the queen who?

So clearly the queen is one catty woman. I am surprised really that she... THE queen... didnt just off lettice and take her man. like... if you are all powerful and yada... just take the dude... I feel like why so many people are attracted to her and not just her (like everyone we looked at) is because of reputation. Like these people clearly have to keep it in line or else.

I feel like these avatars are defined car wrecks before we have had the idea of a car. Like when you pass by an accident you are really curious to see whats going on even if its really gruesome. People tend to have an underlining morbid curiosity and these authors use that to draw you in. Like ya that was totally a horrible accident but hey that person could have been "opposite of general and common understanding".

I am probably not making sense but that is fine. The semester is almost over

I just didn't much like the queen that much. Like I have seen things in my profession and not even that could shut me off and tear me from humanity. how could you live as a statue and as a queen allow some girl punk you (given behavior of that time period). Romaine lettuce should have "had her head snapped" -CJ

I feel like James Cameron got his idea of the terminator from the queen. Straight robot, cold steel, just hellbent on ruling, and being purely mechanical. All we see is sass from her. Really???...  just smile!

Rise of the queen / #femaledog

End rant

Love games

     A nice tonypandy love story for the soul. This one is an especially dramatic story of forbidden love considering it's from the point of view of the secret lover herself rather than the queen. In My Enemy the Queen, the full story behind the confusing relations between Queen Elizabeth and her lovers is revealed. We find out that the queen held on to her beloved Robert for so long with no intentions of actually marrying him because she liked the idea of having a powerful man as her servant. She was too arrogant to devote herself and her love to even a guy she actually cared about, or may she realized that he didn't exactly care for her as much and also used her for her power.
     We also find out that she toyed with the little Duc de'Anjou even though it was as obvious as can be that she had no intentions of marrying him because she girlishly craved the attention of

hopeless suitors, and she had this deep seeded obsession with the idea of weddings and marriage itself without the commitment thus reminding me of a somewhat bridezilla type. One would think at first that she played around with the Duc to maintain peace between England and France which was also very important to her, but she risked destroying this delicate relationship during her games with the boy.

     In this novel, the queen herself is betrayed mainly as a somewhat childish, giddy little girl who is boy obsessed. The twist is that she is queen and she uses these powers to have her fun little way with these boys even more all the while with the intention of up keeping her independent, powerful queen status by not actually marrying and committing to any of them. When she finds out of Lettice's marriage to Robert, she feels her powerful grip slip. She acts out with immature rage. This makes me wonder if the seemingly eloquent, composed and dutiful queen really did act this way when it came to matters with the boys.

My Enemy The Queen Who Also Is An Enemy To Me

I feel as if I must be completely honest in this blog post... My Enemy The Queen is also an enemy to me. No matter how hard I tried to get into the reading, I simply could not force myself to do so. I promise you all, I did read but I can guarantee I did not pick up on any of the fine details that we are bound to discuss in class today.

What I did get out of the reading is this: There is some lady named Lettice who loves the Earl of Leicester, Robert, and Robert also loves Lettice.

Okay, so not this lettuce but I know you all thought it too.

While this would be fine and dandy under normal circumstances, its not in My Enemy The Queen, hence the title. Elizabeth also loves Robert and hence we have formed the infamous love triangle. The next 30 or so pages of the reading deal with Lettice and Robert trying to hide their feelings for one another from the Queen but eventually they end up telling one to many people and she finds out and is pissed.

To me, this seems like the stereotypical romance plot and that is perhaps why I had difficulties getting through the reading. There was one aspect, however, that kept my attention throughout and that was the portrayal of Elizabeth.

Up until this point, the historical documents and adaptations have displayed Elizabeth as being all-powerful and sassy yet in this romance, she is anything but that. She is so concerned about what this man thinks of her that it allows her emotions to get the best of her from time to time and act impulsively.

