Mad Madge

[Ms. Epley]

Where would we be without Margaret Cavendish? Have you heard of her? She's an author from the 17th century who refused to be silenced. At that time, women were not supposed to be educated beyond what they needed to be a good wife, and Cavendish herself had very limited formal education-- just the basics. Women at that time were also not supposed to write, and it was even worse if they published. Some women did publish, but they usually did so under a different name or annonymously. Cavendish, however, continuously published under her own name. Soceity jeered her, and took to calling her "Mad Madge" because they thought she was crazy, but Cavendish never let that stop her. One of her poems could even be called early animal rights literature (there's an excerpt from it below). Margaret Cavendish is one of my heroes, because despite the attempts of others to silence her, she stayed vocal.

An excerpt from "The Hunting of the Hare"

As if that God made creatures for man's meat,
To give them life, and sense, for man to eat;
Or else for sport, or recreation's sake,
Destroy those lives that God saw good to make:
Making their stomachs graves, which full they fill
With murdered bodies that in sport they kill.
Yet man doth think himself so gentle, mild,
When he of creatures is most cruel wild.
And is so proud, thinks only he shall live,
That God a God-like nature did him give.
And that all creatures for his sake alone,
Was made for him, to tyrannize upon.

-Margaret Cavendish, 1653