Male and Female Spiders

In her poem “Of the Spider,” Margaret Cavendish distinguishes between the tasks of the female house spider and the male spider who hunts abroad. She uses the language of weaving but depicts the location and all of the equipment (the shop, the wheel, the distaff) as inside the spider’s body. The house of ropes and nets in which she sits is one of her own making, with the sinister purpose of holding the weight of bodies, her prey. The male spider similarly ensnares prey, but outside in the natural world. Cavendish compares him to a host who violates the laws of hospitality by killing his guests, again using domestic imagery.

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle
Of the Spider

The Spiders Housewifry no Webs doth spin,
To make her Cloath, but Ropes to hang Flies in.
Her Bowels are the Shop, where Flax is found,
Her Body is the Wheele that goeth round.
A Wall her Distaff, where she sticks Thread on,
The Fingers are the Feet that pull it long.
And wheresoever she goes, nere idle sits,
Nor wants a House, builds one with Ropes, and Nets.
Though it be not so strong, as Brick, and Stone,
Yet strong enough to beare light Bodies on.
Within this House the Female Spider lies,
The whilst the Male doth hunt abroad for Flies.
Nere leaves, till he the Flies gets in, and there
Intangles him within his subtle Snare.
Like Treacherous Host, which doth much welcome make,
Yet watches how his Guests Life he may take.

Source: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, Poems and fancies (London, 1653), p. 151. EEBO. [original italics are preserved]