Take for instance when Elizabeth discovers that Lettice and Robert have married... She immediately banishes Robert to a tower due to her rage and fury. Granted, she could have killed him and that would have been pretty nuts but still, when I think of Elizabeth, I think of the stoic woman at the end of the film Elizabeth. I think of the woman who shows no emotion on her face and chose to only have love for her country, not because it was forced upon her.

I did not feel this when towards any other avatars we looked at this semester. Perhaps it is because I learned a great deal more about Elizabeth in high school than I did about Julius Caesar or Richard III. Whenever someone attempts to challenge a certain view you have on a person or figure, it has become second nature for us to immediately deny that challenge because we as a society do not like change or the idea of being wrong.

Who knows? Maybe its just me but that is honestly the only explanation I have as to why I did not like this reading.

My Enemy, The Queen (and other thoughts)

So, the first thing I noticed about this book was how old it looks. I know that's irrelevant, and it doesn't even really pertain to the class, but that really intrigued me. The book was published in 1978, and the cover art certainly reflects that. Like I said, not super relevant but it's interesting that something has peaked interests not only over centuries, but in recent decades as well when, like, everything is changing.

Something I don't like about books like these are the general use of fluff. It's a book about Queen Elizabeth (kind of) and her lover's lover (I think), and the use of adjectives is overwhelming. The author uses a ton of alliteration, and rhyming at some points. I have a few examples here: 

• "I went angry, hurt and humiliated," (p 94).
• "I must have looked stricken and shown I looked sick," (p 96).
• "Servants were scurrying up and down to the sickroom," (p 240)
• "Both girls were excited and delighted," (p 234). 

This use of alliteration and rhyming and excessive adjectives distracts me from the story, and seems like a technique I was taught in middle school. Obviously adjectives add a lot to an otherwise bland story, but using them with every other word is distracting and unnecessary and detracts from what could have been a great story if I wasn't so busy counting fluff words. I see the irony in me using a lot of adjectives in that sentence. Also, I don't like the weird phrasing, a lot of which makes me super uncomfortable. Example: 

• "I had to witness my husband making verbal love to my rival," (p 230).

Regardless, I do prefer this portrayal of Queen Elizabeth. Sure, she was the villain, but she wasn't the weak woman we saw in The Virgin's Lover. It seemed that this would have been more accurate, even though it was exaggerated. I'd rather see a tough, dominant, bitchy queen over one who makes all of her decisions to help other people (read: lovers). 

Another aspect of us looking into Queen Elizabeth is that she literally has nothing to do with us. Like, sure America comes from England, but I find it super fascinating that this interest has not only lasted centuries but it has crossed continents, and people all over want to read a fictitious story about an old queen who wasn't even theirs. I asked one of my good friends who was born and raised in England, "What are your general thoughts on Queen Elizabeth I, go" and he responded with a kind of mundane answer of, "From what I remember she was considered to be one of our greatest monarchs in a time of general male dominance, she was strong minded, and she ruled well." Now, I don't know about you, but that kind of boring answer is so interesting to me! He doesn't even mention her virginity...whether that be due to the fact that maybe some people couldn't care less about history, it wasn't taught, it wasn't important enough to stick--regardless of the reason, all he remembered was her dominance and the fact that she is remembered as a really great leader. 

Considering all of this, it makes sense why people would write about her. So many thoughts, perspectives, and a woman who is interesting to many people for various reasons, why not write books which depict her as various versions of the truth? A virgin, a bitch, a lover, etc. There is not truth, so I understand why the authors are happy to experiment, as well as make a ton of money off of other people's interests. Even in a fluffy book about lovers and weirdly phrased euphemisms.

Romance isn't Dead, just Repititive

Romance novels, to me at least, have always been about the same thing, some type of forbidden love and smut. A LOT of smut. The Virgin Lover and My Enemy the Queen are no different. The Virgin Lover shows the reader that Queen Elizabeth is a normal girl who is using her innocence of being of virgin, as well as her mother's reputation of sleeping around, to get herself ahead. But of course she falls in love with the one man she cannot have, and we deal with what the offer makes happen. 

