Elizabeth I in Contemporary Historical Fiction: Gender and Agency in Four Novels

Abstract

In this thesis, I analyse four historical fiction novels as recharacterizations of Elizabeth I’s agency, to argue for the merit of fictionalized narratives of history. These narratives address the conflict between Elizabeth’s political and natural bodies, which I investigate in view of Ernst Kantorowicz’s concept of kingship, while emphasizing her learned experience and perseverance as responsible for her success. In doing so, historical fiction novels represent the motivations of the contemporary author and reader while also asserting the agency and capability of female rulers like Elizabeth, retroactively. In her own time, Elizabeth’s female body was a point of contention in patriarchal England, and early modern authors highlighted her chastity to represent the queen as beyond the rest of humanity, particularly women. In this thesis, I assess how contemporary authors respond to such history, to represent Elizabeth as a fallible woman in a novel way. Elizabeth’s fallibility in these texts represents the capabilities of women in power, credited to their female experience rather than the supernatural status or divine appointment of the early modern ruler. While there is a breadth of research available pertaining to historical depictions of Elizabeth, fewer critics focus upon contemporary accounts. Elizabeth’s legacy in film is represented in such research, but few critics have analysed her presence in historical fiction, though she is a popular heroine of the genre. This thesis examines the prioritization of Elizabeth’s female body in her youth in Robin Maxwell’s Virgin: Prelude to the Throne (2001), her experiences as an unwed queen in Alison Weir’s The Marriage Game (2014) and Susan Kay’s Legacy (1985), and her role as a mother figure in Anne Clinard-Barnhill’s Queen Elizabeth’s Daughter (2014). These authors assert Elizabeth’s agency and demonstrate the value of historical fiction as a genre, rewriting history to reflect female experience as an asset.