Virtualisation of Gender of Queen Elizabeth I - Essay Example

Queen Elizabeth I Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Elizabethan Culture 4 Virtualisation of Gender of Queen Elizabeth I 5 Virginity and Queenship 6 Elizabeth I and Heritage Culture 9 Conclusion 10 References 12 Bibliography 15 Introduction Queen Elizabeth I was born in the year 1533 on 7th September who later took up the throne of England as a Queen. Being the third successor to the throne, the chances of her ascending the throne was quite uncertain. The Queen even faced severe violence in the early phases of her life. There were several rebels against her and she even intently escaped a conspiracy to her murder during 1554. After the decease of Elizabeth I’s half sister in the year 1558 who was the then Queen, Elizabeth I took up the throne. The Queen proved her skills and became the best ruler of her era. Her 45 year rule is considered as the ‘golden era’ of England (Crown, 2009). The Queen was proficient and had the huge political foresight. Her selfless attitude towards her kingdom is depicted through her decision of not getting married. As getting married to a foreign king would make England vulnerable to the foreign policies and would easily be drawn into the political turmoil. The Elizabethan era was the one of the most promising period of England’s history. The phase was noted to be filled with both knowledge and prosperity of the kingdom. The Queen was one of the best rulers of her times and reflected huge amount of care for subjects. Even though she was not very widely accepted by her subjects who considered her a protestant, the kindness that Elizabeth I portrayed for her subjects during her reign of almost a half century was irreplaceable and commendable. Furthermore, Elizabeth I handled the situation of financial turmoil and religious conflicts that her predecessor has left very tactfully (Stump & Felch, 2009). With this concern the essay presents the rich understanding on the historical portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I. Furthermore, the essay provides considerable insights about different aspects of the society during her reign. Elizabethan Culture Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most knowledgeable and sound queens among her siblings. The Queen was fluent in six languages and had a huge urge of learning. Elizabeth I faced massive uncertain situations during the early years of her life. She was secluded from her family and had spent her life in her half brothers home. This seclusion from the normal life could not make her distressed and she devoted her initial years of life and adulthood in nurturing the different literatures (Guy, 1995). These initial years of upbringing has influenced her ruling periods to a greater extent. The initial phase of her life and during her adolescence, the Queen portrayed a selfless character and hugely depicted her attitude of taking care of others. The Queen is often portrayed to be a representation of women power and English Renaissance. However, the term ‘courtship’ came into existence during her reign and the femaleness of the Queen largely influenced her reign over the male dominated society. The queen inflicted different meanings of courtship that was broadly viewed to be a rule of the feminist over a male dominated society (Bates, 1992). Howard (1986) noted that the Elizabethan culture that was initiated into the society after the rule of Queen Elizabeth I was highly inclined with the reforms brought into the relationships. The reign Elizabeth I was observed to be a changing situation for the prevalent cultures of England. Many theorists and historians criticized her portrayal of authority in the society. Holstun (2008) depicted that the Elizabethan era made the new era of historicism that are still prominent in the present day. The life story of the Queen had a huge influence on her approach towards the new introduced courtship. This could be justified through her father’s (Henry VIII) approach towards the use of violence of Henry VIII on his Queens. However, the male dominated society blatantly criticized her for not following the societal rules and getting married. She was openly portrayed to be having a dual personality having both masculine and feminine traits (Winterson, 2009). Conversely, King (1990) portrays the Queen to be a worshipper of the universal religion of love and even sacrificed her personal life for the love of her subjects. “Virginity of the Queen was used as a powerful political weapon all through here reign” (King, 1990, pp. 31). Virtualisation of Gender of Queen Elizabeth I Since the era of monarchy, the image of a monarch has been that of a man and the society of monarchy was filled with masculinity. Queen Matilda was the first female to succeed the throne of the monarchical rule followed by the two sisters, Mary I and Elizabeth I during the 16th century. Elizabeth I