Milli mála - 05.07.2016, Blaðsíða 175

INGIBJÖRG ÁGÚSTSDÓTTIR

Milli mála 7/2015

180
film explores the early part of Elizabeth’s reign and her struggles to
secure her throne, a significant part of the threat posed being Scot-
land’s alliance with France and Marie of Guise’s efforts to strengthen
the French garrison in Scotland. Mary Stuart is rarely mentioned ex-
cept in connection with this threat, and in the context of her early
claim to the English throne (one of the accurate details in a film that
otherwise plays fast and loose with historical facts).7 However, while
Mary herself is never actually seen in Elizabeth, the film’s portrayal of
her mother sheds interesting light on the tendency to emphasise
Mary’s emotional and “feminine” nature, alongside the ostensible
weakness for men which ultimately caused her downfall. A key scene
is set in Scotland, where Walsingham is having dinner with Marie of
Guise8 and pretends to be against Elizabeth’s rule, saying she will
soon be overthrown because “her Majesty rules with the heart, not
with the head.” Marie de Guise replies: “I understand. It is hard for a
woman to forget her heart.” During their conversation, the Scottish
Dowager Queen not only looks at Walsingham seductively and vora-
ciously, as if she cannot wait to get into bed with him, but she also
kisses her nephew the Duke of Anjou sensually on the mouth when
he bids her goodnight, thus hinting that they enjoy an incestuous rela-
tionship. After a short scene in England the film cuts back to Scotland,
where the Duke of Anjou is screaming “Elizabeth is a witch […] and
her servant is the devil” over the naked, dead body of his aunt Marie.
Thus sexual lust has been the end of the Dowager Queen, as her de-
sire for Walsingham has overruled caution and made her take a mortal
enemy to her bed. The implications are clear; the rash, sexually-driven
actions of Mary Stuart’s mother mirror, foreshadow and emphasise the
later weaknesses of her daughter. Again, Mary’s impetuous actions,
such as her marriages to both Darnley and Bothwell, are capitalised

7 As Susan Doran asserts, a notable aspect of Elizabeth is “its deliberate trampling
over historical fact” (Doran 2009: 103). The film’s historical inaccuracies are also
discussed by Carole Levin (1999) and Michael Morrogh (2008). Morrogh, how-
ever, sees value in how these are presented, asserting that a 20-year chronology
needs to be “telescoped into a seamless, interconnected mass” in order to make
sense for the viewer (Morrogh 2008: 47).
8 This whole episode is entirely fictitious as a meeting between Walsingham and
Marie de Guise never took place, nor has it ever been proved that her death was
the result of foul play, despite speculation to this effect.