English 174: Elizabeth I and Her Age

It is interesting to go from books and movies about Queen Elizabeth, to actually reading pieces of work she herself wrote or said. I think her speech about marriage is one that ties everything together. I mean, in everything we have seen or read about Elizabeth in class so far, the main topic is her marriage. Whether her counsel is telling her to marry, she is using the marriage card to play suitors against each other, how she cannot marry Robert, how she does not need to marry, or when she finally declares she is married to England. After all, Elizabeth was known as the “Virgin Queen” who never married. So it is interesting to see how she used the words to basically tell her counsel that she is in no rush to marry. She talks about how God put her on the throne right now, that it must be his plan to make a woman England’s monarch. Then she says how it is not that she objects to marriage, but that right now the time is not right for her to marry. Right now, it is her people she cares most about… It is her people that give her the strength to fight illness, to not fear the threats on her life, and to be the best Queen she can for them. I just like how we are able to see what has really happened in Elizabeth’s life, instead of trying to sort out truth from lies (to sell more products).