Revising Mary Queen of Scots: from Protestant Persecution to Revising Mary Queen of Scots: from Protestant Persecution to Patriarchal Struggle Patriarchal Struggle

Abstract Since Mary Queen of Scots’ execution in 1587, she has become a symbol of Scottish identity, failed female leadership, and Catholic martyrdom. Throughout the twentieth century, Mary was regularly depicted on screen (Ford, 1936; Froelich, 1940; Jarrott, 1971) as a thrice-wed Catholic queen, unable to rule her country due to her feminine nature and Catholic roots. However, with the rise of third wave feminism and postfeminism in media, coupled with the increased influence of female directors and writers, Mary’s characterization has shifted from portraying female/emotional weakness and religious sacrifice to female/collaborative strength in hardship and a struggle against patriarchal prejudice. Josie Rourke’s film Mary Queen of Scots (2018) and CW’s Reign (2013-2017) present a queen who is no longer limited to her religious identity as a Catholic martyr, and consequently a weak ruler. Instead religious division is mostly sidelined, and gendered politics is the central struggle, highlighting similarities between Mary and Queen Elizabeth I of England, where previous films presented opposites. Together, these two productions transform Mary’s narrative from fragility and religion, into a struggle against misogynistic control of powerful women.

stronger) female characters, who bolster her in the face of critical male figures aiming for her removal and execution.This reconfiguration of Mary's world, from one of weakness to one of striving amid gendered support, coincides with deemphasizing her identity as a Catholic martyr, which was central to her traditional narrative and character.In these new productions gender politics surpasses religious politics, framing Mary as a political martyr whose execution results from dislike of female rulership and religious freedom.
These productions chart a difficult course through the rhetoric of divinely appointed female subordination that existed alongside the theory of divine right of rulership in the sixteenth century.As David Grant Moss has shown, modern audiences associate early modern queenship with an indomitable exceptionalism that is exemplified by Queen Elizabeth I's speech at Tilbury (1588). 4Elizabeth's "heart and stomach of a king" may transgress gender bounds, but the phrase reflects the fortitude that modern (broadly feminist) audiences expect to see in early modern women raised to be queens regnant.As Elena Woodacre has shown, "each generation has overlaid its own interests and values on the lives of queens, reinterpreting them to fit in with societal values and preoccupations of their era." 5 Indeed, the rise of queenship studies mirrors the widespread acceptance of feminist values and elite women's political achievements. 6Following the devolution of Scotland's parliament (1997-99) and the divided Brexit vote (2016), which resulted in a resurgent Scottish national feeling, Mary is more popular than ever. 7Yet, almost two decades after the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the West support for religious war has plummeted.The minimal role of religion in these two new depictions reflects the more inclusive nature of third wave feminism that presents frank discussions of gender inequities and embraces sexual, religious, and racial diversity.As Mary, Queen of Scots, slowly loses her identity as a thrice-married Catholic martyr, Rourke and CW's productions present her as an independent Scottish queen fighting misogyny and patriarchy.

Remembering Mary as a Queen and Martyr
For centuries there has been a fluid relationship between political, popular, and scholarly representations of Mary Queen of Scots.The placement by King James VI and I (of Scotland and England respectively), Mary's son, of both his mother's and his godmother Elizabeth I's tombs (1606 and 1612) in Westminster Abbey epitomizes the ongoing public access to their entwined narratives. 8The Abbey's accessibility to tourists in central London and renown as a site for remembering English rulers and national heroes means that Catholic Mary's memory has been elevated and maintained, much as Protestant Elizabeth's has been. 9This is borne out by Mary's continued appearance in popular literary works, as well as academic studies that reflect popular influence, but also impact the queen's on-screen persona.
