The Glory, the Grandeur: ELIZABETH

Queen Elizabeth I as born 1588 and died 1603. She was the daughter of Kin Henry VIII and the 5th and last Tudor Monarch. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, she never married and named James VI of Scotland (later to be renamed James I when crowned King of England) her successor. She had earlier sentenced his mother Mary Queen of Scots to death, but as Professor Little put it, he didn’t take offence to this and considered it “just politics.”
Elizabeth converted England to Protestantism once she was crowned. Her refusal to marry allowed her to portray herself as the “Virgin Queen” and present herself as a substitute for Catholicism’s Virgin Mary. Launching a huge propaganda campaign to reinforce this Cult of VIrginity, she not only equated herself with this Catholic figure, she also presented herself as a representation of England. Elizabethan England was presented as feminine, and the body of the nation was likened to the body of a woman. Elizabeth commissioned numerous portraits of herself with illusions to a penetrable femininity combined with a strength which could repel any advance. Pearls dangling towards her nether regions or a carefully placed fan often represented this duality. This image of the political body of Elizabeth can also be seen in literature from the period.
In 1588 the Spanish Armada attempted a conquest of England but failed due to a combination of bad weather and the efforts of the British Navy. This bolstered British senses of pride and nationalism, and during the 1580’s and early 90’s England enjoyed a prosperous economy and a rise in the Middle-class. In the late 1590’s however, people became worried. This was an era of disillusionment in which people lost faith in the supernatural. Catholicism offered no answers, yet neither did Protestantism. This disillusionment can be seen in Macbeth and Twelfth Night especially. Macbeth often receives prophetic guidance from the witches which seems to defy nature. However, the forests don’t actually rise against him and Macduff was a caesarian birth. Twelfth Night also comments of this era of disillusionment with its critique of a festive culture.
Samantha Moeller