Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Elizabeth I, who was seen as "good Queen Bess," was a skilled ruler and often applied principles which were distinctly Machiavellian in their character. The paper describes examples from her reign that show her use of Machiavellian principles and their success and then looks at all aspects of Queen Elizabeth's reign from military and political to social.

From the Paper:

"All the while, Elizabeth managed to maintain a court that became the flower of the kingdom. At her court, poets and playwrights, most notably William Shakespeare, brought the language and wit of England to its greatest flowering. (Ridley 330-31) While Machiavelli did not specifically address the usefulness of such arts in The Prince, he was well aware of the power of quality drama. He had written one of the foremost Italian Renaissance comedies, La Mandragola, and while the play is harsher and more unforgiving that Shakespeare's comedies, Machiavelli's command of the form suggests that had he been in England during this period, he would have been quite at home in the court of Queen Elizabeth, recognizing in her dealing with political problems someone who followed his principles, whether knowingly or not, and who understood his taste for fine language."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brink, Jean R. Ed. Privileging Gender in Early Modern England. Kirksville, Missouri: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc., 1993.
• Cole, Mary Hill, The Portable Queen: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Ceremony. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999.
• Durant, Will. The Age of Reason Begins. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961
• Machiavelli, Niccolo. La Mandragola in Five Comedies from the Italian Renaissance. Laura Giannetti & Guido Ruggiero, eds. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.
• Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. in Harvard Classics. Vol 36. Charles Elliot, ed. New York, New York: P. F. Collier & Son, 1910.

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