The last half-century has shown that Mary's historical character is still subject to debate by both historians and directors.In 1969, as British women went on strike over equal pay and remained rare at Oxbridge colleges, Antonia Fraser published a popular biography, Mary Queen of Scots, that appealed to readers seeking women's history. 10In reviewing Fraser's well-researched book, Professor J.P. Kenyon noted that up to that point the general opinion of Mary was consistent with S.T. Bindoff's statement that she was "a vain, artful, bewitching creature, [who] played at being queen as she played at nearly everything" and ended up no better than she deserved. 11While he did not necessarily share Bindoff's opinion, in evaluating Fraser's account of the queen's possible rape by Bothwell, Kenyon wondered: "but surely this is not so, since the rape was never publicized […] Did she like being forced?Certainly all the evidence put before us here suggests a normally frigid woman." 12Perhaps to justify these bizarre comments, Kenyon continued dismissively: "Mary is one of those characters who encourages prurient speculation, and this may be why she is unloved by prudent and sober historians." 13 Kenyon's comment echoes the earliest Protestant commentators on Mary's life, John Knox and George Buchanan, whose works critiqued the queen's politics, religion, and sexuality to undermine her public authority. 14Moreover, it shows how far removed Mary's life was from the interest of academic historians in the 1960s and 1970s.Nonetheless, under Fraser's direction, all of the queen's disadvantages her gender, her Catholic faith, and her French upbringingcombined with an examination of external factional pressures, established Mary as an important historical figure worthy of reevaluation.However, in the last fifty years, Mary's counterpart Elizabeth became the chief beneficiary of enthusiasm for queenship studies, 15 while many people know Mary best from her regular appearance in films and documentaries about Elizabeth. 16 2004, John Guy's biography updated the depiction and identified William Cecil, Elizabeth's chief Protestant advisor as the architect of Catholic Mary's downfall, eclipsing but not exonerating Mary's Guise relatives and the Scottish Lords.In the same vein as Fraser, Guy's biography situates Mary as a young woman, a political pawn, and a struggling ruler.Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly considering his expertise in studying the English Privy Council, Guy considered Mary only from the perspective of politics and diplomacy, offering a cursory discussion of gender. 17This limitation left the door open for a more robust, revisionist interpretation of Mary as an early modern queen.In 2006, Retha Warnicke published the most recent academic biography with a distinct emphasis on early modern gender and cultural analysis.From this perspective, Warnicke's book is the most consciously "early modern" study.In contrast to Guy and Fraser's beliefs, Warnicke concluded that Mary "was not the open, trusting, uncomplicated woman described by some," while judging the better-known biographies as distractingly "romantic," and overall more concerned with British politics than the full picture. 18

Crafting Mary as a Queen and Martyr
In addition to tomb building, James I reinforced Mary's place in British history by patronizing the historian William Camden.In 1624, Camden published The historie of the life and death of Mary Stuart, Queene of Scotland. 19This document-based research undermined the writings of George Buchanan that had earlier destroyed Mary's reputation and urged her final trial. 20Camden's rehabilitation laid the foundation for Mary's subsequent reputation as a pious Catholic, generous, and beautiful, while tragically "tossed and disquieted" by Fortune. 21Parallel with Camden's tragic vision is an equally popular characterization stemming from the Scottish preacher John Knox, whose pamphlets and sermons dismissed ruling queens and demonized Mary as a French heretic led by her libidinous heart. 22storians agree that Mary's contemporaries were divided by religious affiliation in their support or criticism of her.When the Calvinist author Buchanan circulated Detection of the Douings of Marie (1567) following her forced abdication, John Leslie, the Catholic Bishop of Ross, wrote Defence of the Honour of […] Marie (1569) in response. 23gure 1, the so-called Memorial Portrait (c.1604-1618,The Blairs Museum, Aberdeen) illustrates the martyr's character that Mary Queen of Scots and her supporters constructed.Commissioned by Elizabeth Curle, Mary's lady-inwaiting for eight years, the portrait presents a full-length queen surrounded with blocks of text and images that narrate her execution at Fotheringhay.On Mary's right is her execution scene, and on her left stand two women identified as Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle ("Ioanna Kennethie | Elizabetha Cvrle."), who attended the queen on the Fotheringhay execution platform.Mary is shown dressed in black with a white lace cap and a large, plain wheel ruff.A crucifix hangs around her neck on a black ribbon, and in her hands, Mary holds a prominent ivory and ebony crucifix and a small vellum-bound prayer book. 24In the top-left corner, the royal arms of Scotland assert the subject's rank, while the inscription in the topright corner elaborates her identity as the hereditary queen of Scotland and England, the once queen-consort of France, and mother of the legitimate king, James of Great Britain.This inscription also lays the blame for her long captivity and execution on religious grounds, squarely with "perfidious Elizabeth and the cruelty of the English Parliament." 25 This portrait is likely the last authentic likeness of the queen, a conscious contribution to Catholic martyrology, and has influenced filmic versions of Mary's execution. 