Corso di Laurea Magistrale (ordinamento ex D.M. 270/2004) in Lingue e Letterature Europee, Americane e Postcoloniali Tesi di Laurea Refashioning Gloriana: Elizabeth I in contemporary drama and film Relatrice Ch.ma Prof.ssa Laura Tosi Correlatore Ch.mo Prof. Flavio Gregori Laureanda Carlotta Marchiori Matricola 816726 Anno Accademico 2015/2016 Ai miei genitori. Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Elizabeth Regina 1.1 Brief overview on Elizabeth’s life story 4 1.2 A (Protestant) Virgin Queen 9 1.3 A clash between the private and public 18 Chapter 2 Elizabeth the Drama Queen 2.1 The myth of a meeting between Shakespeare and Elizabeth 32 2.2 Gender roles in English early modern theatre and society 46 2.3 Elizabeth as King and Queen: the question of gender in Elizabeth Rex (2000) and Shakespeare in Love: The Play (2014) 52 Chapter 3 Filming Elizabeth 3.1 Mapping the field of the genre: defining biopics 64 3.1.1 British royal biopics and the nation’s sense of identity 69 3.1.2 Female sovereigns revived 72 3.1.3 The case of Elizabeth I’s life on screen. Why is she the most portrayed English monarch in films? 75 3.2 Private life, fictional meetings and religious struggle for power in Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth (1998), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and Elizabeth’s miniseries: Elizabeth R (1971), Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen (2005) and Elizabeth I (2005) 79 3.2.1 Elizabeth’s marriageability and chief favourites 80 3.2.2 Elizabeth’s rival Queens: Mary Tudor and Mary, Queen of Scots 107 3.2.3 Religious struggle for power and the defeat of the Spanish Armada 118 3.3 Multiple portraits of Elizabeth Tudor: Cate Blanchett, Glenda Jackson, Anne-Marie Duff and Helen Mirren 127 3.3.1 A Semper Eadem Elizabeth? 133 Introduction Amongst the many names for Elizabeth I, “Gloriana”, given to her by Edmund Spenser in 1590 Faerie Queene, is undoubtedly the most popular nowadays, together with “the Virgin Queen”. Elizabeth is considered still to this day one of the most famous women of the United Kingdom to have ever lived. She was a great monarch who alone restored unity in her 45-year reign and turned England into a powerful country, no more at the mercy of Spain and France. At the time of her death in 1603, she was praised as a symbolically sacred icon to such an extent that the “cult of Elizabeth” came into existence. This “cult” continues to exist even today, in the widest sense of the word, when one considers that Elizabeth as an icon has become a saleable commodity. As Julia M. Walker reports in The Elizabeth Icon: 1603-2003, there is a wide range of objects with images of the Tudor Queen: from teapots to all kinds of stationery, and collectable dolls — to say nothing of Shakespeare and Elizabeth rubber bath ducks which came out the same year as the release of Shakespeare in Love, and made a quick sell-out of a 5000 copy run (Walker, 2004: 194). In addition, she has been chosen as the subject of countless books and films. Her red hair, white face and ornate gowns with ruff have made her internationally recognisable, even by people who may actually know very little of her life. But what makes this Queen so fascinating? The aim of this dissertation is to offer a portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I through a body of contemporary plays and movies, and in doing so to try to find a reason for the lively interest she arouses amongst today’s audience more than four hundred years after her death. As will be seen through the pages of this thesis, she was an independent “career woman” in a Renaissance patriarchal society. In a way, she can be considered a current role model of female independence for working women of the present. My dissertation will be divided into three chapters. The first chapter provides an overview on Elizabeth’s life, and focuses on some of the aspects which have been crucial to her personal !1 history. Thus, this chapter will discuss the controversial issue of religion, which Elizabeth had to deal with throughout her reign; and her celebration in texts, iconography and rituals as a virginal figure onto which many symbolisms were transferred, including the one of a (Protestant) Virgin Mary. Moreover, the events that led her to a personal struggle will be considered: the “affair” with her beloved Dudley, the tormented relationship with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots (also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland) and the one with Dudley’s stepson Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex. Elizabeth’s relations with the Scottish Queen and Essex culminated in the execution of them both, respectively, in 1587 and 1601. The second chapter of this thesis focuses on theatre. I provide an introduction to the legendary face-to-face