The Queen's Mercy : Gender and Judgment in Representations of Elizabeth I

During the Elizabethan era, writers such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney, Daniel, and others frequently expounded on mercy, exploring the sources and outcomes of clemency. This fresh reading of such depictions shows that the concept of mercy was a contested one, directly shaped by tensions over the exercise of judgment by a woman on the throne. During the Elizabethan era, beliefs about women's susceptibility to emotion intersected with debates about monarchical power and equity in law to make 'mercy' a particularly complex concept. It made frequent appearances in the work of writers of the era such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney, Daniel, and others who explored the wellsprings of clemency and its role in society. Through a fresh reading of such depictions, author Mary Villeponteaux shows that, under Elizabeth I, mercy was contested both conceptually and in practice and that its cultural representation was directly shaped by tensions surrounding the exercise of judgment by a woman on the throne Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Note on Texts 12 Chapter 1 “By Nature Full of Mercy”: The Clemency of the Queen 13 Chapter 2 “The Sacred Pledge of Peace and Clemencie”: Elizabethan Mercy in The Faerie Queene 46 Chapter 3 “Proud and Pitilesse”: Elizabethan Mercy and the Sonnet Tradition 77 Chapter 4 “A Goodly Musicke in Her Regiment”: Elusive Justice in The Merchant of Venice 117 Chapter 5 “Pardon Is Still the Nurse of Second Woe”: Measure for Measure and the Transition from Elizabeth to James 142 Chapter 6 “Good Queene, You Must Be Rul’d”: Feminine Mercy in the Plays of Heywood and Dekker 166 Notes 183 Bibliography 214 Index 226 Front Matter....Pages i-xi “By Nature Full of Mercy”: The Clemency of the Queen....Pages 1-33 “The Sacred Pledge of Peace and Clemencie”: Elizabethan Mercy in The Faerie Queene....Pages 35-65 “Proud and Pitilesse”: Elizabethan Mercy and the Sonnet Tradition....Pages 67-106 “A Goodly Musicke in Her Regiment”: Elusive Justice in The Merchant of Venice....Pages 107-131 “Pardon Is Still the Nurse of Second Woe”: Measure for Measure and the Transition from Elizabeth to James....Pages 133-156 “Good Queene, You Must Be Rul’d”: Feminine Mercy in the Plays of Heywood and Dekker....Pages 157-173 Back Matter....Pages 175-227