Alternative Female Communities and the Politics of Separatism in Margaret Cavendish's the Female Academy, the Convent of Pleasure and Bell in Campo

Abstract

This thesis aims to explore feasibility and sustainability of alternative female communities in Margaret Cavendish's The Female Academy (1662), Bell in Campo (1662), and The Convent of Pleasure (1668) through the themes of retreat and separatism. To escape from the phallocentric oppression, the female characters in the aforementioned plays build alternative women-only communities within the space of academy, convent and army, where they explore unique female experiences contrary to the patriarchal realities of the seventeenth century. As opposed to these realities, the female characters in each play take refuge in women-only spaces to explore more than what they are traditionally allowed to within the context of education, politics and marriage. Although these communities seem to be autonomous and nurturing throughout the plays, they are returned back to patriarchal order as a result of male intrusion in the end of the plays. This thesis argues that Margaret Cavendish provides two alternative models regarding the feasibility and sustainability of alternative women-only communities in The Female Academy, Bell in Campo and The Convent of Pleasure by revealing that such communities cannot be sustained unless aligned with certain patriarchal conditions. The Female Academy (1662), and The Convent of Pleasure (1668), the first alternative model, portray the failed attempts of separatism and a return to the patriarchal order by way of marriage. Bell in Campo (1662), the second alternative model, portrays a conditional and temporary allowance to women's separatism and a supportive attitude by men. The second alternative model of Bell in Campo reveals that women's separatism can be temporarily allowed and supported in times of war when aligned with the patriarchal needs. However, when the threat of war disappears and pre-war patriarchal order returns, women are expected to return to the patriarchal society and their subordinate positions to men. To this end, I am going to employ both Historicist and Feminist approaches to the concept of alternative female community and separatism. In this way, this study aims to fill a gap in the existing scholarship with its focus on two alternative models of separatist female communities in seventeenth century English drama.