This article responds to a recent call for increased scholarship on nature in Marguerite de Navarre’s writings. It analyses the relationship between the Spirit and nature in Les Prisons, one of the queen’s last and richest texts. Thus far, the role of nature in Les Prisons has elicited only secondary interest among scholars, with some framing the natural world as a prison due to its materiality. This study re-evaluates that framing. Taking nature as a central topic of analysis and bringing it into dialogue with the numerous biblical intertexts in Les Prisons, the analysis reveals that, far from functioning as a prison, nature constitutes God’s Creation and becomes a tool of the Holy Spirit, who employs aspects of nature to liberate the imprisoned male speaker, Amy. Moreover, this study shows that the text highlights the liberating role of nature by contrasting it with the confinement associated with built structures.
Theresa Brock (Sun,) studied this question.
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