The heart and stomach of a king by Carole Levin looks into the life of Queen Elizabeth I and how gossip and rumor influenced her life and her rule of England. This book effectively adds a new twist to other history books on Elizabeth by focusing on less formal and more personal aspects of her life which makes the book an interesting read even for people that are not incredibly interested in history. In chapter two of the book it starts talking about the idea of courtships over the course of Elizabeth’s life opening up with the idea that she had a constant battle between her public and private life. She had presented herself as the Virgin Queen which is what made her very popular with her subjects, but she also loved the idea of proposals
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The would have given hope to her advisors and foreign courts hope that she would someday marry even if that wasn’t the true intentions of Elizabeth as on multiple occasions she had stated she was married to England and could never truly marry another person (Levin, 41). Although she had many matches and courtships Elizabeth made multiple comments to ambassadors similar to, “I’d rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married” as well as, “my heart were being dragged out of my vitals” (Levin, 45). The author toys with the idea that Elizabeth only really enjoyed the “chase” of courtships because of her immense vanity rather than the idea of actually giving up her power to a man …show more content…
This chapter discusses the rumors surrounding Elizabeth’s sexual life and the differences between how gender affects the responses from people. Throughout her life, even after death, Elizabeth was plagued with comments on her sexuality and even whether or not she was even a female. Compare this to the fact that her father was able to divorce his first wife because she could not bear a male heir and then marry an additional five women with minimal gossip coming from these marriages. Had Elizabeth been a traditional woman in Great Britain she probably could have avoided a large amount of the gossip that pertained to her gender, sexuality, and her right to rule if she had actually married one of her suitors and had children, especially males. Since she was strongly independent and saw what happened to her mother it seemed like an excellent reason to avoid giving up a large part of her power and control to a man. Rumors ran rampant during her close intimacy with Robert Dudley anything from they were having an affair, illegitimate children, to killing his wife Amy. There were many rumors of her throwing her children in the fire to avoid being publically shamed for having a bastard that would not secure the succession after her death (Levin, 71-81). Again with this look into her secret life and the rumors of her sexual relationships Levin lets us see a different side of Queen Elizabeth
The would have given hope to her advisors and foreign courts hope that she would someday marry even if that wasn’t the true intentions of Elizabeth as on multiple occasions she had stated she was married to England and could never truly marry another person (Levin, 41). Although she had many matches and courtships Elizabeth made multiple comments to ambassadors similar to, “I’d rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married” as well as, “my heart were being dragged out of my vitals” (Levin, 45). The author toys with the idea that Elizabeth only really enjoyed the “chase” of courtships because of her immense vanity rather than the idea of actually giving up her power to a man …show more content…
This chapter discusses the rumors surrounding Elizabeth’s sexual life and the differences between how gender affects the responses from people. Throughout her life, even after death, Elizabeth was plagued with comments on her sexuality and even whether or not she was even a female. Compare this to the fact that her father was able to divorce his first wife because she could not bear a male heir and then marry an additional five women with minimal gossip coming from these marriages. Had Elizabeth been a traditional woman in Great Britain she probably could have avoided a large amount of the gossip that pertained to her gender, sexuality, and her right to rule if she had actually married one of her suitors and had children, especially males. Since she was strongly independent and saw what happened to her mother it seemed like an excellent reason to avoid giving up a large part of her power and control to a man. Rumors ran rampant during her close intimacy with Robert Dudley anything from they were having an affair, illegitimate children, to killing his wife Amy. There were many rumors of her throwing her children in the fire to avoid being publically shamed for having a bastard that would not secure the succession after her death (Levin, 71-81). Again with this look into her secret life and the rumors of her sexual relationships Levin lets us see a different side of Queen Elizabeth