Discuss How This Play Might Reflect On Elizabeth I`S Decision Not To Marry

By the snip Shakespeare wrote A Midsummers nighttime Dream during the winter of 1595-96, fairy Elizabeth I was well past her childbirth years, past the age of sixty and had not chosen an heir. Given the earlier several decades of English history, this made her subjects understandably apprehensive. The particular that she was a decently ruler who had accomplished much and was relatively benign elicited grasp however, the fact that she was an unmarried woman would restrain raised many head words in the minds of people living in and during what essentially was a patriarchal, male-dominated place and time.The initial performance of A Midsummers Night Dream may have been attended by Elizabeth. Were this the case and it was known that the Queen would attend, it would not have been unreasonable for Shakespeare to incorporate elements designed to flatter her. On the another(prenominal) hand, Shakespeares plays were written for the masses as well. It is not beyond the terra firma of possibility that some subtle form of political or societal criticism might have found its way into the script.In some ways, the mental synthesis of the play (one of the few that Shakespeare created from his own imagination without relying on a firsthand source) is metaphorical of the history of England during the turbulent years of the 16th cytosine the Duke of Theseus and Queen Hippolyta represent stableness in what is essentially a chaotic plot, and this stability is present only at the beginning and the ending of the play.Likewise, the 16th century had opened with the reign of enthalpy VI, who had restored stability following the War of the Roses when his son, Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church over the turn of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, he unintentionally lit a socio-political fire fan by the winds of the Reformation, leading to societal upheavals over which he had little control.Following the pass(a) of Henry VIII, three more Tudor monarchs cam e and went in quick while (Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey and Mary I), each one bringing a change of official religion Elizabeth I restored stability to English partnership and began the process of turning the British Empire into a superpower. Elizabeths authenticity was in question because of her Protestant faith, but she was very popular with her subjects. Nonetheless, the question of her wedding came up soon after her ascension to the throne.Rumors at the time suggested that she was in love with the 1st Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley, but since her council would not sanction marriage to a commoner, she decided not to marry at all. It is more credibly that the decision was political, however. Had Elizabeth married, she would have sacrificed virtually all of her power and a respectable portion of her wealth. In the opening scene of A Midsummers Night Dream, Hermia refuses the suitor her father Egeus has chosen for her. Theseus outlines her alternatives in no doubtful terms Eithe r to die the death, or to abjure For ever the parliamentary procedure of men. (Act I, Scene 1, Lines 65-66).Any male monarch (married or not) would have had to a mistress, and no questions would have been asked. The patriarchal double-standard would have made any tryst on Elizabeths part a political disaster, however. Furthermore, Renaissance conventions required that a wife be unquestioningly subject to her husbands authority. Since this would have had significant political consequences, it was in Elizabeths best interests (as well as Englands) for her to remain a virgin.On one hand, the play would seem to be comminuted of Elizabeth in her refusal to submit to male authority, and yet there is something admirable in Hermias defiance, willing to risk all for the one she loves. In the sustain scene of the 1999 film Elizabeth, the Queen declares that she is married to England. Whether it was personal ambition and bank for power, or a true love for and sense of duty toward the nat ion, the fact remains that had Elizabeth married, Britain would never have become an empire, and the world would be a much different place today.