Bernhard Werner Cross-Dressing in Early Modern Drama and Prose
September 11, 2012

The One Sex Model and Cross Dressing: “Assaulted and Pursued Chastity”

“Behind every great man there’s a great woman”.
If we had to define the term ‘’early modern’’, it would sure be a task that would not be easy to solve. The most of us would clearly try to define this term with the answer; everything that has not been written in old English can be seen as modern. But as it is often the case, the devil is in the details, and we have to take a closer look at other aspects that could lead us to the answer. We could for example ask ourselves in which time period we should categorize the early modern era. This is the parting of the ways, but we can set a round figure if we put our focus on the time after the late middle age, from 1500 to 1800. During this period of time people were not only developing there sense for new, and for that time unknown things, such as the human body but also evolving theories and a new philosophies of how fundamental things should work in society.
At this point it might be the case that the question of what this facts have to do with cross dressing, could occur. As mentioned before, medical researches evolved, and people came up with new theories in order to form a so called standard for a society. A society that we can surely now categorize as one with somehow artifice moral values.
One of these Theories is the “one-sex model” or “one-sex theory”. In this theory, superior in the eighteenth century, it was a common belief that women and men were having two different forms of one fundamental sex. Furthermore, women were seen to have exactly the same body structure as men, the only difference was that the female sexual organs were inside the body, and not outside like it is the case with the male anatomy. According to Thomas Laqueur in his book “Making Sex: Body and Gender From the Greeks to Freud”, Scientists back then saw the female sexual organ as something like an interior penis, therefor the lips of the vulva as foreskin and so forth.
In fact we can say that the theory of the one sex model dominated medical and philosophical literature and also the moral values during this period time. The fact that women were seen as less perfect then men becomes apparent and in order to overcome this matter of fact women had to cross dress themselves. The inevitable demand of equality for women somehow forced them to adopt a male alter ego in order to gain as much power as the opposite sex, during this period of time.
The story of Margaret Cavendish “Assaulted and Pursued Chastity” gives us as a reader a remarkable impression of how women needed to use the possibility of cross dressing, and adapt a manly personality to achieve the goal of fulfilling the one sex theory, and being equal to the dominant male society.
This image is shown throughout the whole novel, and the aim of this term paper is to hopefully show on various examples how women had to use the features of cross dressing to fulfill the social basic requirements of the one sex model, and gain more power and freedom in the disguise of a man.

