Role Models in Margaret the First

    Danielle Dutton's novel Margaret the First centers around the titular character Margaret Cavendish, a noblewoman living during the time of the English Civil War and Restoration. In her life she challenged the ideas of what women could do through her unabashed nature and publishing of books, giving her plenty of notoriety. However, she would not be the woman she is without being inspired through role models early on. In the novel, Dutton uses the meeting of Margaret with several powerful female figures who reject gender norms to illustrate how she was inspired by these women and how she herself comes to reject gender norms later in her life. 

    As a lady of nobility, Margaret had ample opportunity to meet with many prominent figures. One such figure was Queen Henrietta Maria, who Margaret joined the court of. She says of the Queen that she "called herself She-Majesty Generalissima" and went "straddling her horse like Alexander and eating with the men on the field" (Dutton 19). Then later, Margaret happens to meet Queen Christine of Sweden. As Margaret quotes, her "voice and actions are all together masculine" (77). Margaret meets the queen at a masquerade with the queen dressed as an Amazon. She says "privately I admired the queen's gold helmet and cape, and her hand that rested lightly on the hilt of her handsome sword" (79). Margaret seems to admire these women, as figures who represent a rejection of the female attitudes at the time. They are brash women who are brave and courageous, acting in roles men traditionally filled at the time. They carve their own path forward, and for this, Margaret has great respect for both these queens. 

    Margaret seems to internalize this admiration for these role models and comes to reflect it in her own life. One of the first ways in which she expresses herself is to publish books. One, The World's Olio, people cannot believe was written by her, with it being said that "it fell to reason a man was behind my work (71). A few years later she then writes another novel, Orations, which is received with "outrage, wonder, and scorn" (116). She even begins to wear more scandalous clothing, one being described as "like an Amazon's" (139). Much like these earlier women, Margaret is defying these gender expectations, being noticed by the world as a figure who will not keep quiet and instead lets herself be known. The clothing even becomes like Queen Christine, with the novel noting both of them mirror the powerful Amazonian woman of legend. It is very apparent that Margaret has used these women as examples to mirror her own life, as a way to step forward into being someone who defies female gender roles and is wholly herself.