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Men, Women and Society-Queen Elizabeth's Reign

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Submitted By skyehigh
Words 2122
Pages 9
J Hofman
Men, Women and Society
Final Paper
Professor White

Elizabeth I was undoubtedly England’s greatest Queen. Like her father before her, her court was a place where the arts and European culture were welcomed. She was a formidable woman in a man’s world. She also fostered travel to distant shores to begin a time of globalization, hence Sir Walter Raliegh’s discovery of Virginia and naming it (with her permission) after the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth. One of her greatest achievements was the prosperity of the Elizabethan age, keeping peace in her kingdom and her subjects from war, with the exception of the Spanish Armada.
Born in 1533 to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, the long awaited birth of the heir to the throne, turned out to be a big disappointment to king and country. In a time when androcentrism ruled and only a male could inherit, to be born a woman was no advantage. Elizabeth I’s life began under a dark cloud because she was not born a male. Elizabeth had to be born possessing a sense of agency because from her earliest age until the end of her reign, her life was fraught with danger and peril. Throughout her life she learned how to circumnavigate situations to her own benefit. She was at times a political pawn, an illegitimate bastard, or an eligible princess. For to be born a female in 14th century England was to born a second class citizen.
Around the tender age of 3 years old, her father had her mother executed with a specially ordered sword from France. After her mother’s death, she lived under lock and key with fear as her closest companion. However, her education was never ignored; she was after all the daughter of the man who said, “without knowledge life would not be worth our having.” (Somerset 10). Elizabeth was schooled by the finest minds in England. When she was six years old she was visited by Sir Thomas Wriothesley, one of her

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