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Abstract:
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Early modern perceptions of oceanic space diverged from standard perceptions of nature on land (or land -nature ) because oceans presented a different type of wilderness . Because oceans defied early modern definitions of nature , they refused to support the developing mechanistic approach in the way that land -nature did . My argument begins with a chapter exploring science and nature in the early modern period . My second chapter expands this demonstration with an exploration of The Tempest . Shakespeare's self -reflexivity and exploration of boundaries in representing islands and oceans exemplifies their liminal position within nature . In my final chapter , I examine Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World to examine how the liminal position of oceans within the humankind -nature paradigm necessitated a hybrid mechanistic -organic relationship and representation . These explorations illuminate how oceans , as an extraterrestrial space distanced from traditional , terrestrial nature , constituted a different kind of natural phenomenon and contributed to a global mentality . |