Conspiracy and Virtue : Women, Writing, and Politics in Seventeenth-Century England

Conspiracy and Virtue is a study of gender and cultural politics in the century of revolution. It argues that in seventeenth-century England women's relationship to the political sphere was shaped by their exclusion from it. Authors discussed include: Aphra Behn, John Milton, Anne Bradstreet, Margaret Cavendish, and Queen Christina of Sweden. -;What was the relationship between woman and politics in seventeenth-century England? Responding to this question, Conspiracy and Virtue argues that theoretical exclusion of women from the political sphere shaped their relation to it. Rather than producing silence, this exclusion generated rich, complex, and oblique political involvements which this study traces through the writings of both men and women. Pursuing this argument Conspiracy and Virtue engages the main. writings on women's relationship to the political sphere including debates on the public sphere and on contract theory. Writers and figures discussed include Elizabeth Avery, Aphra Behn, Anne Bradstreet, Maragret Cavendish, Queen Christina of Sweden, Anne Halkett, Brilliana Harley, Lucy Hutchinson, John Milton, . Elizabeth Poole, Sara Wight, and Henry Jessey. -;...rich and scholarly study...Her extensive knowledge of the political and religious communities and events of the mid-seventeenth century allows her to offer a series of illuminating interpretations of very specific contexts... T]his study blends conceptual and analytical sophistication with an extraordinary breadth of knowledge of the history and literature of the seventeenth century, bringing together arguments in political theory, literary criticism and historiography to reshape. our view both of seventeenth-century women and seventeenth-century politics. - Kate Hodgkin, Textual Practice;a compelling exploration of women's relationships to the political sphere in the period 1620-88...valuable and timely - Hero Chalmers, Review of English Studies "What was the relationship between woman and politics in seventeenth-century England? Engaging with debates on the public sphere, contract theory, class, religion, and identity, Susan Wiseman argues that the theoretical exclusion of women from the political sphere shaped their relation to it. Rather than producing silence, exclusion generated complex, and oblique political involvements, which this study traces through a variety of genres: letters, journals, poetry, history, pamphlets, petitions, prophecy, legal documents, biographies, artworks. Expanding the range of what is normally understood as political discourse, Conspiracy and Virtue considers a richly contextualized range of figures: Elizabeth Avery, Aphra Behn, Anne Bradstreet, Margaret Cavendish, Christina Queen of Sweden, Anne Clifford, Anne Halkett, Brilliana Harley, Lucy Hutchinson, Henry Jessey, John Milton, Elizabeth Poole, Rachel Russell, and others."--Jacket ## Abstract What was the relationship between woman and politics in seventeenth century England? Responding to this question, Conspiracy and Virtue argues that theoretical exclusion of women from the political sphere shaped their relation to it. Rather than producing silence, this exclusion generated rich, complex, and oblique political involvements which this study traces through the writings of both men and women. Pursuing this argument, Conspiracy and Virtue engages the main writings on women's relationship to the political sphere including debates on the public sphere and on contract theory. Writers and figures discussed include many authors who are not often studied together, such as Elizabeth Avery, Aphra Behn, Anne Bradstreet, Maragret Cavendish, Queen Christina of Sweden, Anne Halkett, Brilliana Harley, Lucy Hutchinson, John Milton, Elizabeth Poole, Sara Wight, and Henry Jessey.

What was the relationship between woman and politics in seventeenth-century England? Responding to this question, Conspiracy and Virtue argues that theoretical exclusion of women from the political sphere shaped their relation to it. Rather than producing silence, this exclusion generated rich, complex, and oblique political involvements which this study traces through the writings of both men and women. Pursuing this argument Conspiracy and Virtue engages the main writings on women's relationship to the political sphere including debates on the public sphere and on contract theory. Writers and figures discussed include Elizabeth Avery, Aphra Behn, Anne Bradstreet, Maragret Cavendish, Queen Christina of Sweden, Anne Halkett, Brilliana Harley, Lucy Hutchinson, John Milton, Elizabeth Poole, Sara Wight, and Henry Jessey.

What was the relationship between woman and politics in 17th century England? Responding to this question, this work argues that theoretical exclusion of women from the political sphere shaped their relation to it. It is a study of gender and cultural politics in the century of revolution It seemed a very pleasant object, to see so many Semproniaes (all the chiefe Court Ladies filling the Galleries at the [Earl of Strafford's] Tryall) with penne, inke, and paper in their hands, noting the passages, and discoursing upon the grounds of Law a