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Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—Biblical:
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.
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