SOURCE: "Dramatic Dreamscape: Women's Dreams and Utopian Vision in the Works of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle," in Curtain Calls: British and American Women and the Theater, 1660-1820, edited by Mary Anne Schofield and Cecilia Macheski, Ohio University Press, 1991, pp. 18-33.
In this essay, Payne argues that Cavendish's flouting of the rules of dramatic composition in her plays is a deliberate rejection of masculine structures rather than a failure of her artistic talent. She also contends that Cavendish 's portrayal of modest and dutiful women illustrates the conflict she faced between social expectations and her own aspirations.
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