As the main protagonists name ‘’Travellia’’ and the fact that this story of Margaret cavendish can be seen as a travel Novell, traveling is specially bounded to the image that women had to travel to other places in order to find or gain more power and virtue. Of course there are also other causes or motivations why the main character cross dresses like status or protection, but one crucial reason in this matter is the fact, that the character needs the preferences of cross dressing to enable more power. Because one question that also comes up is, why does a woman needs to be cross dressed if she needs protection? It is arguable that during this this period of time it was the common belief that women simply weren’t able to protect themselves when they are on their own. “In this following tale or discourse, my endeavor was to shew young Women the danger of travelling without their Parents, Husbands or particular friends to guard them; for though Vertue is a good guard: yet it doth not always protect their persons, without human assistance: for though Vertue guardes, yet youth and beauty betrayes, and the treachery of the one, is more than the safety of the other: for ofttimes young beautifull and virtuous Women, if they wander alone, find but rude entertainment from the Masculine sex.” ( Cavendish, 47) Cavendish uses this image to show us that it is possible to skip the initial helplessness of the heroine and also uses it to start her narration when she wrote ‘’ For why said she, it is no sin to defend my self against an Obstinate and cruell enemy, and know said she, I am no wayes to be found, by wicked persons but in death; for whilst I live I will live in Honour, or when I kill or be kill'd I will kill or dye for security’’ (Cavendish 53).
Using the One sex model and adapting a male temper, the heroine Travellia protects herself of being raped by the prince. But Cavendish narrowed the utopian image of a woman only using her words to avoid an upcoming threat from a male pursuer who wants to violate her virginity. The only way out of this miserable situation in order to protect herself so far is a gun, and the attempted murder of the prince. ‘’ He for a time stood in amaze to see her in that posture, and to hear her high defiance, but considering with himself that her words might be more than her intentions, and that it was a shame to be out−dared by a woman, with a smiling countenance, said he, you threaten more Evill than you dare performe;… I will first build me a Temple of fame upon your grave, where all young Virgins shall come and offer at my Shrine, and in the midst of these words shot him;’’ (Cavendish 52- 53) So we can compensate power with the ability to secure the chastity of the heroine. If we take a closer look to the plot we can clearly see that the main interest of the prince is to violate the chastity of travelia and rape her. ‘’ The Prince, when he saw he could fasten no gifts on her, was much troubled, yet hoped that time might work her to his desires;’’ (Cavendish 58)
At this point one could argue that it is the aim of the main protagonist to rather run from their pursuer than to another land in order to achieve more power or social independence, but as it is the case in many travel romances during that time, the plot would come to an end before a conventional marriage, by the violation of the chastity of the heroine. According to Emma Rees, the story turns from “ a text which is ostensibly about a woman as victim of assault and pursuit,” to “a text about a woman with agency who preserves her chastity through her own initiative.” (114)
So it was the intension of Cavendish, as the title of the tale might suggests, to give us as a reader the chance to join the heroine on a journey, in which she not only prevents the violation of her chastity but also internalize the advantages of cross dressing.
The voyage to other countries serves us on the one hand as a plot expander and on the other hand it illustrates the process of the heroine within the plot, as she changes her name and her identity three times. The first transformation is a clearance from the clutches of the prince by realizing that she has to disguise to finally protect her chastity, after the attempted murder and suicide failed. The cross dress from “Miseria” to the character “Travellia” is the first real possibility for the main character to escape from conventions of the patriarchal world she knows, and start her pursuit of freedom and virtue. At first to unknown countries, then to the Land of Amity.
As the narration begins with the tumultuous conditions Travellia had to deal with, the heroine in Cavendish’s narration is forced to leave her native land called Kingdom of Riches, due to “a plaguy Rebellion; killing numbers with the sword of unjust War, which made many fly from that pestilent destruction into other Countryes” (Cavendish 48) , so her destiny was set from the beginning as it says in the narrative that “those that stayed, sent their daughters and wives, from the fury of the inhumane multitude, chosing to venture their lives with the hazards oftravells, rather than their Honours and Chastities, by staying at home, amongst rough and rude Souldiers” (Cavendish 48). The tale ends as the prevention for her chastity does, with the publication of her real identity and the following marriage of to the prince, who has searched for her. To repeat, the disclosure of her true identity and therefore the fact that the heroine is not forced to avail the one sex model to achieve more power anymore, because power relations had been smoothed out, shows us by implication that up to that point, a voyage was only possible due to the possibility of cross dressing and the consequential adaption to the one sex model.
So it is arguable to say that, of course the plot itself exhibits the fact that women not only had to use the quality of cross dressing to fulfill the social basic requirements of the one sex model, and gain more power and freedom in the disguise of a man but also it tells us that the image that women had to travel to other places is a strong motivation or in this case the only possibility to find or gain more power and virtue and defend their chastity.
But as we were talking about the act of traveling as a strong motive for adapting the one sex model, and therefor cross dress, we also have to bring to our mind that another crucial motivation could be the improvement of status a woman couldn’t receive during that time. As mentioned in the introduction it was a common belief that women and men were having two different forms of one fundamental sex. But in addition to that, women were seen as less worthy then men. But how was it even conceivable that ideals like this could develop? According to Bullogh, a good starting point to explain it “is Aristotle, who believed that he had scientific evidence of female inferiority and went on to claim that women were not only intellectually but morally inferior to men. Proof of such a conclusion, he said, could be observed in nature, where the male of each species was demonstrably more advanced than the female… He reasons that was true for animals was also the case with humans.” ( Bullogh, 46).