My Enemy the Queen does something similar, except it is from Lettice's point of view, and it details her plot to keep Robert Dudley to herself. She narrates that she is Robert's lover when the Queen does not want him, but he favors Queen Elizabeth when he is in her favor. Lettice does not like this, and her infatuation with Robert becomes so obvious to the point that Elizabeth sends her home to her family (husband and children), because she needs to focus on what should be important to her. Instead, Lettice plots revenge on the Queen, intending to keep Robert for herself. Her husband dies, she conceives a child with Robert, and then convinces him that they need to get married regardless of how the Queen will feel. This romance novel is about how one of Queen Elizabeth's court maidens steal away the love of her life, preventing her from ever being with him. 

Sound like another case of forbidden love to anybody else? 

Virgin life

The Virgin Lover started our interesting and then died down and became slow. Romance is a part of life and people like romance, to see kings and queens be "bad" like other normal people is kinda a peeling. Interesting to see that i didn't picture a queen, i just pictured someone who fell in love. Gossipy is definitely in the world of royality not just regular people. Taking a virgin and putting her into a romance novel, makes people wonder and ask questions. People in power have to be a role model and responsibilities, virgin is a choice in Queen Elizabeth life. In order for Quuen Elizabrth to gain power or control she feels like she has to flirt because she is a woman, that is the only card she has. I feel like that's not just with the role of royality I feel like that is normal for woman around the world.  It's more sexy when talking about someone with power and being a woman. Men aren't talked about much when it comes to being "sexy". Calling yourself a virgin but not actually being one?? Idea of there dirty or virgin. Uses the sexuality to get what she wants, and it worked. Romance novels written about Queen Elizabeth. Person in power, taking a lot of time and thinking about their sex life. She became famous because her parents had sex and she didn't and she knows how to work the system. Smart woman always make it far in life. 

An Interesting Viewpoint

So after reading, My Enemy, the Queen, I can conclude that I hate Robert even more than I did before. Lettice and Elizabeth weren't better either. I didn't really like anyone. It should be said, though, that I hate love triangles. I love romance, just not the triangle part. I had a hard time reading these sections from this book for one main reason, and I hate being the full out feminist here, but why is it always the girl blaming/hating the other girl in the triangle? Shouldn't they both be hating on Robert who seems to be playing both sides? Ugh. Like I actually hate it. And I guess one could argue that Robert had no choice but to play nice, maybe too nice, to the queen but that is besides the point.

OK so enough complaining. Moving on..... It was actually kind of interesting reading this story from Lettice's viewpoint. You can tell by almost every word that her judgment over everything was biased and untrustworthy. She was kind of blinded by her love for Robert that she made the Queen her enemy. The fact that she thought that she stole Robert from Elizabeth was frustrating. She might have got him in the end but I have a feeling she was never the one he wanted. Like she was second best. The fact that he kept their marriage a secret so long and how she always seemed to be ok with it and that she trusted Robert a little too blindly made her seem naïve of what was really going on. I mean, do you really think that Robert only had the eyes for you? I guess keeping you a secret means he loves you...

Sorry that was kind of harsh.... Anyway, her hate towards Elizabeth made the reader hate the Queen as well. Every time Elizabeth showed up it made me internally scream because I knew that Robert would have no choice but pretend, once again, that he was not married to Lettice.  You can see, through Lettice's point of view, the Queen's evil and manipulative side. She always seemed to "know" that those two were together and you can tell that she was calculating the situation as it progressed. Even though she didn't officially find out until later, she always seemed to hate Lettice for her looks and the way Robert might have been looking at her.


The Queen was put into a dark light where we were supposed to take Lettice's side and hate her as well. You never wanted the Queen to win. She was the evil character trying to manipulate everyone to get her way and make everyone miserable.