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"The Imperial Vot'ress": Divinity, Femininity, and Elizabeth I in A Midsummer Night's Dream

"The Imperial Vot'ress": Divinity, Femininity, and Elizabeth I in A Midsummer Night's Dream "The Imperial Vot'ress": Divinity, Femininity, and Elizabeth I in A Midsummer Night's Dream Jennifer element Discussions of Elizabeth 1's relevance to AMidsummer Night's Dream are similar to Reformation arguments over transubstantiation: Is she present in the text? This may exaggerate the case but does so for a purpose: to argue religion plays a central role in this seemingly secular comedy through the pervasively implicit presence of Elizabeth 1. Although the play assigns temporal power to male figures such as überon and Theseus, divine authority in AMidsummer Night's Dream is associated with femininity. This is why Elizabeth is such a potent presence in the play--the queen's strategies of self-representation as a woman whose divinity comes from her femininity inform the play's connection of its female characters to religious power. This connection between femininity and divinity, an integral aspect of Elizabeth's public persona, appears in AMidsummer Night's Dream and undercuts the play's re-establishment of masculine order. The connections between Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream have been extensively studied, most notably by Louis Montrose.l In Montrose's readings, Elizabeth's nearly overwhelming influence shapes the playwright's engagement with the cultural and political issues of the late sixteenth century: As http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Explorations in Renaissance Culture Brill

"The Imperial Vot'ress": Divinity, Femininity, and Elizabeth I in A Midsummer Night's Dream

Clement, Jennifer
Explorations in Renaissance Culture , Volume 34 (2): 163 – Dec 2, 2008
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0098-2474
eISSN
2352-6963
DOI
10.1163/23526963-90000355
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

"The Imperial Vot'ress": Divinity, Femininity, and Elizabeth I in A Midsummer Night's Dream Jennifer element Discussions of Elizabeth 1's relevance to AMidsummer Night's Dream are similar to Reformation arguments over transubstantiation: Is she present in the text? This may exaggerate the case but does so for a purpose: to argue religion plays a central role in this seemingly secular comedy through the pervasively implicit presence of Elizabeth 1. Although the play assigns temporal power to male figures such as überon and Theseus, divine authority in AMidsummer Night's Dream is associated with femininity. This is why Elizabeth is such a potent presence in the play--the queen's strategies of self-representation as a woman whose divinity comes from her femininity inform the play's connection of its female characters to religious power. This connection between femininity and divinity, an integral aspect of Elizabeth's public persona, appears in AMidsummer Night's Dream and undercuts the play's re-establishment of masculine order. The connections between Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream have been extensively studied, most notably by Louis Montrose.l In Montrose's readings, Elizabeth's nearly overwhelming influence shapes the playwright's engagement with the cultural and political issues of the late sixteenth century: As

Journal

Explorations in Renaissance Culture – Brill

Published: Dec 2, 2008

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