26To prevent precisely this sort of depiction, most of the queen's household was barred from the execution hall in February 1587, then kept at Fotheringhay for six months and further delayed in London.Only in November 1587 did a few attendants arrive in Paris where their testimony contributed to Adam Blackwood's biography, Histoire et Martyre de la Royne d'Ecosse (1587), and account of the execution, La Mort de la Royne d'Escosse (1588). 27While Cecil worked to prevent accounts of the execution being printed, Mary's former brother-in-law, King Henri III of France, instructed the archbishop of Bourges to proclaim a funeral oration in Mary's honor at the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris in March 1587, while John Leslie, living in exile in Rouen, published a second oration. 28Many other pamphlets, poems, songs, and placards advocated war with England and publicized Mary's martyrdom. 29Alexander Wilkinson has calculated that one-fifth of all printed Catholic polemical tracts in 1587-1588 referred to Mary Queen of Scots. 30chard Verstegan's Theatre of the Cruelty of Heretics in Our Time (1587) even included a woodcut showing the queen at the block, designed to imprint the scene of martyrdom on the reader's imagination. 31though her correspondence with the king of Spain was pivotal to her execution, and as Anne Dillon argued, hastened the Spanish Armada (1588), Philip II rarely appears in films about Mary. 32Instead, Queen Elizabeth I of England remains an important part of Mary's presentation, equally to entrench the theme of martyrdom and elaborate her character. 33For centuries Mary and Elizabeth have existed in history and popular culture as a dyad: the thrice married and martyred Catholic queen who ruled from the heart and the famously celibate and long-lived Protestant queen who ruled with her head.As Kenyon's earlier comments show, the debate over Mary's decision to wed has prolonged the analysis of the queen as a sexual being and overshadowed her political achievements.Far from accepting that Mary wed in response to contemporary society's overwhelming belief that she should do soin order to produce heirs, secure the succession politically, and fulfill a woman's social rolehistorians and directors have repeatedly identified passion and romance, as key to her weak character, which then led to unfortunate marriages, conflict, murder, and abdication. 34In contrast, Elizabeth rebelled against gender norms, continuing to attract and invite suitors but accepting none of their offers. 35 the end, she constructed an identity as a Virgin wed to England, with no chosen successor.Her commitment to a model of Protestant monarchy ruling with parliament, which kept England out of most wars and substituted male advisors like Cecil for a foreign consort, prevented outrage at this social rebellion. 36Many comparisons of the two queens ignore Elizabeth's continued support by male nobles, which Mary's more conventional behavior did not maintain.This issue appears foremost in Rourke's presentation of Mary's struggle, while most twentieth-century films present Elizabeth dominating her Privy Council.

Changing Representations of Mary Queen of Scots in Media
While the belief that Mary and Elizabeth were opposites makes for accessible characterization, it was born of gendered political rhetoric describing their vastly different experiences as rulers.The dramatization of an ahistorical meeting between the two queens originated with Friedrich Schiller's play Mary Stuart (1800) and grew roots with Gaetano Donizetti's opera Maria Stuarda (1835).Because the meeting visualizes the dyadic relationship between two popular historical figures, dramatizes their stereotypes, and reduces their religious and diplomatic conflict to a personal one, it has become a mainstay of films about Mary. 37This makes complex personalities and histories accessible to audiences, and initially aligned with the romantic sensibilities of nineteenth-century audiences that favored the feminine model of motherhood, while grappling with their own queen regnant (i.e., Victoria of England, r. 1837-1901).The apocryphal meeting continues to appear in films, even as recently as Josie Rourke's 2018 biopic, illustrating its central place in Mary's mythology and the extent to which authors and filmmakers are willing to sacrifice historical accuracy for narrative affect. 38owever, the visualization of a false dyadic model encourages repeating larger social prejudices, rather than presenting more complex historical truths.Indeed, some directors easily elide victory and power with virtue, while condemning protests by minority groups as subversion.This casts a shadow on early modern Catholic martyrdom.As Shekhar Kapur's two films about Queen Elizabeth I show, the persistence of these reductionist stereotypes is due to their simplicity, alignment with good/familiar versus bad/threatening, and apparent completeness.In Elizabeth (1998), the young princess ascends and keeps the throne, but only after dodging threats from Catholic assassins and arresting Catholic nobles involved in a conspiracy to end her reign.In Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), the queen leads a naval defense against the Spanish Armada launched by Catholic Philip II, who is shown conspiring with Mary Queen of Scots and the Jesuit Order.As Vivienne Westbrook has argued, Kapur portrays Catholic characters as extremists, while downplaying religion in Protestant characters, in order to construct the ethical polarities that lead smoothly to a battle between good and evil. 39A similar application of values and contextualizing narrative takes place when the theme of martyrdom is invoked.As Elizabeth Castelli has shown, "[m]artyrdom always implies a broader narrative that invokes notions of justice and the right ordering of the cosmos." 