Milli mála - 05.07.2016, Side 172

MARGINALISED MONARCH

Milli mála 7/2015

177
an emotional, naïve and ineffectual queen.5 She is to be sympathised
with, but more as a victim of the political machinations of Elizabeth
and her councillors, plotting Scottish nobles, the unruly nature of Scot-
tish politics, and overall circumstance. Through this sympathetic ap-
proach, as well as through the Mary-Bothwell love story at the centre
of the film, the Scottish queen is merely made to appeal to our roman-
tic imagination. As a result, she is accorded importance through the
viewer’s emotional identification with her character, rather than
through his or her rational appreciation of her political abilities. At the
same time, Queen Elizabeth is seen to represent power, political as-
tuteness, and the willingness to sacrifice emotional interests for the
benefits of her realm. The superiority of England and of Elizabeth is
made quite clear. Gloriana rules, Mary must succumb to English
power and Scotland is seen as merely a plaything of English policy,

death, have managed to negatively affect our image of a woman who was in re-
ality “a shrewd and charismatic young ruler who relished power and, for a time,
managed to hold together a fatally unstable country” (Guy 2004: 10). Guy’s bi-
ography presents a woman who, while flawed, showed remarkable strength,
courage and ingenuity during times of crisis. One such is the Rizzio plot and its
aftermath, when Mary demonstrated great independence, self-
reliance,”extraordinary daring and presence of mind” (Guy 2004: 257, 261); an-
other is her escape from her imprisonment at Loch Leven (Guy 2004: 367-368).
When returning to Scotland to take up her throne, Guy asserts, she “brought
something different and altogether more vibrant and compelling to the drab rou-
tine of Scottish government” (Guy 2004: 512). Mary was someone who “sought to
soothe conflict,” contrary to many of her nobles and also her third husband, Lord
Bothwell (Guy 2004: 327). While Queen in Scotland, and particularly in the first
part of her reign there, Mary made genuine efforts to reconcile her Lords (262,
287), upheld religious tolerance, practising the Catholic faith in private and ac-
cepting the reformed religion as the state religion (Guy 2004: 219-220; see also
Fraser 2002 [1969]: 155, 264-265, 339-340), and dealt efficiently and decisively
with her brother James Stewart, Earl of Moray, and his co-rebels during the
Chase-about Raid of 1565 (Guy 2004: 229-232). After this event, Mary “had never
been more powerful or more popular” (Guy 2004: 232), and Guy sees the Chase-
about Raid as the high point of Mary’s career as Queen of Scots, and one in
which the feminine Mary was replaced by a wholly masculine image (Guy 2009:
230). Some of the events surrounding the Chase-about Raid are portrayed in
Mary Queen of Scots but this is a very brief and unclear rendering of a significant
part of Mary’s reign.
5 As pointed out by Guy (2009) and Ford & Mitchell (2009, 146), the film does treat
historical facts lightly and even distorts them beyond recognition. This and other
aspects of the film and its reception are discussed in my article “Mary Queen of
Scots as Feminine and National Icon: Depictions in Film and Fiction” (Ágústsdót-
tir 2012: 83-87).