Film Analysis: “Elizabeth: the Golden Age” Essay

big businessman Elizabeth I was one of the near(prenominal)(prenominal) memor suitable, close to discussed and most write closely monarch yetterfly non solitary(prenominal) in England, but in horse opera tarradiddle (Dobson and Watson 2 Rozett 103). She was the wholly monarch that historians attributed an holy era of incline accounting after. The drive Elizabeth the easy time is an example of the poufs popularity in literature.Although much of the picture palace had accurately interpret the emotional state of the queen mole rat as to the modestness why the Elizabethan period of England was synonymous to the period of repose and prosperity, t here(predicate) were a soma of discrepancies amidst the instruction sh accept in the hire against data retrieved from diachronic records. This paper would be presenting these discrepancies as thoroughly as an insight on queen regnant Elizabeth Is visual sense to state of contendds marriage and psychological pr ofile. The movie theater Elizabeth the thriving Age was set in the socio-economic class 1565, when Spain was con lookred as the most powerful pudding stone in Western history and was chthonian the practice of powerfulness Philip II.In social club to achieve his goal to spread the Catholic faith across europium, Philip II began what he considered as a holy war. This war had allowed him to conquer all the European countries, bar for England which was still under the rule of a Protestant ottoman, Elizabeth I. Although non directly stated, the dart implied that it was in the year 1585 that Philip II determined it was time to purify England from the clutches of the nonplus rulight-emitting diode by a woman of the street (Elizabeth the halcyon Age). The inject depicted King Philip II clearly as someone who extremely despised power Elizabeth I in her entirety.However, Campion and Holleran stated that when pansy Elizabeth I ascended the slew in 1558, King Philip II in particular proposed marriage to the queen. Although she politely declined is marriage proposal, she legitimate the advice and protection that King Philip II offered to her (2). Meanwhile, in a meeting with her political advisers, pouf Elizabeth I was warned that her demesne was this instant split by religion. Half of the country was instantaneously practicing the Catholic faith with the other one-half practicing the Protestant faith.They recommended to the top executive that measures must be taken against the English Catholics. This was beca engagement her advisers saying the English followers of the Catholic faith as a panic to Elizabeth Is reign because of 2 reasons. The first was that since they were practicing the Catholic, this meant that they had confederate themselves with both the Pope and the kingdom of Spain, who has been considered in the occupy as Englands superior enemy. The second was that the Catholics no longer recognised Elizabeth I as their ruler.Ra ther, their loyalty had shifted to bloody shame Stuart, the promotes cousin-german and whom they regarded as the rightful Queen-in-waiting. Queen Elizabeth I responded to her advisers that she would non punish her people because of their phantasmal beliefs and apprised them that she had been told that the people still revered her as their Queen (Elizabeth the Golden Age). The incision in England, brought about by religious beliefs, had been a problem that did not go by during Queen Elizabeth Is reign.Instead, this division was an issue that the Queen inherited from her predecessors, bloody shame Tudor and her father, Henry VIII. According to historic records, Henry VIII rejected the grandiloquent authority in 1534 and fabricated the agnomen of Supreme Head of the National perform. With the ascent of bloody shame Tudor to the throne in 1553, she sought to reconcile the English Church with the Church of Rome. Initially, Elizabeth I was considered to be discuss when it cam e to religious affairs since she was more(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) relate in keeping her throne, put forwarding the peace and the furtherance of the prosperity of England.Furthermore, Elizabeth I herself evaluate deuce-ace different religions during her vitalitytime Anglo-Catholic, Catholic, and Protestant. This was why she did not see the English Catholics as a threat and refrained herself from imposing severe punishments. She did, however, promote religious uniformity by background signal an example. She had as well as pressured her subjects to abandon their resistance to the establish Church of England (Campion and Holleran 11-14 Cole 2 Taylor-Smither 63).Sir Francis Walsingham revealed to Queen Elizabeth I in the film that an black lotion plot called the opening of England was disc overed masterminded by the Spanish monarchy. The plot included two armies were situated along the coasts of Sussex and Norfolk. They were waiting for the orderliness to assis t bloody shame Stuart to assassinate Elizabeth I and to put bloody shame Stuart on the throne of England. When she learned about the blackwash attempt, Queen Elizabeth I confronted the ambassadors of Philip II to England.This caused the ambassadors to end their powerfulness in disgrace and to view her as the center of an inter issue Protestant gang inciting a rebellion both in the Netherlands and in France (Doran Elizabeth I and international Policy, 1558-1603 8 Elizabeth the Golden Age). Upon the discovery of the black lotion plot, bloody shame Stuart had given the order to extend the black lotion plot on the Queen. part she was in perform, one of the supporters of the endeavour of England managed to give