40us, martyrdom requires the dyadic relationship that structures many of Mary's filmic and literary interpretations.As Jayne Elizabeth Lewis noted, "Mary was essentially invented by sixteenth-century political propaganda," and has remained in the British and Continental European popular imagination for centuries. 41Appearing first as Elizabeth's "Other," just as Scotland did for England, Mary became a necessary Catholic sacrifice that reinforced the righteous fiction of Great Britain as a unified, homogenous, Protestant entity. 42While historians agree that only later in life Mary crafted a martyr's identity, many twentieth-century filmmakers have accepted this identity, thereby privileging her execution as a pivotal moment, even while religion occupies an ambivalent spot in the filmic Mary's life. 43 Mary of Scotland (dir.8 In this film, Elizabeth only ever appears as a scolding puppet, but nevertheless looms as a shadow over Mary, who can never measure up. 49As Mary's execution approaches, instead of a martyr, viewers see a captive who welcomes death. 50 these films show, martyrdom is an important, but uneven, aspect of Mary's filmic identity.While it has always competed with her characterization as a poor political operative and a weak queen led by love, recently it has become even less important.Jarrott's film depicted Mary as a martyr to emphasize her emotional transformation and achieve verisimilitude at her execution, and forty years later Imbach's film did the same.In the recent productions by Josie Rourke and the CW, religion is a cover used by ambitious noblemen to attack an inconvenient queen.
Although Elizabeth continues to appear in these productions, she no longer stands opposite Mary, but as a queen regnant, shares her gendered struggles.

Third Wave Feminism and Postfeminism in Film and Television
During the 1990s, the television and film industry began to shift, finally acknowledging the interests of women in the entertainment and advertising markets and the emergence of a younger female demographic. 51These cultural and market developments coincided with increased public interest in History, through specialty television channels and a boom in popular history writing.While these developments certainly encouraged the study of elite women, from the late 1990s Anglophone costume dramas found new popularity by dramatizing Tudor England. 52Shekhar Kapur's films about Elizabeth I have used the filmic queen as a canvas for contemporary concerns about female leaders and religious extremism. 53 At approximately the same time that Tudor history recaptured public attention, feminism moved in new directions resulting in third wave feminism and postfeminism.Notably, in the last forty years as feminist social and political gains have become widespread in the West, Christian church attendance levels have been dropping. 54In North America, the movement away from a primarily institutional form of religious or spiritual expression (as seen in weekly church attendance) may also reflect forces that have encouraged a broader definition of the idea of martyrdom and the expectation that gender, sexual, and racial identities can be equally fraught.Generation X (born c. 1965-1980) grew up enjoying and expecting gender equality based on the achievements of second wave feminism, but in light of the conservative backlash that emerged in the 1980s, this group has developed an activism focused on eliminating gender, sexual, and racial inequality.Often called "third wave" feminism, it is characterized by "the influence of poststructuralist theory on its notions of identity and subjectivity; an interest in consumerism; a postmodernist orientation toward popular culture; and a focus on sexuality." 55Diversity and hybridity sit at the core of third wave identity, along with a deep awareness of sexual politics, identity, and display.While third wave feminism grew out of anger and frustration with misogynistic politics and culture, its offshoot postfeminism rejects victimhood and anger, while choosing to embrace sexual power.As Rosalind Gill argues, the postfeminist sensibility is deeply entrenched in modern media culture, and particularly applied to women and female adolescents, who historically form Mary Queen of Scots' traditional audience.This sensibility is characterized by the idea that femininity is read in the body; subjectification rather than objectification; submission to self-surveillance, monitoring and self-discipline; an emphasis on individualism, choice and empowerment; and a belief in natural sexual difference. 56As both these cultural modes have been reluctant to account for religion's role in feminist society, media productions that pivot around narratives of religious difference, like the life of Mary Queen of Scots, are critical to understanding the application of these modes. 57e concurrent presence of both these modes in media productions has substantially impacted the depiction of women in historical films.Two recent productions exploring the Scottish queen's life show how differently third wave feminism and the postfeminist sensibility affect her depiction.Where Josie Rourke's film Mary Queen of Scots applies a third wave lens that emphasizes struggle against patriarchy, sisterhood, and tolerance of sexual diversity, CW's Reign first uses a postfeminist sensibility that portrays inter-generational conflict, 'emphasized femininity,' and self and group-monitoring to maintain the authentic self.Religion appears as an affiliation that feeds into powerful political factions, rather than as a set of beliefs or behaviors.In both productions, as Mary's confidence, autonomy, and expressed authority increases, her role as a model of tragic sacrifice decreases, along with discussions of religion.

