Queen Elizabeth I

According to BBC, “Elizabeth was a different kind of Queen: quick-witted, clever and able to use feminine wiles to get her own way. Elizabeth could be as ruthless and calculating as any king before her but at the same time she was vain, sentimental and easily swayed by flattery” (Overview). An exemplification of this vanity is seen through her portraits, which were carefully vetted to make sure no physical flaws were revealed. The ‘Ditchley Portrait’ produced in 1592 is one example of how she manipulated her appearance through portraiture. When listening to the audio guide yesterday, it informed us that the painter, Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, had a large task when completing this painting of Queen Elizabeth. He was to make her look young, while she was nearing 60. He was to smooth all wrinkles in her face and hands. Many copies of this painting exist and “in most, the queen’s features are considerably softened” (Paintings).

In addition, she was also dressed in low-cut garb, representative of younger women at the time. Another feature of the painting is highlighted through her stance over the globe with her feet on Oxfordshire. Standing over the globe emphasizes the time-honored belief that Elizabeth gave up the love of men for her country.Thus, Elizabeth’s choice of virginity disrupted the early modern gender system while securing Elizabeth as a model woman, if not a model for women. 

Elizabeth exploited her physical femininity and virginity as a political tool and justified her decision not to marry by casting herself as an unobtainable lady. In her speech concerning Parliament’s Request She Marry, in 1559, she states “And in the end this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare that a Queen, having reigned such a time, lived and died a virgin.” This statement alone seems as though she is using her virginity as a novelty and also for leverage.

Another instance where she verbalizes her position as a woman occurs in her Speech tothe Troops at Tillbury. She tells them, “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”. She continues with, “I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field”. With this, she is exploring the juxtaposition of perceived female and male gender roles in war by being both weak and a protector of her soldiers.

Masculinity and femininity as themes are also present in portraits of her. For example, the portrait of Queen Elizabeth painted in 1575 by an unknown Netherlandish artist shows her looking cold and wearing a masculine doublet. However, she is also wearing a feminine lace ruff collar and pearls around her neck. Ultimately, speech and portraiture are just two of the ways Queen Elizabeth I exploited her patriarchal conceptions of gender.