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INGIBJÖRG ÁGÚSTSDÓTTIR

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and political shifts that took place during this time in the British con-
text.16 Also, this adherence to stereotypes is all the more surprising
since John Guy’s groundbreaking biography of Mary had, by the time
Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Virgin Queen, and Elizabeth I were
produced, presented some serious scholarly revision of Mary Stuart’s
political abilities and successes, her relationship with Elizabeth I, the
political machinations of Elizabeth’s chief advisor William Cecil, and
the impact of these on the question of Mary’s survival as Queen of
Scotland (Guy 2004).
This article began by discussing Mary’s marginality in the film
Mary Queen of Scots, where we have a heroine who has an emotional
and romantic appeal; she is a figure to be sympathised with, ineffec-
tual as a queen and a victim of English and Scottish plots. Although
Redgrave’s Mary is clearly the focus of the film, her English cousin is
seen to be superior and the stereotype of masculine, politically clever
Elizabeth and feminine, impulsive and disastrous Mary is clearly up-
held. After Mary Queen of Scots, the mini-series Gunpowder, Treason
& Plot (2004) is the first filmic dramatization of Mary’s story for more
than thirty years. The first episode covers Mary’s life from her return to
Scotland until her surrender to the Scottish lords and subsequent im-
prisonment in Scotland in 1567.17 Initially unable to deal with matters
of state successfully without the help and advice of her brother Lord
James Stuart, Mary (Clémence Poésy) gradually comes into her own as
queen with the help of Bothwell’s devoted encouragement. After a
brief hesitation over how to tackle religious matters, she calls for a re-
ligious settlement, i.e. that Scotland stay Protestant and that she prac-
tise her Catholic faith in private while getting guidance from John
Knox, thus cleverly conning her Protestant lords into thinking she
might one day convert to Protestantism. She soon stops letting her
brother James order her about, so that his promise to Elizabeth that
Mary is a silly girl who will let him rule cannot be fulfilled. In short,
Mary is portrayed as an able and shrewd queen who fights against
and defeats her enemies, demonstrated most clearly in her assertive,

16 See footnote 2.
17 The second episode of the series deals with the life of Mary’s son, James VI of
Scotland and I of England.