From Postfeminism to Third Wave in Reign
The CW's Reign (SenGupta and McCarthy, 2013-2017), an historical romantic television drama, combines a postfeminist sensibility that becomes a third wave character.Although reviewers have criticized the series for its consistent disinterest in the historical record and modern costume choices, 58 over four seasons the show presented plotlines focused on a strong female cast to attract a young female audience and explore power and gender dynamics, alongside historical events. 59ile Season 1 presents Mary and her ladies-in-waiting with a postfeminist lens, chasing love and court positions, Seasons 2-4 articulate the third wave difficulties they face as women seeking respect as autonomous and influential agents and rulers.
With plots that weave romantic relationships with European politics, and to a far lesser degree religion, Reign meditates on the challenges facing young postfeminist women: how to achieve love and independence, maintain same-sex friendships, and preserve an authentic self.In Season 1 Reign's female ensemble cast project a sort of Renaissance girl power based on same-sex friendships that offer protection, rather than pressure to change. 60As they arrive at the French court, Lady Greer states their purpose: "Make no mistake, we are here now to get our young queen in the game." 61While Mary frequently seeks political, social, and romantic advice from her ladies, she also offers them support and protection.When Lady Lola finds herself pregnant with Francis's child after a one-night stand, Mary helps her find a husband and live respectably at court. 62This support in the face of crisis, whether historically accurate or not, depicts a strong sense of sisterhood among these ladies, which values the authentic self predicated on firm friendship. 63e postfeminist influence also appears in the group's consistent encouragement to uphold standards and self-discipline, thereby preserving their authentic selves.
When Mary unknowingly puts her ladies in danger and they confront her, she reassures them of their safety and her ability to protect them, stating: "I'll do better.I promise." 64This emphasis on same-sex friendship as a communal support system speaks to Reign's young postfeminist audience and presents a new Queen Mary who is empowered by and for the women around her, rather than as earlier films depict, by her role as a Catholic ruler.
Although Ginia Bellafante has noted that other early modern costume dramas are rife with scenes of sex and nudity that minimized otherwise strong female characters, 65 Reign uses sex in a less explicit way that gestures to its younger female audience.Gill has argued that postfeminist women "are portrayed as active, desiring sexual subjects who choose to present themselves in a seemingly objectified manner because it suits their liberated interests to do so." 66Reign highlights women's freedom of choice, encourages fashionable dress, and presents sex as pleasurable, but it does not obfuscate sexual violence or threats.In Season 2 Mary is raped by a Protestant attacker, which shines a new light on sex, power, and access to women's bodies, but does little to explain religious tension. 67Rather, this plotline spotlights gender inequality and signals a shift in Reign from a postfeminist to a third wave perspective.Seasons 2-4 follow a more mature Mary, who understands the challenges and limitations of female rulership.Arguably, gender inequality obscures religion to become the show's central theme.Plotlines that incorporate Queen Elizabeth and Catherine de Medici, as well as other female characters, all speak to the challenge that patriarchy posed and still poses to Reign's viewers.While this movement from a postfeminist sensibility towards third wave feminism reflects Mary's increasing understanding of a precarious political life, it also signals the public willingness to discuss sexual harassment and gender inequalities.As Seasons 2-4 were in production, the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson gave her HeForShe speech (September 2014) and the #MeToo movement grew, returning feminism and global gender inequities to the news. 68st as earlier films used religion and emotion to build Mary's identity, Elena Woodacre has cited early modern queens' sexuality as a strategy to create a humanized and relatable queen. 69However, Mary's struggle against male prejudice is equally affecting.In positioning Reign's women as models for modern viewers, Mary becomes an empowered and independent queen, only to be destroyed by patriarchal challenges to abnormal 'female' authority.As she is imprisoned in England, Mary proclaims: "The only crime I have committed that you care about is that I am a woman, a woman who wears a crown."John Knox responds that "a woman in power goes against Nature.Men will never willingly bow to the weaker sex." 70 Knox's comment affirms that misogyny, rather than religion was the greatest threat to Mary's life.