So due to minimum standards of the society, medical and philosophical researches, who were clearly influenced by the cognitions of Aristotle, it was the case that “quite clearly, manliness in women if not carried too far was much admired. Masculine qualities were considered admirable, although some feminine qualities were also much admired.” (Bullogh, 68) But different from women, men did not have to cross dress to express feminine behaviors. According to Bullogh we need to distinguish because, “men who both cross dressed and acted feminine were stigmatized, and their actions were linked with deviant eroticism” (Bullogh, 68). Furthermore it wasn’t likely that men could turn into women because, “nature tends always towards what is most perfect and not, on the contray, to perform in such a way that what is perfect should become imperfect.” (qtd. in Genders, XIV)
So men who were acting feminine and cross dressed were just seen as abnormal, but to the contrary it was assumed that “women who cross dressed were only striving to reach a higher status.” (Bullogh, 68)
One telling example would be the behavior of the old bawd, who decoys Travellia into prostitution and tries to corrupt her virtue for her own profit, and a higher status in society.
“selling her to a Bawd, which used to marchandize; and trafficked to the Land of youth, for the riches of beauty.” (Cavendish, 48- 49) Although she is not cross dressing, the old bawd is adapting the one sex model to achieve a higher rank. She is well educated, which was not common during this time period, in speaking many languages and a vast knowledge about nature. These properties were only reserved for men, but the adaption of the one sex model makes it possible for her to switch between the lower female emotional world and the upper financial, and social higher ranked male dominated world.
Of course she did not want Travellia to share the knowledge she owned. By telling her, as she was reading the lectures of nature, that “she should use her beauty whilst she had it, and not to wast her youth idly, but to make the best profit of both” (Cavendish, 49), she tries to ensure this privilege of a higher status for her own.
Equally important and also a good example to illustrate that status, is a great motivation to cross dress, is the passage were the heroine arrived at the strange land with her father. A place, were women common to everyone's use, the heroine had no other chance than to use her cross dressing alter ego and act male because otherwise the whole disguise would abut, and the journey or better the pursuit for virtue would come to an abrupt end. At the same time, an interesting fact emerges as we take a closer look at the passage where the king of the foreign tribe tries to undress Travellia and her father. It is the only passage in the book where the disguise of the heroine is in so called “danger”, as Travellia, who unsuccessfully tries to regulate her excitement of being unmasked by the king, falls back to female behavior patterns, and faints. The interesting thing to see here is the ironic circumstance, that the female features she desperately tries to hide from others saves her life after all, as she faints away in a moment of weakness, like only women were supposed to do during these times. “But when the King saw them, he wondred at them; first, at the old Mans beard, for they have none; the next, at their habit, which were Seamens cloaths; but above all, at the Youth, who looked handsome in despight of his poor and dirty garments; at last, he would have their cloaths pull'd off: But no sooner did they come to execute their command: but Travelia was so affrighted, that he fell down in a swound; those that touched him started back when they saw him dead; but the old Man bending him forward, brought him to life again: whereupon they straight thought that their touching him killed him, and that the old Man had power to restore life, which made them afraid to touch them anymore; for that disease of swounding was not known to them;” (Cavendish, 68) A similar situation can be found at passage where the battle scenario between the two kingdoms is described, which is a masculine sphere. The next thing that occurs is as we can see in the text, that the natives don’t know the peculiarities of “swounding” and the associated relation to women, and could therefore not raise the question afterwards, Travellia might being a woman in disguise. It might was the intension of the author to show at this point that not all female features are completely useless or in the words of Sara Mendelson that “Cavendish’s motive may have been to create a world in which women‘s true potential is valued.”(458) but again we have to make it clear, that this feature was only helpful because Travellia is a disguised woman, who tries to increase her status.
A similar situation can be found in the passage, where the battle scenario between the two kingdoms is described, which can be seen as a masculine sphere. As Travellia tries to proceed on her pursuit for virtue on the battlefield, her female features prevent her of being successful in doing so since she has “ no skill in the art and use of the sword” (Cavendish ,99), because it is a privilege reserved for men, and gets wounded and faints. Like before the female features prevent her of acting completely male, and if it wasn’t for the prince who although he wounded her stood by her side, and who is also function, like in the passage before her father in the foreign land, as a, so to say male accompaniment figure, the narration would have again an abrupt end. Moreover, all the authority figures of this land like governors, rulers, priests and wizards are men. Travellia also has to learn the language in order to not get sacrificed by the natives. Like the old bawd she uses the one sex model to gain respect for oneself and a better status. “there is no way to escape, unless we had their language, and could make them believe we came from the Gods;” (Cavendish, 69) The fact that it was possible for Travellia to learn and understand the foreign language perfectly shows us as a reader that the adaption of the one sex model is accomplished perfectly, and not only that Travellia is now, as she pretends, a god, and so to say