The Convent of Pleasure and Other Plays

by Margaret Cavendish, Anne Shaver (Editor)

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673), until recently remembered more as a flamboyant eccentric than as a serious writer, was in fact the most prolific, thought-provoking, and original woman writer of the Restoration. Cavendish is the author of many poems, short stories, biographies, memoirs, letters, philosophical and scientific works (including The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing World, the first work of science fiction by a woman), and nineteen plays. "The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays collects four of Cavendish's dramatic works that are among the most revealing of her attitudes toward marriage and her desire for fame. Loves Adventures (1662) centers on a woman succeeding in war and diplomacy by passing as a man. Similarly, the heroine of Bell in Campo (1662) rescues her husband at the head of an army of women in this tale of a marriage of near equals. The Convent of Pleasure (1668) proposes a separatist community of women and has received attention for its suggestion of lesbian sexuality. The Bridals (1662), a more typical restoration comedy satirizing marriage, rounds out the collection. Edited with notes and annotation by Anne Shaver, "The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays also contains a timeline, biography and bibliography of the Duchess, an appreciation of Cavendish's life and work, and a bibliography of critical essays. Also included are all of Cavendish's epistles To the Reader as well as Other Preliminary Matter from Playes (1662), and Cavendish's original preface to Plays Never Before Printed (1668). A valuable collection from an extraordinary writer, "The Convent of Pleasure" and Other Plays raises important issues about women and gender.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Classics, Fiction, Womens, Theatre

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, was the youngest child of a wealthy Essex family. At the age of 20 she became Maid of Honour to Queen Henrietta Maria and traveled with her into Persian exile in 1644. There she married William Cavendish, Marquis (later Duke) of Newcastle.

Between 1653 and 1668 she published many books on a wide variety of subjects, including many stories that are now regarded as some of the earliest examples of science fiction.

Reviews

[Victoria Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m rereading my old college texts, to see if I enjoy them when they’re done for fun and not school, so this was my first endeavor into that.

This is 4 plays, written by a duchess in 1600s England. That gives a pretty good indication of what the language was like, so it did take me longer than a current text would. I enjoyed the first play Loves Adventures the most and found it genuinely funny and entertaining, and I’m always impressed by female writers who in the 1600s were so progressive for their time and able to critique gender roles so publicly. I also feel she acknowledges her privilege as a rich woman being able to write, which I appreciated. Also Loves Adventures and Convent of Pleasure were SO close to being queer, SO close but notttt quite - I say close enough though, and I’ll choose to read between the lines.

Honestly I really didn’t dislike the plays, I just got bored, since they were all very similar in plot and eventually my brain got tired of the prose and having to work harder to dissect meaning. I think if I hadn’t read them all in a row I may have scored this higher, since it is telling that the first in the collection was my favorite, as my brain was still fresh.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle was a very interesting person—the first woman to be taken seriously as a scientist in England and also the first person (perhaps in the world, in any literature) to write what could well be considered a sci-fi novel (The Blazing World). As she was writing when Stuart/Restoration drama was all the rage, it's not surprising she wrote some plays, and this book is a collection of those rather short plays. That said, none of these plays were ever staged during her lifetime. Some have been staged since. This collection is a good grounding in her sense of drama and writing in general and well-edited and prepared as an introduction to her for readers or students new to Cavendish. I would have to suggest reading The Blazing World firstly though, as it's probably her greatest work.

[Doreth Groot wesseldijk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about early feminism. Cavendish writes about a convent for women, women who don't want to get married. Women who don't need to get married, because they are financially secure. I had to read this for school and, much like Twelfth Night, it was pure enjoyment all the way through. I really want to buy The Convent of Pleasure and Cavendish's other plays because I think I'll really like them all.

[Allison Hamm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very interesting to me because it was a nice deviation from most stories that I have read from this time period (17th century) in that a female took a dominant role in her future and made decisions that were not popular or a choice at all for many women. Most choices for women were dictated by men, either by a father or a male guardian. Lady Happy the female lead character, chose to be secluded in her home and turn it into a sort of nunnery instead of getting married. She didn’t want to toil in servitude for a man that in her estimation would not make her happy as it would be all about him. She was able to do this because of a large inheritance left to her by her father's passing. I say sort of a nunnery because she did chose to abstain from all contact with men but she did not give up her worldly possessions or her pampered lifestyle. In the end though she was forced to turn away from that idea and marry a Prince that snuck onto her property. He came in under the guise of a Princess and though the Lady was attracted to him as a her she thought it was an innocent love as one would not return the affections of the same sex at that time according to the manner in which the play was written. That is where in the story the Prince posing as the Princess was using many innuendos that included sexual ones about life and marriage in general and women's roles in both areas. Although she had many ladies,  their maids, and women staff members that were living with her on her property to vouch for her innocence because the thought of one man having access to them they were all impugned. Lady Happy gave herself and her freedom as well as her inheritance up in marriage to save their honor. This play had nine vignettes in it which really described the toil of life across all stations for women at that time. I had never heard of a play within a play and it really helped to describe the fears that were associated with life in childbirth and child rearing at that time and the emotions that were sometimes callously tossed to the side to continue with life as viewed by the men. Though formerly Lady Happy as she had to give up her name once married tried to escape the yokes of responsibility she conformed in the end. (428)