out by the guards at the front of the church and attempt to kill the Queen with the use of a pistol.However, the pistol used was unarmed, and the Queen survived the assassination attempt. The assassin and the other members of the Enterprise of England were captured, imprisoned and tortured. Later, Sir Walsingham and so confronted bloody shame Stuart with regards to the assassination attempt on the Queen and her function to the plot. She was accordingly presented the orders she had given out to the members of the Enterprise of England to proceed with the assassination of the Queen. bloody shame Stuart was seek and true for treason and was executed by kill. It was only after the operation of bloody shame Stuart that Sir Walsingham agnise the true intention of Spain.Through the capital punishment of Mary Stuart who was both a Catholic and an ally of Spain, England provided Philip II a reason to wage war against England (Elizabeth the Golden Age). Although this served as the climax of the entire film, it in any case contained the most of the discrepancies on diachronic accounts and records save for Mary Stuarts involvement in the assassination attempt on the life story of Queen Elizabeth I. This did not come as a surprise since in th at respect fuck off been numerous documents and literary works where the events of the life of Queen Elizabeth I were re-arranged.An example of this was the account do by Sir Walter Scott entitled Kenilworth where he changed the events so that Amy Robsart, the first wife of Robert Dudley which descendred in 1560 would coincide with the entertainment spectacle at Kenilworth which occurred in 1575 (Rozett 104). Mary Stuart, who was as well as kn deliver in history as Mary, Queen of Scots, became the Queen of Scotland after her birth in 1542. She hook up with the Dauphin of France and became the Queen of France when he ascended the throne in 1559. Her reign as Queen of France was only short-lived, since her husband died a year afterward his ascent to the throne.She then returned to Scotland to assume her deposit as the Queen of Scots upon the delayder of her bring forth. Her succeeding marriages were met with such s whoremasterdal. Of these marriages, the most black was he r marriage to the Earl of Bothwell, who had been considered as the alleged liquidator of her second husband. Her marriage to the Earl of Bothwell resulted to a national uprising where she was defeated in 1567. She was then forced to sign a document on the threat of death to depart from her throne and title of the Queen of Scotland.She tried to regain her title by upbringing another army which was in addition defeated. She then sought protection on her life in England and her cousin, Elizabeth I. Out indignationd by the actions through with(p) by the Scottish lords against her cousin, Elizabeth I defend her cousin and detained her as a captive (Campion and Holleran 2-3 Perry 145-46). Since the death of Mary Tudor and Elizabeth Is ascension to the English throne, Mary Stuart had expressed publicly her legitimate claim to the English throne since her mother was the eldest sister of Henry VIII, Elizabeth Is father.Even though she was a prisoner in England, she tolerateed to be a threat to Elizabeth I. When reports were brought to Queen Elizabeth Is charge that her cousin was involved in assassination plots against her, Parliament go for Mary Stuarts writ of execution. Initially, Elizabeth I did not consider this pick since there was no manifest that proved the allegations against Mary Stuart. That all changed upon when Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the assassination plot against the Queen called the Babington plot.To gather evidence regarding the involvement of Mary Stuart on the plot, he ordered Mary Stuart to be moved to a house where she could be more closely monitored and appointed a modern jailer who was less sympathetic to Mary Stuart. Soon, Mary Stuart began to receive news from Europe which were smuggled to her through water verification packages inserted in the bungholes of beer kegs. Unknown to Mary Stuart, Sir Walsingham had already intercepted these messages and had managed to rewrite them before Mary Stuart and her confidantes rec eived them.It was here that Sir Walsingham discovered that the plotters of the assassination of the Queen were headed by a rich and idealistic Catholic squire named Anthony Babington and that there were sixty gibibyte Spanish and English soldiers ready to surrender Mary upon receiving her plaudit. She approved the assassination and her economy in writing. Sir Walsingham presented to Elizabeth I the directions and approval written by Mary Stuart in her own handwriting as evidence and proof of the allegations made against Mary Stuart.After defend Mary Stuart for nineteen long time, Elizabeth I was compelled by law to transfer Mary to Fortheringhay move where she was tried and was found guilty on the crime of treason. She was executed by beheading in 1587. The betrayal brought by Mary Stuart to attempt to assassinate her, Elizabeth Is outlook towards Catholics began to change and saw them as traitors and a threat to her life. This resulted in her implementing sterner laws against Catholics were oblige with penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment, torture and death (Campion and Holleran 11-14 Taylor-Smither 63 doubting doubting Thomas 147-48).King Philip II launched his Spanish Armada against England a year after the execution of Mary Stuart. This finality was not influenced by the execution of Mary Stuart. Rather, it was a result of the declining kind between the two countries. Between the years of 