Research Paper On Rachel Speght

Rachel Speght was a poet and polemicist who believed in the rights of women. She was the first Englishwoman to identify herself, by name, as a polemicist and critic of gender belief. Speght, a feminist and a Calvinist, is perhaps best known for her tract “A Mouzell for Melastomus.” It is a prose refutation of Joseph Swetnam’s misogynistic tract, “The Arraignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women,” and a significant contribution to the protestant discourse of biblical exegesis, defending women’s nature and the worth of womankind. She was the first to identify herself, by name, as a polemicist and critic of gender belief. Rachel was one of eight major contributors to the Swetnam and Cross-dressing controversies of 1615-20. She was
Her father, son of John Speght, graduated doctor of divinity from Christ’s College, Cambridge, and was ordained in May 1591. Little is known about her mother however, we know that her mother died before 1621. Shortly after Rachel published her polemic in 1617 she describes her death in “The Dreame” prefixed to “Mortalities Memorandum.” Her mother’s death was an inspiration for her “Mortalities Memorandum.” An important influence in Rachel’s life was her godmother, Mary Moundford. Mary was the wife of Thomas Moundford, Speght dedicated “Mortalities Memorandum” to her godmother. Rachel Speght’s death is unknown, which is probably based on the fact that little information about her life has been researched and
The reading is set up in two parts: A defense of women and is directed to fellow women based mainly of biblical authority and biblical commentaries and it is directed to Swetnam as a refutation of his charges against women by showing the faulty logic underlying misogyny in general. A “Mouzell for Melastomus” is a prose refutation of Joseph Swetnam’s misogynistic “The Arraignment of Lewde, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women.” Hers was the only female response that included her real name in the title page, all other pamphlets written in the Swetnam controversy were published anonymously.

“A Mouzell for Melastomus,” is one of the first semi religious texts published by a women in English. It was entered in the Stationer’s Register on November 1, 1616. “A Mouzell for Melastomus” is more restrained in tone and argument than Swetnam’s scurrilous tract. Speght focused on the dignity of women and of marriage. “A Mouzell for Melastomus” was never reprinted, unlike Swetnam’s tract, which appeared in 1615, 1619, 1628, 1638, 1645, 1690, and several other