on a higher status, but also for the characters of this book a true man, which gives her or in general women who cross dress, a higher status, which they have been searching for. The image of rising to an higher status, which is illustrated in this passage, is explained in Emma Rees book, where she writes that “to signify the very public repercussions of Travellia’s oratory, wherein she plays on the superstitious fears of her audience, constructing herself as semi devine, Cavendish replaces the feminine personal pronoun with the masculine. The passage in “Assaulted and Pursued Chastity”,where it says that “Travelia advanced himself so much higher than the rest, as they might hear him round about;” emphasizes and round out this given image of Travellia who perfectly adapted the one sex model. (Cavendish, 72) The saying “when the soul is downcast then it is called woman but when one recognizes God in oneself and seeks out God there, then it is a man” (qtd. In Hotchkiss, 13) fits perfect into this context, as she learns the language and gives so to say her soul to the learning of it, because otherwise she would be sacrificed, and further religious figures, or religion in general is used to somehow justify a higher status.
In contrary to this saying, it is according to Bullogh safe to say that “in some forms of Hindu esoteric belief still hold androgyny an ideal to be pursued.” He goes on in saying that “some Hindu belief the supreme Being is of one complete sex, possessing both female and male principles and having the qualities attributed to both genders.”(6) To stay in this religious context, the legend of the female pope may inspired a lot of medieval or early modern authors, by telling the story of a woman who disguised as a man and “wielded absolute authority over the male dominated church.” ( Hotchkiss, 69)
The concomitant fascination rephrases itself as it tells the story of a young woman who pretends to be male, in order to get the possibility to study. Her capability led her to higher ranks in the clerical constitution, and finally reaching the highest honor by being elected pope of the Catholic Church.
Parallel to the tale of Cavendish, the heroine in this clerical legend is forced to cross dress, and adapt to the one sex model in order to get access to a higher status. The utopian wish of acceptance at this time of period is the only thing that distinguishes the two narratives. In Cavendish’s tale, the heroine gets accepted by the people of amity for being as virtue as a male solider, and being able to control a whole army, as she unveils her true identity. The fortune of our heroine in the clerical legend of the female pope is not clear but more based on more realistic, also for that time, narrow views, “some say an angry mob killed the impostor, others that she was imprisoned or simply deposed and exiled.” (Hotchkiss, 69) Nevertheless, both characters had the same intension in common. Using the advantages of cross dressing and therefore act in a male manner to fulfill the social defaults of the one sex model, led them to a higher status, more power, and at least in Cavendish’s narration a so called happy ending for the main character.
Like mentioned before, accepting a male hero who cross dresses to the same effect of gaining more power or a higher status would cause a higher lack of understanding than women who cross dress. It is also, in addition to this, arguable to say that women were not seen as a real threat to the dominant male society, since every early modern novel tells us at the end, that everything comes back to “normal” or to resolved circumstances.
As we can see it at the end of “Assaulted and Pursued Chastity”, Travelia becomes accepted or somehow admired by the soldiers and the other character as she unmasks her disguise. “Noble Friends, and Valiant Souldiers, I am come here at this present to declare I am a Woman, allthough I am habited like a Man.” (Cavendish, 115)
According to Bullogh the heroine “had demonstrated that women could successfully compete with men and had for themselves, at least, removed many of the barriers that kept women in their place.” ( 103) But it is also the case that women, like the heroine in the story of Cavendish, as soon as they find the right man, which is in our case the prince, who accepts the virtue of travlia at the end, seem to return to their old female role, given from the society. So it is arguable to say that women were somehow never seen as a real threat to the male society, as everything comes back to normal at the end. Cross dressing by men is on the other hand is in most cases just used to set up a connection to other women in order to satisfy the sexual purpose behind this action.
The closet drama of Margaret Cavendish “The Convent of Pleasure” tells exactly the story of a man cross dressing in order to gain access to the community, which is build up by a group of unmarried women who tried to avoid the disadvantages of marriage caused by the bad treatment of men. His only possibility to enter the convent is to cross dress and try to connect to his object of desire by excessively praising her wit and built up a relationship in which the heroine falls for him, as she sympathizes to the special female manner of the prince. So the action of the prince and the danger of losing his prestige or status in society was his only possibility to gain access to another social class and act out his desires, like it was the case in early modern times.
Another interesting aspect is that we can see this similar narrated stories as on the one hand, as socio-critical, as the marriage between the prince and the heroine in “The Convent of Pleasure” signifies “the reincorporation of lady happy into the patriarchal sexual economy” ( Jankowski, 181), and on the other hand in “Assaulted and Pursued Chastity” it rather seems like that the utopian wish for social equality appears. But again it is clear to see that cross dressing by men for the purpose of gaining the same social status would not make sense, and that the motivation had to be of different cast, like desire and therefore venture their own rank by adjusting their status to the same as women have in society, to finally achieve their aim of persuading the object of desire.