1565 and 1566, m any members of the Spanish nobles had demanded Philip II to forgo the Spanish search because they viewed his measures against Protestantism as an attempt to extend Spanish control over the ecclesiastical affairs as a drive to undermine traditional privileges of Spain.This Inquisition was temporarily placed on decl atomic number 18 due to the constant threats of the Turks to Spain. The moment the Turks sign-language(a) a series of treaties with Spain, it gave King Philip II the opportunity to once again act his goal to expand Spanish rule over Europe (Doran Elizabeth I and remote Policy, 1558-1603 6-10). The relationship between Spain and England had begun to deteriorate as a result of a number of events that had occurred between King Philip IIs courtship to Queen Elizabeth I and the war between Spain and England.Among these events were the voyages of Francis Drake around the world which were on the Q.T. supported by Elizabeth I. On vertex of the products from the novel beingness, Drake in any case looted the Spanish galleons he came across of which the Queen accepted a portion of when he returned from his journeys in 1580 (Doran Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy, 1558-1603 9). The Spanish Armada greatly outnumbered the English army because the population of England was importantly lower than that of Spain which resulted in fewer able men to be enlisted in the army.Also, the multitude technology of the English army was far-off behind than any other European countries and it was impossible for Queen Elizabet h I to maintain an army financially because during the four decades of her reign, most of the financial resources were allotted to the maintenance of the coalesce of politics, socializing and ceremonies that the Queen accomplished through travels around the kingdom (Cole 1 Doran Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy, 1558-1603 7 Frye 100 Thomas 160). As the Spanish Armada drew near, Elizabeth I gathered her small army and support them with a short oration which is now known as the Oration at Tilbury Camp. This short run-in was considered by most writers and historians accepted as one of the beat out speeches composed by a monarch in Englands history. The most prominent line in the speech which was mentioned in the film, although reworded, was I come to lay grim for my god, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honor and my blood in the spread I know I take a leak the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I invite the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England in lik e manner (Elizabeth the Golden Age Frye 98 dark-green 424-26).Perhaps what made Queen Elizabeth I such an enigma for many historians and writers was her decision to remain un married, which is why she has been referred to in history as the Virgin Queen. Her decision to remain unwedded stretched down to her ladies-in-waiting and her courtiers such that, in order for them to be married, they must first strain the approval of the Queen. Those who married in secret would convey to face the wrath of the Queen and might even have to face imprisonment.Such was the case in the movie when she lashed out against Bess, her favorite lady-in-waiting and Walter capital of North Carolina when she discovered they had not only married without her consent, but were expecting a child. Although there are no documentation discovered regarding the clash between Queen Elizabeth I, Walter Raleigh and Bess, there are numerous accounts on the outbursts of fretfulness the Queen exemplified upon the d iscovery of the secret marriages of the members of her court. The most documented was the incident between Queen Elizabeth I and one of her ladies-in-waiting named Mary Shelton.When Elizabeth I discovered Mary Sheltons marriage to James Scudamore, she exploded and demanded why Mary Shelton or James Scudamore did not seek her approval before they got married. One witness stated that Mary Shelton was hit copiously by the angered Queen and was attacked by the Queen with a candlestick which caused Mary Sheltons finger to be scattered (Doran Monarchy and Matrimony 5-6 Elizabeth the Golden Age beat 80-81). Historical records provided two reasons on why Queen Elizabeth I decided to remain unmarried throughout her reign.One is that it was her own decision in order to be able to trim all her heed to the affairs of the kingdom. This was evident in the speech that she had made at Parliament in 1559 when the members of Parliament presented her a quest to conjoin. She responded to this p etition by stating that she was already married to her husband, the landed estate of England. This cosmos the case, she did not see any reason why she should still marry a man. Another reason historical records presented in connection to her choosing to remaining unmarried were her cousin, Mary Stuart and the circumstances surrounding her cousins marriage.As mentioned earlier, Mary Stuarts marriage to her third husband led to a civil uprising in Scotland. After cosmos defeated in the civil uprising, the Scottish lords forced Mary Stuart to abdicate the throne of Scotland and her title as Queen of Scotland. Queen Elizabeth I saw her cousins marriage as the primary cause of her cousins downfall and feared that should she marry, the uniform events might happen to her (Doran Monarchy and Matrimony 2 King 30-33 Taylor-Smither 61).Psychologists have also presented studies to explain Queen Elizabeth Is decision to remain unmarried. ground on their findings, psychologists concluded th at Queen Elizabeth I was a wrongfulnessd human universe, found on Sigmund Freuds theory of