was the strongest among the Tudor Queens and was one of the female monarchs of England to leave a prominent mark of her reign (Mueller, 2001). The virtual gender of the queen majorly depicted that she was capable of carrying out all the feminine actions of her personal life, but that was completely virtually anticipated by the authors. This was done as the queen majorly sacrificed her personal life for the development of the kingdom. This virtualisation of her gender had often influenced her to follow all the societal rules that are bestowed on a woman. Nevertheless, during her rule she came across the need that her kingdom had and with the motive to develop a secular nation, the queen went against the orthodox portrayal of women (Beemer, 2011). The Queen Elizabeth I was portrayed to be a woman who has a virtual character that relates to her social self, but has sacrificed the same for the sake of the betterment of her subjects. The queen was successful in portraying her strong position in the male dominant society by developing a better system within the society and empowering the position of the women. The portrayal of Elizabeth I was in accordance with the different power that are prevalent among women. The rhetoric as well as the modern historians has largely failed to relate the Queen with the feminist as well as traditionalist portrayal of women. In several instances the queen had been showing the generosity that of a woman and at certain instances she depicted herself to be as strong as a man. While in other instances, the queen even politicised her position of being virgin and acquired widespread support form majority of the society (Lisa, 1994). Virginity and Queenship The lifestyle of Queen Elizabeth I was quite different from the general ladies of her era and she secluded herself from the normal setting of the society and from the normal life. Historically, the orthodox behaviour of the society towards the women are inclined towards portraying women as child bearers and are solely responsible for moving forwards the society. Similarly, the court and councillors of Elizabeth I had exerted profound pressure on her to develop her responsibility as women and bear child for the kingdom. The appellants’ views were completely discarded by the queen and she termed it to be God’s order to take care of her subjects (Mueller, 2001). Tudor rule of England faced several amount of turmoil in relation to the marriages and relationship. Henry VIII himself had several controversial marriages that had a huge impact on adolescence of Elizabeth I. The Queen chose to be virgin and denied to marry for the rest of the life as she wanted to dedicate her life for the welfare and the prosperity of her subjects. On a larger note the societal setting of the women coaxed her decision to stay virgin and she even came up to address her subjects. Responding to one of her minister’s exhortation to request, to show motherly care the queen responded “I assure you all that though after my death you may have many step-dames, yet you shall never have any a more mother, than I mean to be unto you all” (Mueller, 2001, pp. 4). Hall (2008) further affirmed on the symbolic marriage of Elizabeth I with her Kingdom of England. However, the queen received sever amount of denigration from her subjects in relation to her selection of virginity and motherhood. The Queen cleverly veiled her position by her metamorphic motherhood and claimed her subjects to be her descendants. In another similar instance, she tactfully handled her jibe for marriage by claiming England to be her symbolic husband. She further elaborated that she is in nuptial bond with the Kingdom and is bonded to serve the country as her husband for lifetime. Correspondingly, the orthodox perspective of the commoner in England failed to relate to the female monarchy (Hall, 2008; Rose, 2002). However, in the later years of her rules, she never proclaimed her position to be motherly towards her subjects. Rather she addressed herself to be a nurturer and caregiver to her subjects and even politicised her virginity towards developing her position in the society (Rose, 2002). Elizabeth I Character Analysis The huge influence of the Queens upbringing was observed in her character. The initial years of Queen Elizabeth I’s life has had a huge impact on the later years of her life. The unrest which the queen has faced during her initial years of life had a huge impact on shaping her later years and even severely affected the personality of the queen. Many historians portray the queen as a politicised lady who has been nurturing her political career by depicting her denial of personal life. The huge display of the power politics, which she depicted in her reign, could be justified through her way of nurturing the different situations and moulding the same in her favour. This further elaborated on the strong character that she had developed owing to