Romancing the Renaissance:
the Feminization of Early Modern Culture in
Twentieth Century Mass Media
English 339
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Mary Stuart
Ingrid Tippo
Mary Stuart
Mary Stuart, also known as Mary, Queen of Scotland, lived during and metaphorically under the reign of her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. Her life was plagued by scandals and a tainted reputation that was not uncommon for women in nobility in the middle ages and Renaissance. Born in 1542, the daughter of King James V of Scotland (whose mother was Margaret Tudor of England) and Marie de Guise (of Bourbon and Guise clans in France), she was destined to a life of discord, her Catholicism being only one small factor in light of the feuding families, and thus the nations of England and France, that she inherited. Raised as a princess in France, and as a Catholic, she married the sickly Francis II until his death before Mary was eighteen. Until this point, Mary had not been seen as a threat even though her mother and the Guises had titled Mary "Queen of Sotland, England and France", much to the chagrin of English nobility, especially Elizabeth, who would eventually conspire to behead her cousin in 1587.
Mary subsequently lived a life of scandalous affairs with men, as she was known in history books as being charming and beautiful. She married three times with the last marriage, to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, eventually confirming all suspicions held to her that she was immoral, and not simply because of her Catholicism. The Earl was accused of murdering Mary's second lowly husband, Lord Darnley, and the evidence was apparently obvious to all of Europe.
Elizabethan followers such as the anti-feminist (by today's definition), raving theologian John Knox would eventually help to persuade Elizabeth to exterminate Mary, stating her religious and noble rivalry would be the downfall of Elizabeth and England. A trial was set at Fotheringhay, with an empty seat for Elizabeth (the two never did meet despite Mary's efforts), and Mary was sentenced to beheading on February 8, 1587.
REFERENCE:
Paulson, Michael G. The Queen's Encounter. The Mary Stuart Anachronism in
Dramas by Diamante, Boursault, Schiller and Donizetti.
Peter Lang publishing, New York, 1987. pps 7-39.
PLAYS:
Ferderich Schiller, Maria Stuart.
OPERAS:
Donnizetti, Maria Stuardo.
NOVELS:
Margaret George, Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. 1997.
FILMS AND TELEVISION:
Mary of Scotland, dir. John Ford, 1940
Mary, Queen of Scots, dir., Hal Wallis, 1971.
Elizabeth R,1970.
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