temper. This damage occurred during her childhood when she witnessed not only her father, King Henry VIII, accusing her mother, Anne Boylen, of the crime of adultery, but also she witnessed her mothers execution by beheading after she was tried and found guilty of the crime.This childhood memory touch Queen Elizabeth Is personality such that she began to embody the traits of males. It also caused her to identify with males in terms of being dominant and acting traits of fearlessness and being aggressive. Because of these personality traits that Queen Elizabeth I adopt and portrayed, it would make it impossible for her to become a wife and a mother because the personality traits that a wife and a mother during this period included being pliant to her husband and to the holds of her children.Psychologists have also noted her uncontrollable and sudden bursts of rage and mood swings. An example of this was seen in the film when she found out that her favorite lady-in-waiting, Bess, not only married Walter Raleigh, but also is expecting a child. This was also evident in historical records when she attacked her lady-in-waiting named Mary Shelton and James Scumadore upon breeding that they married without first seeking her approval for their union. These events led modern-day psychologists to conclude that Queen Elizabeth I was suffering from clinical delirium.This hysteria was brought about by the unconscious anxieties that she was experiencing as a result of her witnessing her mothers trial and execution as well as by feelings of jealousy. This jealously was exemplified in the film when Queen Elizabeth I confided to Bess that she was overjealous of Bess because although she was a Queen, there were many things that her lady-in-waiting may enjoy which she, as a Queen, can never experience (Doran Monarchy and Matrimony 5-6 Elizabeth the Golden Age Hammer 81).In gen eral, the characterization of the life of Queen Elizabeth I in the film Elizabeth the Golden Age was acceptable, if not accurate. It showed the two sides of the Queen. On one hand, she was a fearless leader devoted to her country and her duties as Queen that she would rather leave personal joys such as being married in order to concentrate on her obligations to her kingdom. She also proved that, in period where women are considered as low to men, a woman did not need a man by her side in order to rule a country.Her experiences during her childhood allowed her to develop important characteristics that a leader during this period must possess dominance, ruthlessness, aggression and fearlessness. On the other hand, the film also depicted the Queen as an emotionally weak human being. The same childhood experiences that helped her develop her admirable qualities also caused her to become clinically hysterical found on the findings of modern-day psychologists.Her condition caused her to exemplify sudden emotional outbursts of rage which affected the lives of those who served her court with her outbursts at times causing harm to those who have remained loyal to her. However, the re-arrangement do in the film with regards on the timeline and reasons for events to occur may have provided confusing information for the viewers of the film since these events have been re-arranged provided as Sir Walter Scott had done centuries before in order to correlate the events presented in the film to each other even if historical records showed otherwise.It can only be assumed that the re-arrangement and changes on the relationship of the events that occurred during the timeline presented in the film may have been done in order for the film to become more exciting to view and to highlight more on the positive qualities of the Queen which made her the most popular monarch of Western history. Works Cited Campion, Edmund and James V. Holleran. A Jesuit Challenge Edmund Campion s Debates at the Tower of London in 1581. New York Fordham University Press, 1999. (4) Cole, Mary Hill.The Portable Queen Elizabeth I and the Politics of Ceremony. Amherst, MA University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. (2) Dobson, Michael and Nicola J. Watson. Englands Elizabeth an Afterlife in Fame and Fantasy. Oxford, UK Oxford University Press, 2003. (1) Doran, Susan. Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy, 1558-1603. New York Routledge, 2000. (4) Doran, Susan. Monarchy and Matrimony the Courtships of Elizabeth I. New York Taylor & Francis Routledge, 1996. (3) Elizabeth the Golden Age. Dir. Shekar Kapur. Perf. Cate Blanchett, Geoffry Rush, AbbieCornish, and Samantha Morton. 2007. DVD. Universal Studios, 2008. (7) Frye, Susan. The Myth of Elizabeth at Tilbury. one-sixteenth atomic number 6 Journal. 23. 1 (1992) 95- 114. (2) Green, Janet M. I Myself Queen Elizabeth Is Oration at Tilbury Camp. Sixteenth cytosine Journal. 28. 2 (1997) 421-45. (1) Hammer, capital of Minnesota E. J. Sex and the Virgin Queen grim Concupiscence and the Court of Elizabeth I. Sixteenth Century Journal. 31. 1 (2000) 77-97. (2) King, John N. Queen Elizabeth I Representations of the Virgin Queen. Renaissance Quarterly. 43. 1 (1990) 30-74. (1) Perry, Maria. The say of a Prince A biography of Elizabeth I from Contemporary Documents. Rochester, NY Boydell and Brewer Ltd. , 1990. (1) Rozett, Martha Tuck. Constructing a World Shakespeare England and the New Historical Fiction. Albany, NY University of New York Press, 2003. (2) Taylor-Smither, Larissa J. Elizabeth I A Psychological Profile. Sixteenth Century Journal. 15. 1 (1984) 47-72. (3) Thomas, Jane Rush. Behind the Mask the Life of Queen Elizabeth I. New York Houghton- Mifflin Trade and Reference, 1998. (2)