encounter between Shakespeare and Elizabeth, which although often represented in the works by writers and artists, in fact never occurred. Then, this chapter will analyse the practice of boy actors playing the part of women on the Elizabethan stage, as until 1660 actresses were not permitted to perform in public playhouses in England. Also with regard to this stage convention, the chapter will explore Elizabeth’s “androgynous” role in Timothy Findley’s Elizabeth Rex (2000) and Lee Hall’s Shakespeare in Love: The Play (2014). As a female head of state and governor of the Church of England in a patriarchal society, Elizabeth needed to be more man than woman and used to refer to herself as “a Prince of Europe”. Furthermore, there were a combination of tragic circumstances in her life which may have contributed to her adopting male patterns of behaviour. In the above plays Elizabeth is a woman in a man’s position and with a combined identity as “king and queen”. An emphasis will be put on the different ways Elizabeth Rex and Shakespeare in Love: The Play consider the topic of Elizabeth’s “androgyny”. Lastly, the third chapter is devoted to a selection of biopics about Elizabeth. After a general explanation about this film genre, which shows the life story of an actual person, the chapter !2 focuses on the sub-genre of the royal biopic. In particular, the recent trend of female sovereigns on screen will be discussed with special reference to the case of the iconic Tudor Queen. This chapter will also examine the various manners in which the key events and figures of Elizabeth’s life are presented in Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth (1998), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and the miniseries: Elizabeth R (1971), Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen (2005) and Elizabeth I (2005). These people and events include: Elizabeth’s marriage proposals and negotiations, her presumed romantic affairs (especially with Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, and Essex), her difficult relationships with her half-sister Mary Tudor and the Queen of Scots, as well as the complicated matter of religion and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The chapter will also analyse how the above biopics diverge from historical records. For this reason, it concludes with an overall review of the portrayals of the historical Elizabeth by the actresses playing in the above biopics, namely: Cate Blanchett, Glenda Jackson, Anne-Marie Duff and Hellen Mirren. The multiple characterisations of Elizabeth on screen resonate with the rhythm of decades. Regarding the ones selected for this dissertation, it can be generally stated that they reflect the new achievements of women in recent years, such as the improved situation in equal rights both in the political arena and the common workplace. Through these “refashionings" of Elizabeth, audiences see an Elizabeth who more or less resembles the “original one”. This is because these alternative interpretations represent different aspects of the same person. The historical Elizabeth had a multifaceted personality: “She is a fascinating and complex example of an icon stored in memory, but that complexity is what has given her such a long afterlife” (Walker, 2004: 199). Long Live the Queen! !3 Chapter 1 Elizabeth Regina 1.1 Brief overview on Elizabeth’s life story Elizabeth was born on 7 September 1533 to Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. The fact that Elizabeth was a female caused displeasure to her father who had fervently hoped for a male heir in order to secure the succession. However, after a few years, Henry and his third wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to a son, Edward, who reigned from his father’s death in 1547 to 1553, prematurely dying at the age of 15 years. It is common knowledge that Henry VIII entered into six marriages and beheaded two of his wives. When he became King of England in 1509 he married the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Catherine of Aragon. As Carol Levin recounts in The Reign of Elizabeth I, she was “highly educated”, “loyal”, and “strong willed”, but she totally failed in her primary duty of Queen: all but one of her offspring died at birth or in infancy (Levin, 2002: 6). Indeed, their only daughter was Mary, who was born in 1516. At the beginning of 1520s it was clear to everybody that Catherine could not fall pregnant again, and in 1527 Henry intended to annul his marriage. Nevertheless, divorcing from Catherine seemed very complicated as she was the aunt of the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Charles V, and the last thing Pope Clement VII wanted to do was to antagonise him. Henry’s intention to marry Anne Boleyn, who in those days was a lady-in-waiting, further worsened the situation.