A midterm on Queen Elizabeth. A college paper to be used and criticized

As well as being a great poet, Queen Elizabeth was also a powerful monarch. Elizabeth used the the power of words to manage her kingdom successfully even in times of strife. The readings from class give us a little insight into some of the tactics she used to stay queen.
It couldn't have been easy to be a woman in the 1500's. I would not want to have lived back then. No electricity, medicine, cars, computers, short life span ad the list goes on. It would have been worse to be a woman and know that as soon as you got married that everything you worked for would be forfeited to your husband. Elizabeth seemed to have a balance with men. I do not know well enough if she used them or what the details of her relationships were beyond our readings, but reading On Monsieur's Departure gives a little insight to how Elizabeth managed her relationships with men of power. At the end of the first of three paragraphs Elizabeth writes.

I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned,
Since from myself another self I turned.

The whole poem goes on like that . Back and forth she says she is hot. Then Elizabeth is says she is cold. That the duke of Anjou, who the letter/poem is written to, melts her coldness. Yet there is no way she could be with. Elizabeth loves him and would want to die so she did not have to feel what she was feeling anymore.
From one expression of temperature to sweetness and sight, Elizabeth uses at least three of the physical sense. She also uses her sense of discontent, but once the queen goes one way she goes to the other side. This is very clever. The queen can go on just saying that she is so passionate, but then she can say she is melancholy. When the Duke got this letter he could have read anything he wanted to from it. The Duke probably spent a long time fretting over what this letter from the Queen really meant. In the end all it really means it that Elizabeth was not going to marry the Duke.
Elizabeth may have used indecision to deal with men, but when it came to her cousin Mary, Elizabeth had some strong thoughts. Both were on different sides of religion and wanted each others crown. Elizabeth must have known about such a plot or was paranoid about at least one.  When Elizabeth writes about it, her writing is fierce. 

But clouds of toys untried do cloak aspiring minds,
The top of hope supposed, the root of rue shall be,
And fruitless all their grafted guile, as shortly as you shall see,
Their dazzled eyes with pride, which great ambition blinds,
Shall be unsealed by worthy wights whose foresight falsehood finds

The writing also makes sense and flows. There are two sentences before the quote, in the first she mentions flows. I interpret as water and then she talks about a spiders web. Then next line she mentions a top and a root like a plant; moving on to fruit and grafting. Dazzling eyes like lightning in a storm and then talks about being blind. In this section of the poem Elizabeth talks about people being blind with ambition, having no foresight to what their actions will lead to. If she had said it like that it would have been understood, but she wraps it up in flowery language. It starts down close to the ground maybe a river, something that has fallen from the sky. Then we look up a little and see the spider making it's web in a tree ready to catch some bug who does not  see it. Onward it goes to a fruit tree and the mention of grafting, putting something that doesn't normally go in place with one thing forcefully, making it grow where it normally would not. Then above the trees, we are lead back to the sky. The darkness that comes in with a storm and can be dark as the middle of night, but then there is a flash of lightning dazzling our eyes, leaving us just as blind. Then our vision is unsealed with foresight. It just goes step by step naturally, the whole poem seems to flow naturally one line to the next. A person could almost forget that they were reading about treachery in a monarch. Or that Elizabeth was writing about how she knew her cousin was up to something treacherous. If I read this as a warning, I would be more intimidated then if Elizabeth had just simply said “Look you cow, I know you are plotting to have me killed and take my crown. I'm on to you and I see what you are doing. Don't let the power you want blind you. Stop staring in the sky day dreaming.” At the end of the poem, the last line is “ Vivant Regina.” Which means long live the queen. That is such a slap in the face to Mary. It is like saying I am the queen, I will stay the queen and you do not have a chance. This poem is a great display of Elizabeth stating what she wants and using her words as tools as a warning to others.
Elizabeth's Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, is another example of Elizabeth using her words for power. Elizabeth is prepping the troops for battle and blowing smoke to get her troops ready. She tells the troops “I know I have the feeble body of a woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.” How can the troops not eat that up? The men get to feel superior to their own queen. It is not often that someone is told by their leader that they are in position above their leader's status, but that is what Elizabeth tells her troops. Not to let the troops think that they are that far above her in station she mentions that she has heart and stomach of a king. She is honorable, strong, carries on the line and what it means to be a good leader. I can see the crowds getting all riled up now. That and actually being out on the field talking to her troops right before battle is gutsy.
In the beginning of the speech Elizabeth says she is going against the advice of her staff by being out there giving the speech. That she may be in danger for being out in the open. Who knows, she may have been in danger, but isn't it danger to walk down stairs? The soldiers would love it though, seeing that their leader is willing to get down on their level and is willing to risk her life just like they are. Even if she wasn't in any real danger, by alluding to the idea that she could be killed at any time, but she is risking it just to talk to these brave soldiers is a solid political play.
 At the end of her rousing speech Elizabeth says she is not going to lead the troops. She is going to let her general do that. She is going to hang out at the back but the troops should treat the general as if he was their leader. Elizabeth told the troops that not only would they have a victory, that the victory would be a famous victory. If you are going to lead have an army worth of men fight and die for you, pumping them up is probably a good skill to have and Elizabeth had it. 
It has been said that the sword is mightier than the pen or that words are weapons. If that is the case, Elizabeth had an impressive arsenal. All leaders have to give speeches, but they also have people to write the speeches for them, Elizabeth wrote her speeches and letters herself, she had a grip on what would and would not work when writing. Not only that she could make a threat read like one of the fiercest poems or a break-up letter leaving you feel angry, but not at anyone. 

Works sited
Greenblatt, Stephen, and Queen Elizabeth. The doubt of Future Foes. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. Print. Page 393, Lines 5-11
Greenblatt, Stephen, and Queen Elizabeth. On Monsieur's Departure. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. Print. Page 394, Lines 5-6
Greenblatt, Stephen, and Queen Elizabeth. Speech to the Troops at Tilbury. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. Print. Page 396