A Martyr to Patriarchy: Mary Queen of Scots (dir. Rourke, 2018)
In contrast to Reign's younger and maturing Mary, Josie Rourke's queen stands steadfast in character and changes little over the film's course, even as her circumstances change drastically.In the "Tudor Feminism" featurette, included with the Mary Queen of Scots DVD, screenwriter Beau Willimon notes that the film depicts the two queens within a "vortex swinging back and forth between sisterhood and rivalry."As befits a third wave interpretation, the film explores political survival, sisterhood, and sexual freedom within a personalized female-centered story.Rourke banishes the usual dyadic model to explore a strong Mary, whose choices are constrained by misogynistic geopolitics.In contrast, Elizabeth's vulnerability stems not from a Catholic plot, but from her own male nobles' expectations.By mirroring Elizabeth and Mary's reigns, viewers see that the queens faced similar pressures, even though they met different outcomes.As the film makes clear, noble support was essential, but only lasted if the queens accepted noble counsel.Each queen vocalizes her awareness of this precarious situation and their shared vulnerability.When encouraged by Darnley to "not be Elizabeth […]   always suspecting intrigue or fearing revolt," Mary responds flatly: "Her fears are wise.We both have nobles who would have us deposed."Later, Elizabeth describes the reality that both she and Mary face: any man she marries might plot to overthrow her, much as Darnley and Bothwell do to Mary.As if foreshadowing these acts, Lord Maitland asserts that no man wishes to settle for being kingconsort.
As they struggle to negotiate peace, the queens adopt the rhetoric of sisterhood, which resonates in both the premodern and modern periods.Mary's first letter to Elizabeth describes a gender-based cooperation that excludes male nobles and would be familiar to modern female audiences: We are two sisters bound by womanhood.Two princes on the same island.Ruling side by side we must do so in harmony, and not by a treaty drafted by men lesser than ourselves.I wish us to make a treaty of two queens.This harmonious vision of sister-queens collaborating to rule Britain scaffolds a political rapprochement activated by Prince James' birth.This expectation of sisterhood is directly influenced by third wave feminism, which produced a basic understanding of gender-related issues facing women in a working environment or women holding positions of power.Modern viewers expect that both Mary and Elizabeth could survive as rulers with support from other women, who recognize the systemic disadvantages that they face.An early modern king, on the other hand, patriarchal balance Moray, Maitland, Cecil, and Randolph conspire to remove Mary from the throne in order to preserve Protestant rule in Scotland and England, and their own power.Thus, there can be no solidarity between queens when noblemen express solidarity across borders.The Scottish lords leverage English fear of Catholicism to produce an English army, imprisonment, and execution order, which ensures their continued rule under Moray's regency.Although Mary kneels before a cross in her cell and reveals her red dress at the block, an observer dismisses her, saying: "She thinks herself a martyr."Rather, this Mary is a martyr to patriarchy, not Protestantism.

Warrior Queens
While patriarchal structures apply increasing pressure over the course of Mary's narratives, within the last two decades certain films have complicated and pushed back against the traditional gendered depictions by increasing early modern queens' involvement in war.In 2007, Kapur's film Elizabeth: The Golden Age presented an otherwise traditional Queen Elizabeth sheathed in silver armor atop a white horse and urging courage against the Spanish Armada with a version of her famous Tilbury speech.While she is clearly masculinized, this image of a "kingly" Elizabeth is undermined by her long wind-swept hair and quick separation from her soldiers.Chiefly, her appearance is inspirational, as Walter Raleigh and his sailors appear engaging and defeating the Armada at sea.Instead Elizabeth remains in a white nightgown on a promontory, watching the distant battle.Aidan Norrie has questioned this vision of unfulfilled queenly power: "Is she a queen encouraging her troops?Is she a queen trying (unsuccessfully) to play the part of a medieval warrior-king?Or is she a woman who believes in her kingly authority and is attempting to wield it at the opportune time?" 72 Like other directors, Kapur struggled to present Elizabeth as anything other than feminine, and so the queen defeated England's enemies only via proxy.Reign presents Mary in a similar situation: deeply engaged in negotiation and strategy, but rarely on the front line.