As it is mentioned in the introduction, science, philosophy and medical research were in a sort the impulse,which set the social gender gap between men and women in the early modern era, and the one sex model contributed greatly to this common belief as well. But as time went by, and sciences developed a clearer understanding for the human body, a certain shift was recognizable. It was not only the shift from the one sex model to the two sex model which led to impracticability of cross dressing as a narrative style, since women were seen as completely different, and it therefore resulted that there was no way a woman could ever adapt a male temper, and the belief that “to be a man or a woman was to hold a social rank, a place in society, to assume a cultural role, not to be organically one or the other of two incommensurable sexes;” (Laqueur, 8) but also the shift of social order.
Nevertheless the shift to a social order which was acceptable for both, men and women was a long process, and “male privilege in the nineteenth century continued to be deeply engrained in Western society” ( Bullogh 145). So basically women were still seen under the “control” of men, as women weren’t seen as autonomous individuals that could take care of themselves, and therefore were treated like children. In “Assaulted and Pursued Chastity” this image is shown by the “adoption” of Travelia through the old man she travels with. “Travellia (for so now she called her self) followed close her old new Father;” (Cavendish, 62) basically the heroine is never alone at all throughout the whole novel. If we put a closer look on the plot we will realize that, as the heroine was sent from her homeland, she was directly sold to the old bawd who took care of her. So the image of a heroine or a woman that never could travel on her own, like mentioned before, is clearly recognizable. Not even by the time the heroine travels in disguise to a foreign land, and the fact that only the omniscient narrator and the reader knows that “Travelia” is cross dressed changes does not change the matter of fact that the image of a help seeking woman is portrayed. She needs a father figure who tells her what is the right thing to do. She “needed” someone who “who had as many carefull thoughts, and as great a regard for her safety” (Cavendish, 62). Also the end of the tale, as the prince forces the heroine into marriage, to restore the circumstances back to normal by the standards of that time, reflects the same image. “Whereupon all the Army cryed out, an Angel, an Angel, the Gods had sent unto them. Then was there a Declaration read to the Army of the Agreement of Peace: And when it was read that the Prince should be Vice−roy in the Kingdome of Amity, all the Souldiers, as if they had but one Voyce, cryed out, Travelia shall be Vice−regency; which was granted to pacifie them. Whereupon there were great Acclamations of Joy. But the Prince told his Mistris, she should also govern him. She answered, that he should govern her, and she would govern the Kingdome. (Cavendish 116)
At this point it seems very ironically that the heroine, after trying to defend her pursued chastity, just deviates from the thought of taking the new gained virtue, and going back to her native land. According to Emma Rees, “the totality of Travelia’s autonomy however must remain a dream for Cavendish. The material cultural circumstances under which she is producing her text serve to highlight the central irony in her construction of her protagonist.” (123) The image which is illustrated is deeply linked to Cavendish’s personal life, which Cavendish might slips into the story to help us as a reader to understand the ironic behavior pattern of the heroine. This might become clearer if we take a closer look to a part of Cavendish’s biography. “ Margaret Cavnedish was born into a transitional age when old assumptions were challenged and new certainties had not been found. In her nonfiction, she repeatedly confesses to woman’s inherent limitations, apparently accepting a patriarchal Toryism as sanctioned by nature. However she also reveals an anti-traditionalist aspiration: to emulate men, as a philosopher and writer; to have a society in which women may achieve success and power.” (Odvar Holmesland 457) As Emma Rees was comparing the life of the author and the protagonist by writing “whereas Travellia is empowered precisely because she resists taking the final step in a process of homecoming , Cavendish’s political powerlessness is attributable to her inability to return home out of exile. Her actual desire to go home remains resolutely poised in counterpoint to her metaphorical decisiveness, expressed not only through the very fact of her publication of her writing, that she will not return home to a patriachally circumscribed domestic life.” (123)

