The film Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur, was released in the US in November of 1998. It was based on the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England from 1558 to 1603. The director and producer of this film uses their dramatic license liberally throughout the entire motion picture and if the moviegoer was not a history buff, he or she would not know (Levin 1).

“England 1554. Henry VIII is dead. The country is divided. Catholic against Protestant. Henry’s eldest daughter Mary, a fervent Catholic, is queen. She is childless. The Catholics’ greatest fear is the succession of Mary’s half-sister. Elizabeth.” The first few minutes included a very graphic sequence of three Protestants being burned at the stake. The Protestants all have their heads shaved and are praying to God in Latin. Throughout Mary’s reign, later known as Bloody Mary, people of Protestant faith were burned at the stake on her command. Catholicism was the religion of the country and Mary was deathly afraid that Elizabeth, a Protestant, would usurp her crown.

There are many historical inaccuracies throughout the movie; some are pure fiction while others are just slightly false. Queen Elizabeth I reined ove

Robert Dudley was a close and trusted friend to Elizabeth throughout her entire life. The film led to many misconceptions about her “Lord Robert.” One is that they had a sexual relationship. Elizabeth and Robert did in fact have “deep feelings of affection” for each other but Elizabeth never acted on “childish passion.” In the film she and Robert were shown making love right in front of all her ladies-in-waiting. In reality “Elizabeth lived and died a virgin.” There were spies everywhere that recorded in writing everything that went on in court. Nothing was kept secret and no one had any privacy, including the queen. Furthermore, Elizabeth’s virginity was of interest to everyone in the sixteenth century (Gillet 2).

Sir William Cecil is also poorly depicted in this film. The main incorrect fact is that he was “pensioned off with the title Lord Burleigh” during Elizabeth’s reign. William Cecil was “only thirteen years older than Elizabeth was and, far from being pensioned off, his new title was a reward and a sign of how valued he was to the crown” (RMW 3).

Director Shekhar Kapur not only gets most of the history wrong but what he does get right, he only partially gets. One of Elizabeth’s most famous lines, “I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king” is delivered irritably, in a stony chamber, to a handful of anxious counselors. When in fact, she shouted this from horseback, wearing a silver breastplate, to her assembled troops (Miller 6).

r England for forty-five years, the �

Some topics in this essay:
Sussex Gardiner, Elizabeth Robert, Shekhar Kapur, Elizabethan” Gillet, Robert Dudley, Francis Walsingham, Protestant Henry’s, Henry VIII, Spain” Levin, William Cecil, elizabeth robert, robert dudley, film robert, queen elizabeth, throughout entire, elizabeth’s reign, william cecil, duc d’anjou, henry viii, burned stake,