23. In what role does Queen Elizabeth I appear in MND?
This was mentioned during the class:
A Midsummer Night's Dream was probably performed before Queen Elizabeth, and Shakespeare managed to make a flattering reference to his monarch in Act II, scene i. When Oberon introduces the idea of the love potion to Puck, he says that he once saw Cupid fire an arrow that missed its mark:
That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth
Cupid, all armed.
A certain aim he took
At a fair vestal thronèd by the west,
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts.
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon,
And the imperial vot'ress passèd on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free
(II.i.155-164).
Queen Elizabeth never married and was celebrated in her time as a woman of chastity, a virgin queen whose concerns were above the flesh. Here Shakespeare alludes to that reputation by describing Cupid firing an arrow “at a fair vestal thronèd by the west”—Queen Elizabeth—whom the heat of passion cannot affect because the arrow is cooled “in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon.” Shakespeare celebrates how Elizabeth put affairs of state before her personal life and lived “in maiden meditation, fancy-free.” He nestles a patriotic aside in an evocative description, couching praise for the ruler on whose good favor he depended in dexterous poetic language. (Audiences in Shakespeare's day would most likely have recognized this imaginative passage's reference to their monarch.)
And something extra:
It seems that Shakespeare is trying to point out in the situation between Egeus and Hermia that the extent of a Queen's power is comparative to the power of a father over his daughter. A father may hold dominion over all of the laws governing his daughter's life in a social and political realm; however, he holds no dominion over the rights granted his daughter through natural law, just as a Queen holds no power over the natural, inherent rights of her people.
Shakespeare also incorporates a compliment and an example of encouragement to Queen Elizabeth in the dialogue. When Theseus says, “But earthlier happy is the rose distilled, Than that which withering on the virgin thorn grows, lives, dies in single blessedness.” Hermia replies, “So I will grow, so live, so die, my lord.” (Baker, et al. 257) Encoded in this text is a parallel to the way in which Elizabeth has established herself as the “Virgin Queen”. Like Hippolyta, Elizabeth uses her personal relationship as a political game-piece. And like Hermia, Elizabeth has strongly upheld her decision to abstain, and to hold sole dominion over her country, in light of the best interests of her people. Shakespeare is complimenting the Queen for her strength and is urging her to stand fast to her decision.
Overall, Shakespeare is stressing to the Queen through this play that with the great power she holds, comes a great responsibility. He notes that, though it is honorable, noble, and necessary to give up some of her own rights and freedoms in observance of these powers, she should not expect her subjects to do the same. Shakespeare is complimentary of the natural rights that she has forfeited but insists that she holds dominion over every aspect of her subjects, excluding these natural laws. Just as a father to a daughter, a Queen must make the same sacrifices, provide the same guidance, and judge and rule the same political and social aspects of dominion. Finally, a Queen, just as a father, must allow certain freedoms to create unrestrained natural laws by which to “grow, live and die.”