[Ashley Medrano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually plays are difficult to read because you are basically reading a script. The Convent of Pleasure, was difficult, but no unreadable because it did make you wonder a lot about society of a woman. I believe if you really understand what is being said in the play, you can find many themes relatable as a woman. Although the historical setting is different, the play opens the image of how women were seen during the Margaret Cavendish’s times. In the beginning when Lady Happy’s father died, she was worried about what would come of her because of his death. The most common option was to marry another wealthy man, however, she questioned the idea entirely due to mannerisms men possess. Margaret Cavendish opens the topic of the reality of women’s lives and options and challenges these ideas in the play. It does sadden me, however, that there was a male who role-played as a Princess. I feel that Lady Happy was correct in having prejudice opinions, even if they were not always true. Just like her ideas of what a man do, I think Cavendish used the Princess as an example of what is disliked. The Princess invites herself and it welcomed by Lady Happy. All along he had one idea in mind and I feel as if he is constantly trying to convince her that her ideas are wrong. He taints the pure idealisms that Lady Happy possessed of not needing a man and ends up forcing her to marry him. Although she was falling in love with the Princess, she was falling in love with him as a free woman and was also able to reject his ideas against her own. But when she ends up marrying him, he basically poisoned her with his ideas. She accepted him and his ideas although they differed from him because she took it as an opinion that she felt was okay to possess. But all along he was not just giving his opinion, but planting the ideas of marriage and that men are needed in her mind. I loved the idea of the play, but I felt lost in certain parts when reading. I was confused with the time lapse, when his real sex was acknowledged, and certain characters that were meant to display a certain meaning. (386)

[Madelyn Strauss · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I read multiple plays in this book, however, there was not an individual goodreads listing for Love's Adventures in from this collection. So, to be clear this is a book review for Love's Adventures.
I thought this play was really interesting. I think it had some really interesting things to say about society. I think while the two more domestic story lines were interesting, especially with the husband and wife and him cheating on her with the maid servant was really interesting. However, my main interest was in the story line between Afectionata and the general was incredibly interesting. It showed both gender dynamics and the queerness of the time period with cross dressing and also queer relationships based on percieved gender identities and cross dressing. I really like that Affectionata and the general end up in the end, because it was even more proof of the queerness of this play. Because it was clear that Afectionata while cross dressing was into the general, and him into Afectionata. Because when the general assumed that Affectionata was a man, and was still into her. This is a clear example of queer literature at the time. Also the fact that Afectionata wanted to cross dress was so interesting to see how queerness was preseant at the time but not commonly written about.
So this book was interesting to see the modern themes we are now exploring in these old books. I thought the writing was interesting and it was interesting to see Cavendish's writing.

[Nolawi Negussie · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Margaret Cavendish's , "The Convent of Pleasure," I can't help but feel that she portrays men too negatively. She depicts men in this play as selfish, cruel, and even possibly evil.

For instance she tends to make many of her female characters victims of unhappy marriages or relationships. The horrible acts of these marriages and relationships include rape,abuse, and selfish spending of money instead of feeding one's family. Now I'm not denying that there are men in this world who treat their families horribly but from the way Cavendish writes,she makes it as if all men behave this way. There are good men in the world! It's completely ridiculous.

Of course in the story the main character, Lady Happy, does fall in love with a man who had been disguised as a woman and in the end marries him. The problem with this is that the man she marries, The Prince, had manipulated her into falling in love with him. Instead of trying to get to know the Prince as the man he is ,he had to dress up as the opposite sex to catch her attention and make her want to get to know him. (199)

[Omar Roman · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's definitely not one of my favorite readings, although I must say that I feel as if Cavendish was years ahead of the issues woman of the future would face. Lady Happy faced the same dilemma a lot of women face today, they are wealthy and feel as if marriage or a man would just hold them back. However, the fact that Cavendish introduced the idea that Lady Happy starts a convent for women only for it to fail because of a man. I kind of felt it defeated the whole purpose of what the play should have been about. I felt like if I was sold the idea that man are not needed, up until Act 3 when I feel Cavendish kind of gives the rest of the play away. By having the Princess suggest to Lady Happy that they should be involved in more romantic scenes. I found kind of cool I don't know, if it was unintentionally but how Cavendish had the vision to foresee woman problems, especially in a time period where man were basically untouchable. (180)

[Sevastian · Rating 1 out of 5]

