copyright © 2018 by Hypatia, Inc.

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