Thinkpiece no. 4

On Elizabeth and Absolute Power

The movie, which retold the early years of the reign of Elizabeth I, was grand and emotional. It was aptly nourished with extravagant costumes and setting, which is a trend of productions relating to the Golden Age of England (Shakespeare in Love, for instance). The casts were also very much suitable for their roles. What I don’t really appreciate in this movie is its storyline. I feel that the real story behind it was so rich with important events that the writers had troubles in choosing what to highlight, or simply include in the movie. They were successful in presenting the character of Elizabeth I, but for the rest, their roles are not clearly established. I know that time is a limiting factor here. But I think that it would have been more helpful for people like me who are not really familiar with English history, if the script explored more the motivations behind the actions of Sir Francis Walshingham, Robert Dudley and the French and Spanish royalties. Was it only power that motivated them? Maybe I’m just not being simplistic and at the same time skeptical of the story the movie presented (since Hollywood has its own way of curving the truth for its pleasure).

Anyway, moving to the real business of this thinkpiece, absolute power was probably the theme of this movie, hence its tagline “Absolute power demands absolute loyalty”. To be more specific, I think the movie is concerned with the hardships and stakes of achieving absolute power. Being in the position of power, automatically bequeath one with numerous foes and a meager number of trustworthy friends. Man’s pursue of power is so strong that he would do anything just for it. Thus, if one is successful of attaining power, he has the grave responsibility of defending his throne against both his known and faceless adversaries. Elizabeth I was surely a perfect exemplar of this scenario. Considering that she was considered illegitimate at a young age and she is a protestant, her claim for the crown was apparently questioned and criticized both by the Catholic Church and other dominant figures of Europe. Fortunate enough, she had the courage of restating that she is the one in power and she will rule as she wishes. Plus she had the wisdom of figuring out who to trust and not.

The symbols used in the coronation of Elizabeth I were evident of her absolute power. At first, her absolute power seemed unclear to me, she was standing on shaky grounds and was surrounded with a council whose intentions are murky. But when she suggested the retirement of Sir William as her adviser and made him a Lord instead, it became evident that she was indeed in absolute power. This would soon be more established when she addressed the parliament regarding the uniformity issue of religions. In her exercise of power, it is unquestionable that she is crafting her decisions towards what she thinks would be beneficial for her people. Being both the leader of the state and the church, she was able to influence England in wholly.

The idea of absolute power is hard to grasp for someone like me who was raised in a state where power is never confined in a single body. For Elizabeth I, the political system during her time was on her side. Provided that the Church would be separated from the state, she would have a harder time dealing with the clergy’s moves and decisions which would be beneficial for the preservation of their power. The country would never be united because the people would have to abide with the policies of two different bodies, which often than not, would often be conflicting with each other. Her tolerance for Protestantism would never be appreciated by the Church, thus devout Catholics would always contest her decisions for the state. But luckily enough for her, she was powerful both in the state and the realms of religion, and her time of power would soon be known as the Golden Age.

Giving a leader absolute power seems too scary for he or she might abuse it. Assurance that the lives of the people would be better after a system of absolute power was implemented would be my sole condition to concur with such arrangement. However, assurance of anything seems to be out of the question. We would never be assured unless we subject ourselves to a situation that would test its outcomes. The possibilities of a having unified country sounds too pleasing but the stakes of giving someone absolute power are very high that we fear the idea alone.