During the reign of Elizabeth I many people who held misogynistic gender standards attempted to oppress the queen and denounce her for being a woman monarch. Elizabeth responded to these criticisms and affirmed her position as queen. These censures were based on religion and politics and influenced the opinions of people who were interested in either of these two areas. Elizabeth responded to both accordingly by accepting the stereotype of a woman but avowed her position in both areas by arguing that she had the personality of a man or that she ruled as the wife and mother of England. She also had assistance from people working close to her. Many critics of Elizabeth I based their arguments on religion. These arguments influenced other people's views of her reign by convincing them that her being a ruler went against the principles of Christianity, which carried heavy weight in this time period. John Knox, a Scottish religious reformer, said that Elizabeth being in power was against Nature, and that by God's law, women were forbidden to occupy the position she was in (Document 1). As a religious reformer, he took the word of God literally and believed that women should not be allowed to hold power (Document 1). Nicholas Heath, who was the archbishop of York, held similar beliefs to those of John Knox (Document 2). He also based his beliefs off of the Christian religion. He said that women may not preach or minister the holy sacraments, powers granted to Elizabeth I by the Act of Supremacy, which made the monarch of England also the head of the Anglican…show more content… Many wanted her to marry so she would have to give her power up to her husband, but she stood up for her position of power. She responded to both religiously and politically charged attackers with words accepting the stereotype of woman. She then utilized this stereotype to assert both her power and her devotion to England's