Milli mála - 2015, Page 178
MARGINALISED MONARCH
Milli mála 7/2015
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when the Spanish Armada comes to attack England only to be de-
feated, clearly demonstrate the cultural supremacy of Elizabeth over
her Scottish cousin, as the iconic image of Gloriana, almost an other-
worldly being that appears to command the elements, leaves an im-
pression on the viewer that entirely overshadows the romantic appeal
of Mary’s religious martyrdom. Indeed, in another interview, Kapur
says that his film is about absolute, divine power and that the film
shows how Elizabeth finds it in the Armada, which is when Elizabeth
“finally becomes divine.” Kapur describes the scene when Elizabeth
walks up onto a cliff above the sea and watches the Armada burn and
be blown away by the storm:
She’s clothed, and, as the Spirit, really. And it’s almost like the
Spirit willed the waves. It’s almost like the spirit willed the fire.
It’s almost like the Spirit willed the storm. So she truly became of
the gods. And the Armada was won by the spirit of this woman.
(“The Reign Continues” 2008)
The scene therefore suggests that Elizabeth has “transcended mere
royalty and become a goddess,” and what is more, this implication is
carried forward into the film’s final scene, where Elizabeth blesses Ra-
leigh and Bess’s newborn child: “The credits fade up on the queen ha-
loed in a blaze of light, babe in arms: a Protestant Virgin Mary, recon-
figured as Mother of England” (Hennings 2008: 38). Again, Elizabeth is
portrayed as an icon of English greatness, while Mary’s role, though
quite significant, is reduced to that of a spiteful, manipulative and
scheming woman stuck in a gloomy castle somewhere on the periph-
ery of Elizabeth’s glorious kingdom (in fact, the castle of Fotheringay,
rightly in Northamptonshire, is shown to be sitting on a Scottish lake).
Romantic death and religious martyrdom aside, Mary is just a pawn in
a grand game, secondary to Philip’s aims and entirely dispensable,
and far inferior to the great monarch Elizabeth I, the mythic Gloriana,
symbol of a superior England.
Two twenty-first century TV series on the life of Elizabeth I are
worth discussing here also. Again, Mary is a marginal figure and Eliza-
beth’s power emphasised, though in different ways. The first one is
BBC’s The Virgin Queen (2005), where Elizabeth is played by Anne-
Marie Duff, a well-known English actress, while Mary is played by