The convent of pleasure, i didn't much like this one it started off fine but towards the end it kinda got confusing. I didn't understand some of the humor that makes this book a comedy was the whole book a satire and that's what makes it a comedy. I want to say that around the time the prince crossdresses as a woman to go in and talk to lady happy and they have some short plays performed for them, kinda got confusing. Not because of the writing style but because of the plays if i’m mistaken they jump around in the order of the plays. The ending was almost predictable trying to make seem ironic, she didn't want to be with men and hated the idea of marriage but even then she ended up marrying the prince who she was falling in love with when he was cross dressed as a woman but not with the woman but with the manly aspects of said woman. The book was not something i would read again
(174)

[Jameson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Margaret Cavendish gives us a play that you would think would be revolutionary for her time period. It does begin that way and kept me intrigued and fascinated on how a play like this wasn't protested against at the time. However, once I reached the end I found that the play doesn't exactly give the pay out one would expect when starting the story. It's a good play by all means, but by having the twist at the end it felt unsatisfying in a way and slightly disappointing to find out that the ending still adhered to the standards of that time period.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing may not be very good, but the subject matter is fascinating. Four different plays deal with the roles women play in society and how each role/choice will impact their lives in how society views them. A bit dry in parts, but quite an intriguing read from a woman writing just after Shakespeare's time.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Convent of Pleasure is one of the plays within this collection. It is my favorite. I have read it several times and am working on a stage version for my theatre troupe.
Margaret Cavendish had the ability to write as well as any man at the same time and it's a shame that she was never allowed to show her work to the public or write for a wider audience.

[Richard Horsman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title play and "The Bridals" aren't much good (standard Restoration snoozefests), but "Loves Adventures" and "Bell in Campo" are both pretty terrific.

[Ella Louise Schalski]

Read for paper/class

[Carlos Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5ish

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

About to commence the longest essay of my degree so far on the thrice noble excellent and illustrious princess of philosophy, my Lady Newcastle

[Resa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this was an easy read, especially compared with earlier 17th century drama, I found that Cavendish undermined her whole goal. She set up an extremely feminist play, which I found annoying because she was very opinionated about her detest of marriage, but then it just fizzled. Simple plot: Lady Happy is left as a heiress and decides to ignore all the requests to marry her and instead starts an all female convent. She ends up falling in love with a woman and there are homosexual hints, but lets just say the end fails to deliver. Even though this play ended in heterosexual marriage, which I support, I felt like if it was going to annoy me leading up to the conclusion I would have rather it be a full-frontal attack and actually said something about marriage instead of hinting at it but then the ending resolved the dilemma.

[Mirella Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personally this was one of my least favorite readings so far. The main reason why I did not enjoy it as much as the other ones was because I could not understand they way she wrote it. It was in English but the English was obviously different then the one we speak now. I did however like the fact that the women were all coming together and in a way be independent and let the men know they are not needed. Another thing I actually really enjoyed in the play was when there was a play within a play. The women were talking about issues such as infidelity , domestic violence, and pregnancy. At first I thought that the author did this just to put men down. However, my professor explained that it was because back then people were not talking about these topics as much, so I actually really enjoyed that. (152)

[Melantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

NOTE: This review applies only to THE UNNATURAL TRAGEDIE by the same author, but, since I could not find any editions of that on Goodreads, and was desirous of keeping my book-count up-to-date, I decided to count this instead. ** 1/2 out of *****. I must say, I have read dozens of Restoration plays, but never have I known one with SO MANY scenes per act! More than fourteen each -- really, it makes for quite a muddle, out of some promise, and not enough attention was given to the "Tragedie" at the center (which showed said promise) -- which ought to have been given more time to grow and develop organically.

[Lulu]

Two volumes of Cavendish's dramatic works were printed. Plays (1662) includes:

Loves Adventures
The Several Wits
Youths Glory, and Deaths Banquet
The Lady Contemplation
Wits Cabal
The Unnatural Tragedy
The Public Wooing
The Matrimonial Trouble
Nature's Three Daughters, Beauty, Love and Wit
The Religious
The Comical Hash
*Bell in Campo
A Comedy of the Apocryphal Ladies
*The Female Academy


Plays, Never Before Printed (1668):

*The Sociable Companions, or the Female Wits
The Presence
Scenes (edited from The Presence)
The Bridals
*The Convent of Pleasure
A Piece of a Play

[Samara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird, quirky, and very interesting from a feminist perspective.

[Hilary]

First IPRH Table Reading Group meeting!

[Diana]

The Convent of Pleasure is to me, a play about feminism. In this play, Margaret's main character, Lady Pleasure, decides to construct a world where only women are allowed and men are banned. This sounds harsh but considering the few rights women had during the time this was written it sounds like a fantasy and an answer to their problems. What I found most interesting about this play was how ahead of her time Margaret Cavendish was. She exposes the hardships women faced during the time throughout her play; undoubtedly some of those hardships are still endured today. I found the names given to the characters witty and I enjoyed reading this play more than others I have had to read. I enjoyed how it focuses on one idea and not just everyday drama around jealousy or revenge. Lady Pleasure's character is one to be admired, she was brave enough to start a new world for women and at the end makes a hard decision and chooses what best for everyone.