Queenship, Power, and Elizabethan Mentalities in Shakespeare’s Histories

The paper looks at the way in which the notion of queenship - in connection or in contrast with that of kingship and royalty in general - is reflected in Shakespeare’s historical tetralogies and in Henry VIII. It is argued that all royal figures, male and female, featured in these plays, are presented by Shakespeare in accordance not only with Tudor historiography, but also with Elizabeth I’s own strategies of self-representation. Thus, the major notions to be looked into are virtue, legitimacy, agency, as well as, more generally, early modern religious and political issues concerning gender relations