Her mother Marie de Guise, her uncle the duke de Guise, and her brother James, all fight on her behalf in Scotland, while Mary remains secure at the French court.Not only is Mary, as a queen regnant without an heir, too precious to send to the battlefield, but as a woman she is untrained in this crucial role.As each proxy is revealed to strategize for their own benefit, Mary's limitations become more clear and her independence seems hollow.Unlike Kapur's Elizabeth, who at least appears costumed for war, Reign's Mary uses elaborate court gowns to make political statements, which also emphasizes her distance from the battlefield. 73ly men wear armor in Reign, asserting Mary's acceptance that femininity is read in the body.
In contrast, Josie Rourke's film presents Mary as a full participant in the Chaseabout Raid (1565) that unified Scotland against her brother Moray's rebellion.As Figure 2 shows, these scenes open with Mary confidently shooting a handgun.Unlike the armored Elizabeth with fly-away hair, Mary wears an unadorned blue dress with a muddy hem, an armored bodice, and pulled-back hair that reveals a resolute face.Mary's weapons and practical, understated clothing reflect her determination to work alongside similarly dressed soldiers to bring Moray to heel and enforce her authority.When her armored husband Darnley seems weary she reminds him: "our swords are not just for show."Likewise, the queen's actions provide a parallel to her costume, underlining her fully participant role.
Mary rides with Bothwell, leading her soldiers, discussing strategy, and always using "we" and "us" to indicate their group movements.No one tells Mary to retreat, as Elizabeth's advisors do.When Moray and his troops come into view Mary stands amid her soldiers and gives the signal to attack.Although she does not strike any blows, she is close enough to decide if Moray lives or dies, and her decisions are responsible for the royal victory.Spatially, Mary always appears ahead or above male leaders, positioned in the traditional place of authority and leadership.On horseback she mingles with her soldiers, emphasizing their shared community, instead of being relegated to the rearguard or a spectator role.This activity contrasts with the way that twentieth-century films have portrayed Mary

Conclusion: Patriarchal Persecution
In a 2019 lecture, Josie Rourke noted that "any representation of the past is an index to how we feel in the present," highlighting historical drama as a mirror for current concerns. 74With this in mind, the diminished role of religion in both Reign and Rourke's film is striking.Not only do both Marys rarely pray, attend Mass, or wear crosses, they also advocate religious tolerance repeatedly.This is consistent with third wave acceptance of diverse lifestyles and mirrors the modern Western separation of religion from politics and civil rights.Instead of becoming an emblem for Catholic conspiracy and loss, as in earlier films, Reign and Rourke's Marys are victims of misogynistic prejudice, which continues to preoccupy modern society.
In Reign's series finale Queen Elizabeth identifies this widespread persecution, describing Mary as "besieged on all sides by a world of men, who seek to tear her down because they cannot control her.Somehow I understand her predicament." 75ile most productions present the queens' lives as intertwined, Reign and Rourke have replaced the dyadic model of religious and character difference, with a shared gender-based struggle.Writing in 2012, Ingibjörg Ágústsdóttir noted that little about Mary had altered in two centuries of popular presentations, even though second wave feminism had brought wide-ranging changes to women's lives and self-perception. 76As this article has shown, more recent productions have

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Unknown artist, Memorial Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots (after 1603/c.1604-1618),The Blairs Museum, Aberdeen, Scotland.Reproduced by permission of the Scottish Catholic Heritage Collections Trust.