So knowing a bit more of Cavendish’s personal life and the images that are embedded within these experiences she displays in “Assaulted and Pursued Chastity”, it is possible to say that not only the protagonists had to flee from their native land in order to find a new kind of virtue, but also that the one sex model hinders her to keep that virtue and at the same time act in a female manner, as she rejects the offer of the prince and the demand of the soldiers, to rule upon them.
The fact that women had to use the features of cross dressing to fulfill the social basic requirements of the one sex model, and gain more power and freedom in the disguise of a man, surely was on one hand a fact Cavendish hoped to overcome in real life, but on the other hand it also was a fact she only could deal with through her writing, as she embarks her protagonist on her journey where she as a woman had to show her virtue, by protecting her pursued chastity. Not letting the heroine travel alone in the narrative, might shows us, that the frame, in which the Travellia is moving, is always in a certain way limited, and therefore the pursuit for equality to the male society, an utopian wish.

The Saying in the headline “Behind every great man there’s a great woman“, might include the message that every decision of a man needs a reconsideration of a woman or the wife, but this saying in terms of cross dressing, provides us, as we can see an even greater point of view. It tells us in this particular context that the heroine Travellia in “Assaulted and Pursued Chastity” is able to fulfill everything, that only a man was thought to be able to fulfill. The adaption of the one sex model and the cross dressing character, were in a way tools to get access to the society, in which women were excluded, and not able to show their qualities like Travellia does in disguise. Accordingly we can change the saying into a more fitting phrasing by saying: “Behind every great man “could” be a great woman.”

Works Cited

Cavendish, Margaret. The Convent of Pleasure. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. Print

Holmesland, Oddavar. “Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World: Natural Art and the Body Politic.” Ashgate Critical Essays on Women Writers in England, 1550-1700: Volume 7, Margaret Cavendish. Ed. Mendelson, Sara H., Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2009. 307-330. Print

Rees, Emma L.E. Margaret Cavedish Gender, genre, exile. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003. Print

Glover, David and Kaplan Cora. Genders. London: Routledge, 2000. Print

Laquer, Thomas. Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Up, 1990

Jankowski, Theodora A. Pure Resistance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.

Cavendish, Margaret. The Blazing World and other Writings. Ed. Kate Lilley. London: Penguin Classics,1992. Print

Vern L. and Bonnie Bullogh. Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993. Print

Hotchkiss, Valerie R. Clothes Make the Man Female Cross Dressing in Medieval Europe. London and New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996