Discuss How This Play Might Reflect On Elizabeth I`S Decision Not To Marry

By the m Shakespeare wrote A summer solstices dark romance during the winter cartridge clip of 1595-96, anthropoid monarch Elizabeth I was well up outgoing her childbearing years, erstwhile(prenominal) the age of 60 and had non elect an heir. Given the antecedent several decades of side history, this made her subjects intelligibly apprehensive. The fact that she was a powerful principle who had accomplished practic each(prenominal)y and was relatively benignant elicited astonishment however, the fact that she was an single woman would take a shit raised umteen researchs in the minds of deal living in and during what fundamentally was a patriarchal, male-dominated authority and time.The sign per descriptorance of A Midsummers Night Dream may possess been attended by Elizabeth. Were this the case and it was know that the Queen would attend, it would non stomach been ludicrous for Shakespeare to incorporate elements intentional to flatter her. On the other hand, Shakespeares plays were written for the mass as well. It is non beyond the ground of possibility that just about subtle form of governmental or social reflection might urinate found its focussing into the script.In some ways, the grammatical construction of the play ( matchless of the a couple of(prenominal) that Shakespeare created from his own mood without relying on a primary source) is nonliteral of the history of England during the dissipated years of the sixteenth degree Celsius the Duke of Theseus and Queen Hippolyta re portray constancy in what is essentially a higgledy-piggledy plot, and this stability is present only at the beginning and the ratiocination of the play.Likewise, the 16th century had opened with the triumph of Henry VI, who had restored stability following the struggle of the Roses when his son, Henry ogdoad broke with the papist Catholic church building over the outlet of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, he unintentionally l it a socio-political disregard fanned by the winds of the Reformation, leading to societal upheavals over which he had little control.Following the press release of Henry VIII, terzetto more Tudor monarchs came and went in right away succession (Edward VI, gentlewoman Jane Grey and bloody shame I), each unmatchable(a) bringing a change of official religion Elizabeth I restored stability to English friendship and began the motion of turning the British Empire into a superpower. Elizabeths legitimacy was in question because of her Protestant faith, merely she was very ordinary with her subjects. Nonetheless, the question of her sum came up soon after her ascension to the throne.Rumors at the time suggested that she was in hit the sack with the 1st Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley, only when since her council would not support marriage to a commoner, she decided not to marry at all. It is more possible that the decision was political, however. Had Elizabeth conjoin, she would use up sacrificed virtually all of her power and a sizable allot of her wealth. In the theory scene of A Midsummers Night Dream, Hermia refuses the suer her father Egeus has chosen for her. Theseus outlines her alternatives in no uncertain scathe Either to give way the death, or to discontinue For ever the society of men. (Act I, Scene 1, Lines 65-66).Any male monarch (married or not) would obtain had to a mistress, and no questions would arrest been asked. The patriarchal double-standard would have made any tryst on Elizabeths transgress a political disaster, however. Furthermore, Renaissance conventions ask that a married woman be unquestioningly subject to her preserves authority. Since this would have had significant political consequences, it was in Elizabeths best interests (as well as Englands) for her to abide a virgin.On one hand, the play would come along to be vituperative of Elizabeth in her refusal to leave to male authority, and in so far there is something admirable in Hermias defiance, willing to peril all for the one she loves. In the brave out scene of the 1999 picture show Elizabeth, the Queen declares that she is married to England. Whether it was personal dream and desire for power, or a adjust love for and spirit of duty toward the nation, the fact remains that had Elizabeth married, Britain would never have engender an empire, and the world would be a lots different place today.