Milli mála - 2015, Side 170
MARGINALISED MONARCH
Milli mála 7/2015
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much more politically astute English queen; her political inadequacies
are emphasised as opposed to Elizabeth’s political shrewdness. More-
over, the film’s most striking and powerful scenes are those depicting
either Elizabeth talking about Mary or the two scenes in which the
two queens meet face to face (a fictional invention as this never truly
happened). In truth, it is fair to assert, as does Latham, that this film is
not really about Mary, but is “in actuality the story of Elizabeth and
Mary’s rivalry” (Latham 2011: 131). This rivalry is the driving force be-
hind the scenes mentioned above. They revolve around such things as
Mary’s naïve efforts to be “friends” with Elizabeth, which are then
thwarted by Elizabeth’s refusal to meet her, and Elizabeth’s desire to
limit Mary’s power and her efforts to lay traps for her Scottish cousin
(such as by offering the Earl of Leicester as a suitable husband for
Mary but sending Darnley also with the express intent that Mary fall
for him instead and so be weakened through his folly). Also, Eliza-
beth’s jealousy and fear of Mary are clearly demonstrated, and there
are comparisons where Mary is made out to be a weak and ineffectual
monarch who follows her heart instead of her head, while Elizabeth is
made out to be exceptionally shrewd and to place political benefit
above her feelings.
This rivalry between the two queens and their contrasting person-
alities and behaviour are central to how Mary’s story is presented in
Mary Queen of Scots. Indeed, in historical film as well as fiction, Mary
and Elizabeth are frequently measured against one another in terms of
the feminine and the masculine; thus Mary becomes the “feminine
ideal, a woman victimized by her gender,” while Elizabeth is the mas-
culine woman “because she … puts the public world of politics above
the private world of emotions” (Wallace 2008: 19). This is much in line
with the stereotype established by the Scottish reformer John Knox
and maintained ever since (Guy 2004: 203). Film portrayals of Mary
tend to focus on her sympathetic, tragic aspects; she is accorded
beauty, charm, education, yet also unable to rule effectively because
of her tendency to base her decisions on emotions, on private reasons
rather than public or political ones. Elizabeth I, by contrast, tends to
be the cold, calculating Virgin Queen, constantly plotting against and
manipulating Mary. This is even reflected in the choice of clothes for
the two characters, as Walker suggests: “Mary is always subliminally