Reality V. S. Film: Early Years Of Queen Elizabeth's Rule In England
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Annie Liu 05-28-15
Ms. Lieblich Global History I
Global History Research Project
Reality V.S. Film: Early Years of Queen Elizabeth’s Rule in England
Movies and documentary are often times used to get people interested in the time period and the historical topic. However in many cases, the truth is distorted and embellished such as in the movie, Elizabeth I (1998).The biographical film, Elizabeth I (1998) written by Michael Hirst and directed by Shekhar Kapur is not an accurate description of the early years during Elizabeth’s reign because the film implied that Mary of Guise was murdered, Robert Dudley was involved with Elizabeth romantically, and Elizabeth didn’t know that Robert Dudley was married. These events that occurred in the film is inaccurate because in history, none of them really occurred. Many factors lead to the development of the many inaccuracies in the film such as Hirst’s point of…show more content… But in reality Mary of Guise died due to having dropsy, a condition where swelling occurs. This was confirmed by John Knox who stated that “began hir bellie and lothsome leggis to swell." Another inaccurate event that occurred in the movie is that Robert Dudley and Elizabeth was romantically involved. According to the dvd commentary of the movie, the director himself admitted that a love relationship between Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I have never been proven to be true, so portraying Dudley and Elizabeth being romantically involved in the film is inaccurate. Furthermore, Elizabeth’s shocked reaction when Sir William Cecil told her that Robert Dudley was already married is also inaccurate. This is because in the year of 1550, Elizabeth attended Robert Dudley’s marriage to Amy Robsart with her brother, King Edward VI. These many inaccuracies in the film shows that the movie is not an accurate depiction of the Elizabethan period in