her turbulent youth. The queen’s explanation of divinity was quite unjustified as it was clearly linked with her denial of personal life. This again depicted her desire for power and position in the male dominated society. Moreover, the different portrayal of her power could be observed when she started learning the arts and skills required for a successful ruler. The queen depicted her position to be parallel and competitive to that of the monarch. Conversely, her position in reasoning her virginity and denial of portraying herself with the general identity of women was arbitrary in nature. The denial of the different earthy life was depicted to be her plan for developing her political career. This was further observed to be her tactical development of her political career. Notwithstanding, the different strategic development of her approaches to take her right is observed through the prolonged phase of self-reliance and control that she developed in her life. This could be easily justifiable through the tactical development that she incorporated into developing her position in the male dominated society. Many critics even commented on the Queens portrayal of masculinity through her reign and power politics that she displayed all through 45years of her reign. Critics even contended on her initial denial of wearing elaborate jewelleries, as princess used to do in her era was also a tactical showcase of developing popularity. The Queen during the war against the Spanish troops commented that she bestowed the courage and was well adept in taking her enemies life. The Queen even addressed her troops saying: “I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king and of a king of England too” (Mueller, 2001, p. 12). The Queen was even depicted to be very suspicious, she had very less faith on her subjects, and it was observed that the she had assigned few qualified individuals to oversee the actions of her spies. This could be justified from the speech of Roger Rover in the book, “The Battle of the Sun” where he claimed, “it seems that the Queen has spies to spy on her spies” (Winterson, 2009). Moreover, the queens’ anticipation about people was well developed and was meticulous in identifying the people who have hidden intentions. This was observed by the way the Queen talked to Roger Rover and expressed that the pirate had a keen interest of accumulating money. Correspondingly, in Orlando, the different scenarios depicted that the portrayal of the Queen who only had the love for saving her Kingdom and it even portrays the Queen to foregone all her wealth and life for the sake of her Kingdom. This can be duly justified with her statement, “Save my kingdom and ask what you will- lands, houses, honours” (Winterson, 2009; Potter, 2008). Furthermore, in Orlando the different changes were observed to have an impact on the Kingdom. However, there had been no major changes that were prevalent in the life of the ordinary people than that it was initially under the Queen Elizabeth I. Conversely, the subjects who were not satisfied by her suggested that they were more satisfied by her than the later queens (Woolf, 2014). Elizabeth I and Heritage Culture The review of the period of the Elizabethan era depicted the societal settings in relation to the different social needs. These included position of women in the society, gender biasness and inequality in class. This further encouraged the narrative description of the different biases that were prevalent in the society based on the gender-based distinctions. Moreover, her culture was majorly based on the different learning and literatures she has gone through. The era of Queen Elizabeth I was full of the different voyages and discoveries (Kapur, 2007; Doran, 2003). It was in her reign that the famous writer William Shakespeare was born. The era was a golden era of the English rule. Elizabeth I was successful in developing a stable situation in the Kingdom. The disruptive phases that were faced before the rule of Queen Elizabeth I came to an end by her political and well developed approaches. These stable situations were largely observed to be acting as a positive force for the development of the heritage culture in England (Hollihan, 2011). Furthermore, the Queen’s intervention in establishing a church was also observed to have a positive impact on the development of the culture of the Kingdom. The development of art and architecture flourished rapidly during her phase where different cultures prospered and grew in the Kingdom. This further enhanced the conditions of the Kingdom both financially and strategically. Moreover, the Kingdom successfully established its glory and her faith in developing a secular state was finally enhanced during the phase (Hulse, 2003). It was during the rule of the Queen Elizabeth I that the different arts and architectures flourished leaving a long lasting impression on the world. Furthermore, by