The Blazing World contains multiple allusions to notable scientific and philosophical figures from Cavendish’s time. These allusions mostly occur during the Empress’s philosophical dialogues with the different scientists of the Blazing World. These conversations and allusions reveal Cavendish’s opinions about her contemporaries and the scientific and philosophical discourse of the late 1600s. For example, the Empress and the bird-men discuss theories about the sun and moon in Part 1:
The spots both in the sun and moon, as far as they were able to perceive, they affirmed to be nothing else but flaws and stains of their stony bodies.
This section, in which the Empress asks the bird-men for a description of the “celestial bodies,” demonstrates Cavendish’s allusions to the scientific conversations that were happening in 1600s England about the nature of space. In this quote, the bird-men theorize about the spots visible on the sun. In 1613, Galileo wrote about his discovery and interpretation of sunspots, arguing that the spots are on—or close to—the Sun’s surface: a somewhat similar conclusion to what the bird-men hypothesize in The Blazing World. Here, Cavendish makes an allusion to Galileo and the scientific debate about the nature of the sun.
In addition, Cavendish makes an allusion to a philosophical figure when the Empress discusses the concept of“forms” with the worm-men.
Then she desired to be informed, what opinion they had of the beginning of forms? They told her Majesty, that they did not understand what she meant by this expression, for, said they, there is no beginning in nature, no not of particulars, by reason nature is eternal and infinite, and her particulars are subject to infinite changes and transmutations by virtue of their own corporeal, figurative self-motions
This conversation alludes to Plato’s idea of “forms.” Plato argued that forms are the non-physical essences of all things and have always existed in nature. Here, the Empress discusses the philosophical question of what determines identity. The worm-men believe that there is no possible beginning of forms because they have always existed, given that nature is infinite; this demonstrates Cavendish’s opinion on Plato’s theory.
Throughout The Blazing World, Cavendish frequently makes biblical allusions when describing the Empress and the world itself. For example, when the Empress travels back to her native land with ships from the Blazing World to defend her home kingdom, she appears to the people of ESFI as a goddess or deity. She uses the help of the fish-men and bird-men and their fire-stones to appear all-powerful. Specifically, the description of the Empress at this moment makes a biblical allusion to Jesus, painting her as a Christ figure come to save her land:
[...] the Empress appeared with garments made of the star-stone, and was born or supported above the water, upon the fish-men’s heads and backs, so that she seemed to walk upon the face of the water
Here, the Empress is described as walking on water, which is a direct allusion to Jesus, who walked on water in the Bible. The effect of this allusion is that it imagines the Empress as a Christ figure, thus giving her symbolic weight and praising her as the ideal ruler. This is also significant because Cavendish makes a twist on the traditional image of a Christ figure by placing a female character in that position, which was a unique feminist signal for her time.
This allusion also demonstrates that through fantasy one can have supreme power over their imagined world, supporting Cavendish’s argument for the power of fiction. The Empress uses her power to appear divine to her native land and to spark their submission in the hopes of gaining their trust.
Beyond illustrating The Empress’s power in the Blazing World and across the other worlds she visits, this allusion reinforces Cavendish’s argument in support of absolute monarchy. Cavendish believes that monarchy is divine, as there should be one ruler like there is one god, in her opinion.
