The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.1399  Monday 9 August 1999.

From:           Christine Tsai <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Monday, 09 Aug 1999 12:13:08 +0800
Subject:        Queen Elizabeth I

Of course I know the claimation is her political strategy that helped
consolidate her power.  But if the claimed virginity is false, then all
the literary eulogies of it would be false, too!  They might have been
insincere since there were rumors prevailing the court: some said she
bore children of Leicester; in 1619, Ben Jonson told William Drummond
that, Queen Elizabeth had "had a Membrana on her which made her
incapable of man, though for her delight she tried many."  If all these
be verified, even such a giant like Spenser, the composer of #The Faery
Queene#, will prove a hypocrite who uses literature as a tool to
guarantee his position.  So will other poets who did similarly.  Or, we
may interpret his work as a mockery of the Queen to be understood by
those who knew of her adultery.  In one word, this is a new historistic
study.  Any particular suggestions?

Christine

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