Quaker Women: Sounding Off in the Name of God

In her book, Words Like Daggers: Violent Female Speech in Early Modern England, Kirilka Stavreva devotes a chapter to the rhetorical and performance power that Quaker women exhibited in the political sphere. The author particularly focuses on addresses, petitions, letters, and visits made by prophets to Whitehall Palace, whether the seat of Cromwell before the restoration or Charles II after. Overall, her argument establishes that Quaker women excelled at targeting their “elite audiences,” employing silence, tone, words, and difference to impact the powerful listeners they spoke to or rather displayed a strategic message to (Stavreva 144). In effect, Quaker women prophets accessed and maintained admittance to a unique stage, one in which the politically influential romped. Moreover, Quaker women did so in an atmosphere that considered the woman prophet to be more dangerous than the male prophet (Stavreva 136). Interestingly, the author also expresses that Quakers achieved a sense of “transgender” in the spiritual exchange, meaning that a given message could be associated with both masculine and feminine ideas at the same time, regardless of the gender of audience or speaker (Stavreva 135). This element of Quaker writing in general will be important to my exploration of how the movement was suited to the assertiveness of female members. On the other hand, as mentioned above, society at large still found the Quaker woman to pose more of a threat to societal norms than male prophets who employed similar narratives. Furthermore, I would like to argue that Quaker women honed their performance techniques first within the Quaker movement, intentionally shaping their spiritual community for the strong participation of women.

                In relation to Stavreva’s argument, I was reminded of a letter from Margaret Fell to Cromwell, in which Fell exhibits a strong admonishment to the leader of England at the time. Although the letter is not necessarily a prophetic text, I believe it reminds of the “rhetorical punch” and possibility for “aural delivery” that Stavreva emphasizes is at the heart of Quaker women’s political impact (Stavreva 133, 137). Written to Cromwell in 1653, Fell states that “the mighty god of power is arisseing [,] the glittering sword of the Lord is drawne to cut downe all fruitelesse trees which hath soe long Cumbred the ground [.]” (Fell, 37). Here, Fell employs rather stark imagery in order to stress the power of the Lord. However, as much as Fell appears as the channel through which God is reaching out to Cromwell, her ministry to the political figure is attuned to his position. She presents an image of a power above the secular, a power that is able to “cut downe all fruitelesse trees,” a hint aimed at Cromwell himself. In this manner, it is easy to see that Quaker women chose their words pointedly, wisely, and in relation to audience. Fell implies an awareness of status, utilizing the harsh visual of a violent God in order to uniquely impact Cromwell as a leader who gained immense power in the midst of and after war. She goes on to urge obedience to the Lord in order to gain a “tender Conscience” (Fell, 37). Therefore, Fell also demonstrates this idea of “transgender speak”, employing both the traditionally masculine, God drawing his sword, and the traditionally feminine, a maternal God instilling tenderness, side by side to present an intense message to Cromwell. Overall, it is clear that Quaker women operated, influenced, and represented ideas in the political arena of seventeenth-century England, reaching people throughout the social and political hierarchy from a position built within the movement itself.

 

Works Cited:

Fell, Margaret. Undaunted Zeal: the Letters of Margaret Fell. Edited by Elsa F. Glines. Richmond, IN:

Friends United Press, 2003.

Stavreva, Kirilka. Words Like Daggers: Violent Female Speech in Early Modern England. Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 2015.