Marriage and Love in Elizabethan England Essays -- European History Es

Marriage and Love in Elizabethan England The movie, Shakespeare in Love, provides insight into the homo of Elizabethan England. Through the character of Viola De Lessups the audience is shown how marriage was an institution entered into not for love, but as a strategic maneuver designed to arouse the lives of those who would benefit from a coalescence, whether or not the beneficiaries were the people actually exchanging vows. As poove, Elizabeth I chose not to enter into such a union. She expressed the thoughts and feelings she had about the report in both her speech, On Marriage and her poem On Monsieurs Departure. A comparison of the character of Viola to the real life Queen of England, Elizabeth I, end provide the reader a greater understanding of marriage and love in Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth and Viola both realized that their station in life would determine their prospects for marriage. Elizabeth had the power to decide not to marry. Violas marriage to Wessex decided for her as a daughters duty and the Queens command(Shakespeare).2 Viola is the daughter of a wealthy merchant and while she is not so well born she is, as her nurse points out, swell moneyed which is the same as well born and well married is more so (Shakespeare). Likewise, Elizabeth knew that if the Queen of England were to marry she would have to make a union that would benefit her country. She felt pressure from Parliament to marry and addressed it in her speech, On Marriage, given to Parliament in 1559. She assured them that they could put that report clean out of their heads for whensoever it may please God to incline her heart to another kind of life, she intended not to do... ...n that she understood that duty prevented her from such a marriage. In her poem, On Monsieurs Departure she allows a glimpse into the pain it caused her to be unable to fully pursue a life of love. Works Cited1 William Shakespeare, sonnet CXVI, The L ongman Anthology of British Literature The Early Modern Period, ed. David Damrosch, 2nd ed., vol 1B (NewYork Longman, 2003) 1233-34.2 Shakespeare in Love, dir. John Madden, Perf. Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes. Mirimax/Universal, 1998.3 Elizabeth I, On Marriage, The Longman Anthology of British Literature The Early Modern Period, ed. David Damrosch, 2nd ed., vol 1B (NewYork Longman, 2003) 1084-85.4 Elizabeth I, On Monsieurs Departure, The Longman Anthology of British Literature The Early Modern Period, ed. David Damrosch, 2nd ed., vol 1B (NewYork Longman, 2003) 1081-82.