History

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  • Created by: Katherine
  • Created on: 15-05-15 11:47

History

Similarities

  • Neale believes that Elizabeth decided not to marry consciously, with the exception to Dudley.
  • There is plenty of evidence of the use of "virgin Queen" propaganda of her reign seen in portraits, speeches and poetry.
  • The advantages of being single outweighed the advantages of marriage. There include:
  • In a patriarchal society, her consort would dominate and she would lose her power.
  • Elizabeth could use her single status as a diplomatic tool in marriage negotiations.

Differences

  • Doran believed that Elizabeth did not make a conscious decision not to marry.
  • Doran states that Elizabeth did intend to marry, however all matched brought with them a set of problems based on them being either a foreign match or an English match.
  • A foreign match caused problems because most eligible suitors were Catholic, it could lead to England being no more than a satellite of that nation and a match with one nation would bring with it that nation's enemies and allies.
  • An English match caused problems because there was a lack of  a partner of a high enough status and a match with an English man would immediately bring his faction considerable power at the expense of others.

Overall comparison

Both agree that ordinary women could not hold authority over men, but ordinary women married. By remaining single, Elizabeth remained an extraordinary status which showed she was no ordinary woman. Some also suggest that Elizabeth had some form of physical disability which meant she did not want to marry. Others have suggested that the experiences of Elizabeth's life had deterred her from marriage. 

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