enhancing her omnipotence the Queen could develop a sovereign state within the kingdom and enhance the different approaches of her queenship. The same has been depicted in the movie through the portrayal of the queen as a politically developed woman. Moreover, the Queen selfless attitude was observed had a strong impact on the development of the kingdom and England flourished during the phase (Kapur, 2007; Latham, 2011). Conclusion The historical evidences discussed above, make it clear that the queen was portrayed in a very different way. The display of the power politics that was evident in her character was observed have a very positive impact on the development of the Kingdom. The different approaches adopted by her had huge impact on the development of the Kingdom. Furthermore, the display of her power politics was justifiable owing to the fact that the situations of the Kingdom was not at all in a secured way. The turbulence she faced in her initial years was observed have impact in enhancing her position in the social system. The turbulent upbringing and stressful days of her life has made her a strong character and even influenced the development of her personality. These trends were observed to be affecting her personality and even influenced her development in the larger domain. Furthermore, the betrayal that she received from her love in the initial phase of life had influenced her decision of leading a maiden life. However, this decision was largely criticised by few prominent historians who firmly believed that her decision to remain life long maiden or virgin was predominately influenced by her desire of gaining political power and authority. Correspondingly, her love and dedication towards her Kingdom was indubitable. The way she mentioned England to be her husband in one of her speeches depicts her intense love for her Kingdom. The turbulent situations that the Kingdom faced prior to her rule and the threats that were prevalent for her subjects were the prime concerns of the Queen. Certainly, getting married to a foreign king would definitely increase the exposure of risks to the foreign policies. Conclusively, it was during the Elizabethan era that marked the growth of English literature and drama. References Beemer, C., 2011. The Female Monarchy: A Rhetorical Strategy of Early Modern Rule. Rhetoric Review, Vol. 30, Iss. 3, pp. 258-274. Bates, C., 1992. The Rhetoric of Courtship in Elizabethan Language and Literature. Cambridge University Press. Burt, D. S., 2001. The Biography Book: A Readers Guide to Nonfiction, Fictional, and Film Biographies of More Than 500 of the Most Fascinating Individuals of All Time. Greenwood Publishing Group. Crown, 2009. Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603). The British Monarchy. [Online] Available at: http://www.royal.gov.uk/historyofthemonarchy/kingsandqueensofengland/thetudors/elizabethi.aspx [Accessed November 20, 2014]. Doran, S., 2003. Queen Elizabeth I. New York University Press. Guy, J. A., 1995. The Reign of Elizabeth I: Court and Culture in the Last Decade. Cambridge University Press. Hall, J. M., 2008. Elizabeth’s Symbolic Marriage to England: A History of Lasting Union. Early English Studies, Vol. 1, pp. 1-18. Hollihan, K. L., 2011. Elizabeth I, the Peoples Queen: Her Life and Times, 21 Activities. Chicago Review Press. Howard, J. E., 1986. The New Historicism in Renaissance Studies. English Literary Renaissance, Vol. 16, Iss. 1, pp. 13-20. Hulse, C., 2003. Elizabeth I: Ruler and Legend. University of Illinois Press. Kapur, S., 2007. Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Youtube. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W7tENJhPsU [Accessed 22 November, 2014]. King, J. N., 1990. Queen Elizabeth I: Representations of the Virgin Queen. Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 30-74. Latham, B., 2011. Elizabeth I in Film and Television: A Study of the Major Portrayals. McFarland. Lisa, H., 1994. Elizabeth I amongst the Women. UCLA Historical Journal, Vol. 14, pp. 204-210. Mueller, J., 2001. Virtue and Virtuality: Gender in the Self-Representations of Queen Elizabeth I. University of Chicago, pp. 1-20. Potter, S., 2008. Orlando. Youtube [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbDFcoXkj7U [Accessed 22 November, 2014]. Rose, M. B., 2002. Gender and Heroism in Early Modern English Literature. University of Chicago Press. Stump, D. V. & Felch, S. M., 2009. Elizabeth I and Her Age: Authoritative Texts, Commentary and Criticism. W.W. Norton & Company. Winterson, J., 2009. The Battle of the Sun. A&C Black. Woolf, V., 2014. Orlando. Lettere Animate Editore. Bibliography Ashworth, L., 2002. Queen Elizabeth I. Cherrytree Books. Jansohn, C., 2004. Queen Elizabeth I: Past and Present. LIT Verlag Münster. May, S. W., 2005. Queen Elizabeth I: Selected Works. Simon and Schuster. Thomas, J. R., 1998. Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Read More