THE DESCRIPTION OF A NEW WORLD CALLED THE BLAZING WORLD by MARGARET CAVENDISH
SUMMARY
The wife of a young merchant dies and he decides to elope with a young rich woman because the girl's father disapproves of the merchant. In a small ship, the merchant, the young woman, and several other sailors depart toward the North Pole. A terrible storm strikes, and the sailors run into two geographic poles which are close together, and everyone except the young woman dies.
The ship crashes in the blazing world and the woman meets some anthropomorphic bears which are also men. The bear-men take the woman to an island where the woman meets a group of anthropomorphic figures which are all assigned jobs within the community. Fly-men, worm-men, and fish-men are natural philosophers; satyrs are Galenic physicians; giants are architects; ape-men are chemists; bird-men are astronomers; bear-men are experimental philosophers; in the community there are also spider-men, jackdaw-men, lice-men, magpie-men, parrot-men, giants, geese-men, syrens, colored humans, and many other creatures which the narrator does not recall. The anthropomorphic subjects of the island inform the woman that they believe monarchy is natural and choose her to be Empress along with the human Emperor.
On the island in the blazing world, no houses are built which have more than two stories because larger houses decay faster and are more susceptible to harsh weather. After hearing about the anthropomorphous creatures' assessment of the stars in which they argued with her that what she believed was a single star moving about was in fact three stars, the Empress orders the bird-men and the bear-men to break their telescopes. However, the bird-men and the bear-men promise not to argue about astronomy if the Empress allows the bird-men and the bear-men to keep their telescopes. The bird-men and the bear-men show the Empress lice and flies underneath a telescope which horrifies her, and she expresses sympathy for the homeless who sleep with lice and flies. The syrens and the worm-men relate their knowledge of the lack of blood in naval creatures to the Empress and explain the mechanism by which frost is made out of a mixture of snow and rain. Furthermore, the syrens and worm-men assert that every living body must have color and all life proceeds from the motions of nature.
The ape-men, who are chemists, reveal a method for reversing the effects of aging involving a meatless egg and milk diet. Additionally, the satyrs enunciate the process of proliferation of a plague, which emulates sound living beings and infecting them. After the lice-men attempt to impress the Empress by weighing air and fail, the lice-men are dissolved as an order by the Empress. Finally, the Empress begins to exchange syllogisms with the jackdaw-men, parrot-men, and magpie-men. When the Empress becomes frustrated with the faulty and turnarounds in the logic of the jackdaw-men, parrot-men, and magpie-men, the Empress ends the oral exchange and leaves.
In the blazing world, there are two chapels, one of which is on fire. The Empress is approached by spirits with whom she discusses philosophy. While the Empress is keenly aware of the Cabbala, the spirits are not aware of the Cabbala, and assert that the Empress' interpretation of the Cabbala should be infinite, philosophical, scriptural, or literal. God's essence must be infinite, according to the spirits, because the universe is finite and God must be greater than what God has created. The spirits believe that all living beings are inside of separate, defined universes. The spirits tell the Empress that every material being has a soul and that one body may carry multiple souls, but that a soul cannot inspire life in a being where there is no life. The Empress tells the spirit she is afraid to ask them more questions because she doesn't want to overstep her human limitations, and the spirits leave.
The Empress sends the worm-men and the fly-men looking for the spirits, and the worm-men report to the Empress that the spirits were seen near the core of the earth recently.
A spirit which is the Duchess of Newcastle returns and tells the Empress to write a philosophical interpretation of the Cabbala. The Duchess believes subjects are more privileged in a monarchy because subjects have less responsibility in a monarchy. The Empress and the Duchess try to create separate worlds in their respective minds. The Duchess of the Empress then go to the Duchess' home in Newcastle. There, the Empress and the Duke share a platonic and intellectual love with each other of which the Duchess is initially jealous but then relaxes.
While in Newcastle, a trial begins where Fortune charges the Duke with favoring Honesty and Prudence, with Truth as the judge. After Fortune gets up to the stand and makes its charges, the Duchess replies that the Duke did not favor Fortune over Honesty and Prudence and that Fortune assumed incorrectly that the Duke favored Honesty and Prudence over Fortune. Rashness tells Fortune that Fortune should insult Prudence and Honesty to appear more worthy of the Duke's favoritism. Prudence voices desire for an agreement to be reached between the three of them, and Honesty also says that the Duke was neutral. Before Truth can give its judgment, Fortune leaves the court angrily. After the trial, the Duchess tells the Empress to dissolve all of the societies of anthropomorphous creatures in the blazing world.