Initially, Mary establishes her Catholic identity by praying when she arrives in Leith.This adherence to "the old faith" reinforces her as Scotland's rightful ruler by lineage.Although Mary, Moray, and the Scottish lords present religious choice as a conscientious right, the lords view conversion to Protestantism as politically expedient.After noting Knox's popularity, they describe Elizabeth as "[b]orn in the other faith, milady.But she gets off a ship when it sinks."Thus, Mary's steadfast, but rarely seen on screen Catholicism is elided with political opposition to the Scottish lords.They target the cross-wearing Rizzio, who represents the queen's foreign connections and begs Mary to wed a Catholic suitor in an effort to preserve Scottish Catholicism.Once imprisoned in England, Mary prays again, this time wearing a crucifix and kneeling before a cross, to remind the audience of the religious difference separating her and her cousin Elizabeth.In Ford's film, religion appears intermittently to identify factions and nuance conflict, but Mary faces execution for actions that entwine politics, religion, and romance.In Das Herz Der Konigin (The Heart of the Queen, dir.Carl Froelich, 1940), text at the film's start and finish present the insurmountable challenge that the Scottish queen faced: "When Mary entered Scotland she encountered hate and repulsal everywhere.She wanted to conquer the peoples' heart, but the resistance of the Scottish nobility, the fanatic struggles with the medieval Church and the English queen's hostility prevented her."This Scottish queen shows little religious interest, beyond wearing a cross and advocating for freedom of religion alongside abolition of serfdom and preservation of justice.The Scottish lords deride these efforts, framing Scotland as a wild land needing a masternot a loving motherwhile Knox demonizes the queen as a Catholic whore in opposition to a virtuous Protestant populace.Problematically, the film's acceptance of Mary's love for Bothwell and the forged Casket Letters as true evidence of her adultery and collusion in Darnley's murder, subverts the narrative of English victimization and the queen as a religious martyr.As she goes to her execution, Mary states: "Riccio and Olivier and Henry's deaths I caused myself.Today I atone my former debts."Above the execution block, viewers see a stone relief of Jesus in judgement, suggesting that Mary's death was not quite martyrdom, nor exclusively political, but punishment for sins of passion. 45More than the previous films, Mary, Queen of Scots (dir.Jarrott, 1971) foregrounds religious division, while entrenching the queens' dyadic relationship even further.The film's opening text states: "England and Scotland are torn apart by family and religious wars.[… Catholic Mary finds] a fight for power with Elizabeth, the Protestant queen of England.This is the story of the fierce struggle between… the rival queens." 46Yet among Jarrott's characters, religion inspires uneven concern.While Elizabeth and Cecil repeatedly discuss the reactions of Catholic ambassadors and noblemen, and Mary's Guise uncles send a Jesuit confessor and a papal agent with her, in Scotland Mary shows little interest in religious practice or debate.In a confusing exchange with Knox, the queen shouts that Catholicism is the true Church, but "like all of my subjects, you [Knox] will have the free use of your conscience."This scene underscores Mary's religious ambivalence and greater investment in love, loyalty, and political stability.Only at the film's close is Mary recast as a fervent Catholic and possible religious martyr.In emulation of Curle's portrait, Mary carries a rosary and prayer book to her execution, prays constantly, and wears a martyr's red dress.Yet, this final framing of Mary is less convincing since throughout the film politics and romance repeatedly trump religion as animating concerns.Thomas Imbach's film, Mary Queen of Scots (2013) presents a psychological rather than chronological portrait and transforms Mary's martyrdom into something new.Drawing heavily on Stephan Zweig's biography (1935), which applied Freudian theory to cast Mary as an amalgamation of Clytemnestra and Lady Macbeth, Imbach's Mary is consumed by her passions and their repercussions.For decades, feminists have attacked Freud's misogynistic models, which contrasts with Imbach's self-stated desire to present Mary as a post-modern European heroine who strives to balance love, motherhood, and work. 47Yet Mary's psychological collapse at the film's end subverts this balance, reasserts the weak queen model, and reflects what Imbach calls "a modern woman, passionate and fragile." Similarly, Showtime Network's series The Tudors (2007-2010) has expanded discussions of public narratives, visualization, and engagement with the past.Many other productions, from the filming of Philippa Gregory's novel The Other Boleyn Girl (dir.Chadwick, 2008) to the musical Six (Marlow and Moss, 2017), are female-focused and explore current cultural preoccupations through the early modern past, in particular the collision of modern gender models with religious reform narratives.

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Elizabeth as passive, separated from the action, and impacted by men's deeds.Unlike Kapur's Elizabeth, who is bound by patriarchal gender roles, Rourke's Mary 29 DeSilva and McGuire: Revising Mary Queen of Scots Published by DigitalCommons@UNO, 2021defies gendered expectations and is equally capable of ruling at court and on the battlefield.

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Saoirse Ronan as Mary Stuart in Mary Queen of Scots (dir.Rourke, 2018).Photograph courtesy of AA Film Archive / Alamy Stock Photo.
embraced a third wave inflected queen, who mirrors the popular expectation of gender equality and struggle against continuing misogynistic patriarchy.Much as global Catholic-Protestant tension has subsided, Mary has abandoned religious martyrdom, and instead, queens' lives have become lightning rods for misogynistic concerns about powerful women.Together Reign and Rourke show how Mary's legacy can shift discussion from political division and religious sacrifice to female strength in adversity, struggle against patriarchal prejudice, and models of strong female leadership.