The Blazing World

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1666

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prefatory Materials

Part 1, Pages 61-70

Part 1, Pages 70-100

Part 1, Pages 100-119

Part 1, Pages 119-141

Part 2

Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Animal-Men

The animal-men come in many different forms, have many different skin tones, and come from the land, sea, sky, and underground. Yet despite these differences, they are ideal citizens: “they saluted and spake to each other very courteously; for there was but one language in all that World: nor no more but one Emperor, to whom they all submitted with the greatest duty and obedience” (67). Unlike the inhabitants warring in the Empress’s old world or the Duchess’s divisive and conflict-ridden one, the animal-men “live in a continued Peace and Happiness” (67).

At the same time, Cavendish uses different species of animal-men to satirize the Royal Society’s scientific and philosophical ideas, particularly the empirical approach championed by Sir Francis Bacon. Bacon, often called the father of empiricism, believed that scientific knowledge should be based only upon inductive reasoning—using specific observations to recognize a pattern and come to a scientific conclusion—and careful observation. The Empress often criticizes the animal-men’s scientific methods, which tend to fail in foolish ways, reflecting Cavendish’s complicated views of emerging scientific theory and her indignation at having been excluded from the Royal Society—and from 17th century intellectual circles more generally—because of her gender. The Empress’s scientific and philosophical conversations with the animal-men, in which she often corrects, teaches, and challenges them, illustrate that women, like the Empress and Cavendish herself, can engage in traditionally masculine scholarship. Cavendish uses her text to criticize the patriarchal academic structures.

Light and Fire

The Empress is often associated with light, which represents her role as the guiding light for the Blazing World. When she is first kidnapped, “the light of her Beauty, the heat of her Youth, and Protection of the Gods” keep her alive (61). This trait connects her with the sun, which guides and sustains the Blazing World like the Lady does when she becomes the Empress. During her reign, the Empress thrice wears “Garments of Light” “made of the Star-stone” (149): to appear to the people of the Blazing World, to intimidate ESFI’s enemies, and to celebrate ESFI’s victory. Her light-filled appearance forces others to accept her as a political, cultural, and religious leader.

Light also has a religious meaning in The Blazing World. The immaterial spirits state that “Heaven was a Light” (115). The Empress’s construction of two chapels, built of firestone that “seemed to be all in a flaming-fire” (101) and of star–stone that “cast a splendorous and comfortable light” (101), reflects this connection. These light-producing materials suggest that the Empress’s religious goals are enlightening and pure.

Finally, the Empress’s political righteousness is reflected in her use of fire stones as a weapon against ESFI’s attackers and as a method of subjugation those refusing to accept the king of ESFI as world leader. These stones, when wet, “grow excessively hot, and break forth into a flaming-fire, until it became dry, and then it ceased from burning” (101). The stones cause focused and controlled damage, only attacking those that do not accept the Empress’s designation of righteous ruler.

Scientific Tools

Cavendish uses the Empress to express her own understanding of the scientific process and the nature of knowledge. When meeting with the bear-men, the Empress finds that their telescopes are “false Informers, and instead of discovering the Truth, delude your Senses” (79). She argues, voicing Cavendish’s own opinion, that scientists should “trust onely to their natural eyes, and examine Cœlestial Objects by the motions of their own Sense and Reason” (79). Cavendish advocates for a more introspective approach to science: The Empress tells the bear-men that they can “observe the progressive motions of Coelestial Bodies with [their] natural eyes better then through Artificial Glasses” (79). New scientific tools “will never lead you to the knowledg of Truth” (79)—only seeing with your own eyes can.

Cavendish strenuously objects to using any lens-based observation tools. Just as she dismisses the telescope, by then in use for centuries to successfully document celestial objects, Cavendish also rejects Robert Hooke’s creation of and use of the microscope to improve the observational powers of the human eye. Cavendish has the Empress reject this when she explains that “Nature has made your Sense and Reason more regular then Art has your Glasses; for they are mere deluders, and will never lead you to the knowledg of Truth” (79). Cavendish directly speaks to Hooke’s invention when she portrays the bear-men’s microscope demonstrations as whimsical and scientifically insignificant, mocking them for only being able to see minute things and thus be unable to examine a whale because of “the insufficiency of those Magnifying-Glasses” inside the microscope (83). This episode betrays Cavendish’s misunderstanding of the uses of microscopic observation—evidence that her intellectual isolation prevented her from seeing the full possibilities of the newest scientific techniques. Still, by boldly arguing her case, Cavendish seeks to demonstrate her own scientific knowledge while also illustrating the potential of women.