The Empress rules in peace until the Empress hears that the country of the Empress' origin is in the midst of a destructive war. The fish-men pull the battle ships underwater to fit in the passageway between the blazing world and the world in which the Empress was born. The Empress and the Duchess go with the battle ships to the world of her birth and delivers a speech once there, emphasizing the fact that she is from the world which is currently experiencing war and wishes for peace. In order to stop the violence, the fish-men explode one army's boats, and make the leader of the country which the Empress was born in leader of the entire world in which the country lies. After returning to the blazing world, the Empress and the Duchess return and the Duchess spends time with the Emperor and Empress, admiring the blazing world. Soon, the Duchess returns to Newcastle.
ANALYSIS
Kabbalah is the belief that an infinite being is connected to a finite universe. The Jewish philosophy of Kabbalah, or, Cabbala, as it is spelled in Blazing World, intersects with this novel in many interesting ways. Just as the blazing world and the original world which the Empress was from are connected, the worlds of the Kabbalah are connected. Additionally, each living being is said to have its own universe in Blazing World, so the connection between all living beings and the finite nature of the universe as it is depicted in Blazing World can be mapped out just as the relationship between beings in Kabbalah can be mapped out. Also, the God in Blazing World is infinite, just as the Kabbalah's God is infinite.
The trial between Fortune, and Honesty, Prudence, and the Duke is a metaphor for the Duke's ruling philosophy. The fact that Fortune loses the trial over Honesty and Prudence devalues wealth. Although the Duke is obviously rich and involves his fortune, it is implied by the trial that he is more interested in being honest and prudent. Because Fortune leaves the trial without displaying interest in the truthful verdict, the scene implies that Fortune is selfish, because Fortune was only interested in getting a favorable ruling for Fortune. The trial also indicates that attacking one's opponents is a rash practice to make.
Because the Empress decides to dissolve the separate societies of anthropomorphous creatures after the trial in which different factions bicker, the goal of the Empress' dissolution of the anthropomorphic societies on her island was unity. Further evidence for this claim is provided earlier when the lice-men attempt to impress the Empress, seemingly in attempt to gain favor over the other factions of anthropomorphic creatures. However, no mention is made of dissolving the hierarchy which the humans enjoy over all the anthropomorphic creatures in the blazing world.
SOURCE
Cavendish, Margaret. The Description of a New World Called The Blazing World and Other Writings. Ed. Kate Lilley. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1994. Print. Book about a woman who leaves her world to become empress of another world and returns home to save her planet from destruction.
SUMMARY
The wife of a young merchant dies and he decides to elope with a young rich woman because the girl's father disapproves of the merchant. In a small ship, the merchant, the young woman, and several other sailors depart toward the North Pole. A terrible storm strikes, and the sailors run into two geographic poles which are close together, and everyone except the young woman dies.
The ship crashes in the blazing world and the woman meets some anthropomorphic bears which are also men. The bear-men take the woman to an island where the woman meets a group of anthropomorphic figures which are all assigned jobs within the community. Fly-men, worm-men, and fish-men are natural philosophers; satyrs are Galenic physicians; giants are architects; ape-men are chemists; bird-men are astronomers; bear-men are experimental philosophers; in the community there are also spider-men, jackdaw-men, lice-men, magpie-men, parrot-men, giants, geese-men, syrens, colored humans, and many other creatures which the narrator does not recall. The anthropomorphic subjects of the island inform the woman that they believe monarchy is natural and choose her to be Empress along with the human Emperor.
On the island in the blazing world, no houses are built which have more than two stories because larger houses decay faster and are more susceptible to harsh weather. After hearing about the anthropomorphous creatures' assessment of the stars in which they argued with her that what she believed was a single star moving about was in fact three stars, the Empress orders the bird-men and the bear-men to break their telescopes. However, the bird-men and the bear-men promise not to argue about astronomy if the Empress allows the bird-men and the bear-men to keep their telescopes. The bird-men and the bear-men show the Empress lice and flies underneath a telescope which horrifies her, and she expresses sympathy for the homeless who sleep with lice and flies. The syrens and the worm-men relate their knowledge of the lack of blood in naval creatures to the Empress and explain the mechanism by which frost is made out of a mixture of snow and rain. Furthermore, the syrens and worm-men assert that every living body must have color and all life proceeds from the motions of nature.
The ape-men, who are chemists, reveal a method for reversing the effects of aging involving a meatless egg and milk diet. Additionally, the satyrs enunciate the process of proliferation of a plague, which emulates sound living beings and infecting them. After the lice-men attempt to impress the Empress by weighing air and fail, the lice-men are dissolved as an order by the Empress. Finally, the Empress begins to exchange syllogisms with the jackdaw-men, parrot-men, and magpie-men. When the Empress becomes frustrated with the faulty and turnarounds in the logic of the jackdaw-men, parrot-men, and magpie-men, the Empress ends the oral exchange and leaves.
