Elizabeth's Rhetoric In Speech 19 And The Golden Speech

Historically, the role of the female has always been to support her husband. In the renaissance, many women were forced to take on the role of their male counterparts due to circumstances outside of their control. Women were expected to play second fiddle to men, however, Elizabeth I played multiple roles as both king of the country and mother to her people. Elizabeth I utilizes powerful rhetoric in Speech 19 and the Golden speech, blending traditional female gender attributes with traits associated with male rulers in order to achieve her political goals. Her ability to combine attributes from both genders allowed her to succeed as a ruler, inspiring her people to believe that though although she was a woman she had all the capabilities to
Her reassuring motherly tone is emblematic of her love for her people. She formulates her speech in a very humble way that again makes her subjects more willing to believe in her than if she aggressive. She puts her people’s well-being before her own and to have a leader so unselfish, humble, and caring makes her endearing to her subjects. In the line, “My heart was never set on worldly goods, but only for my subjects’ good,” Elizabeth also does not give the impression that she knows everything but instead chooses to acknowledge if she makes a mistake (338). This humility provides her leadership with more credibility, and this is not one of the first traits that would come to mind when describing a king’s traits. This humility provides her leadership with more credibility, although it is a trait that king’s do not typically demonstrate. Yet again she balances strong and soft characteristics to get her subjects under her control. She does not keep them on their knees for too long and treats them equally while still exhibiting power in her words and her divine right to rule so as to be taken seriously as a leader even though she is not a