Milli mála - 05.07.2016, Síða 177

INGIBJÖRG ÁGÚSTSDÓTTIR

Milli mála 7/2015

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time of Mary’s execution, as pointed out by Vivienne Westbrook
(Westbrook 2009: 171). Kapur clearly wants to stress Elizabeth’s reluc-
tance to have Mary executed, while this also underlines the historicity
of Mary’s guilt in the Babington plot9 and supports the view that Mary
showed a “ruthless resolve to see her sister queen murdered” (Dunn
2004: xxxii).10 Elizabeth is therefore shown as morally superior to the
manipulative, murderous and hysterical Mary. Significantly, the film
portrays the Catholics as “the villains of the piece,” (Latham 2011:
165),11 and Mary is one of these villains.12 One negative review of the
film even observes that Mary is presented as “a religiously delusional
and despicable traitor, and perhaps a vampire to boot, given that she
and her ladies-in-waiting get about their brooding Scottish castle in
such opulently gothic attire” (Hennings 2008: 36).
Somewhat paradoxically, though, Elizabeth: The Golden Age does
give us a romanticized and highly visually and emotionally appealing
version of Mary’s execution, casting Mary in the role of a martyr for
her religion by highlighting the red dress she wears – red being the
colour of Catholic martyrdom – and showing her bravery and dignity
in the face of death. Kapur maintains that this scene shows Mary be-
coming “the Queen,” becoming divine and “being married to God”
(Murray, n.d.: n.p.). But even if Kapur “lends a dignified fiction to
Mary’s departure” (Westbrook 2009: 172), the film’s final scenes, set

9 See, for instance, Fraser (2002 [1969]), Guy (2004) and Graham (2008). All three
biographies are sympathetic portrayals of Mary, yet all assert that Mary did in-
deed indicate agreement to the assassination of Elizabeth in her reply to Babing-
ton.
10 Not all of Mary’s biographers would agree with this view. For instance, Antonia
Fraser qualifies Mary’s agreement to the plot to kill Elizabeth as being caused by
her desperate desire to break free from captivity: “There can be no doubt but
that Mary in her reply [to Babington] took this prospect [the assassination of
Elizabeth] briefly into consideration, weighed it against the prospect of her own
liberty, and did not gainsay it” (Fraser 2002 [1969]: 607). John Guy details how
Mary deliberated for a week over her incriminating answer to the conspirators,
finally deciding to take a gamble because she feared “that she was likely to be
quietly murdered” (Guy 2004: 482).
11 Vivienne Westbrook demonstrates how the Catholic threat in this film reflects
contemporary concerns derived from 9/11, and how the portrayal of Catholics
can be read as symbolic for the current threat of Islamic fundamentalism (West-
brook 2009: 167).
12 The film caused outrage among Catholics, who branded it as “anti-papist propa-
ganda” (Moore 2007: n.p.).