In the blazing world, there are two chapels, one of which is on fire. The Empress is approached by spirits with whom she discusses philosophy. While the Empress is keenly aware of the Cabbala, the spirits are not aware of the Cabbala, and assert that the Empress' interpretation of the Cabbala should be infinite, philosophical, scriptural, or literal. God's essence must be infinite, according to the spirits, because the universe is finite and God must be greater than what God has created. The spirits believe that all living beings are inside of separate, defined universes. The spirits tell the Empress that every material being has a soul and that one body may carry multiple souls, but that a soul cannot inspire life in a being where there is no life. The Empress tells the spirit she is afraid to ask them more questions because she doesn't want to overstep her human limitations, and the spirits leave.
The Empress sends the worm-men and the fly-men looking for the spirits, and the worm-men report to the Empress that the spirits were seen near the core of the earth recently.
A spirit which is the Duchess of Newcastle returns and tells the Empress to write a philosophical interpretation of the Cabbala. The Duchess believes subjects are more privileged in a monarchy because subjects have less responsibility in a monarchy. The Empress and the Duchess try to create separate worlds in their respective minds. The Duchess of the Empress then go to the Duchess' home in Newcastle. There, the Empress and the Duke share a platonic and intellectual love with each other of which the Duchess is initially jealous but then relaxes.
While in Newcastle, a trial begins where Fortune charges the Duke with favoring Honesty and Prudence, with Truth as the judge. After Fortune gets up to the stand and makes its charges, the Duchess replies that the Duke did not favor Fortune over Honesty and Prudence and that Fortune assumed incorrectly that the Duke favored Honesty and Prudence over Fortune. Rashness tells Fortune that Fortune should insult Prudence and Honesty to appear more worthy of the Duke's favoritism. Prudence voices desire for an agreement to be reached between the three of them, and Honesty also says that the Duke was neutral. Before Truth can give its judgment, Fortune leaves the court angrily. After the trial, the Duchess tells the Empress to dissolve all of the societies of anthropomorphous creatures in the blazing world.
The Empress rules in peace until the Empress hears that the country of the Empress' origin is in the midst of a destructive war. The fish-men pull the battle ships underwater to fit in the passageway between the blazing world and the world in which the Empress was born. The Empress and the Duchess go with the battle ships to the world of her birth and delivers a speech once there, emphasizing the fact that she is from the world which is currently experiencing war and wishes for peace. In order to stop the violence, the fish-men explode one army's boats, and make the leader of the country which the Empress was born in leader of the entire world in which the country lies. After returning to the blazing world, the Empress and the Duchess return and the Duchess spends time with the Emperor and Empress, admiring the blazing world. Soon, the Duchess returns to Newcastle.
ANALYSIS
Kabbalah is the belief that an infinite being is connected to a finite universe. The Jewish philosophy of Kabbalah, or, Cabbala, as it is spelled in Blazing World, intersects with this novel in many interesting ways. Just as the blazing world and the original world which the Empress was from are connected, the worlds of the Kabbalah are connected. Additionally, each living being is said to have its own universe in Blazing World, so the connection between all living beings and the finite nature of the universe as it is depicted in Blazing World can be mapped out just as the relationship between beings in Kabbalah can be mapped out. Also, the God in Blazing World is infinite, just as the Kabbalah's God is infinite.
The trial between Fortune, and Honesty, Prudence, and the Duke is a metaphor for the Duke's ruling philosophy. The fact that Fortune loses the trial over Honesty and Prudence devalues wealth. Although the Duke is obviously rich and involves his fortune, it is implied by the trial that he is more interested in being honest and prudent. Because Fortune leaves the trial without displaying interest in the truthful verdict, the scene implies that Fortune is selfish, because Fortune was only interested in getting a favorable ruling for Fortune. The trial also indicates that attacking one's opponents is a rash practice to make.
Because the Empress decides to dissolve the separate societies of anthropomorphous creatures after the trial in which different factions bicker, the goal of the Empress' dissolution of the anthropomorphic societies on her island was unity. Further evidence for this claim is provided earlier when the lice-men attempt to impress the Empress, seemingly in attempt to gain favor over the other factions of anthropomorphic creatures. However, no mention is made of dissolving the hierarchy which the humans enjoy over all the anthropomorphic creatures in the blazing world.
- Woman elopes with a merchant on a boat with sailors
- The boat crashes on an island in a new world called the blazing world, and the merchant and sailors die
- The woman is discovered by the anthropomorphic creatures living on the island and made the island's empress
- The woman holds intellectual discussions with the anthropomorphic creatures and spirits
- One of the spirits, which is a Duchess, tells the Empress to write a philosophical Cabbala
- War breaks out in the Empress' birth world and she goes back with the Duchess and with an army
- The Empress delivers a speech in the war-torn world and her fish-men blow up one of the warring navies
- One king from the Empress' country of birth becomes ruler of the entire world in which it's located
- The Empress returns home with the Duchess, and the Empress lives happily ever after
SOURCE
Cavendish, Margaret. The Description of a New World Called The Blazing World and Other Writings. Ed. Kate Lilley. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1994. Print. Book about a woman who leaves her world to become empress of another world and returns home to save her planet from destruction.
