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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help
From what I can remember, the successor to Queen Elizabeth was supposed to be her cousin James VI of Scotland for several reasons.
1)While Elizabeth's reign was comparatively more tolerant towards religious matters than her two half-siblings Edward's and Mary's, Protestantism was the dominant religious grouping and as Elizabeth was dying without children, they would have preferred a Protestant monarch.
2)James had claims to the English throne through his great-grandmother, who was the sister of Henry VIII. As Elizabeth had been declared a bastard daughter at various times in her life, many would see him as the rightful heir (as the French recognised his mother, Mary Queen of Scots as heiress to England.)I could loosely tie this to Hamlet (rather tenuously) through two means:
Claudius had claim to the throne as King's brother. Prior to Elizabeth's own succession and during her own reign, there were other claimnants to the throne because of their descent from either Henry VII or connection to the Plantagent Kings. Many nobles sided with these claimnants. The nobles of Denmark may have
felt it was to their advantage to support someone with Royal blood that was present and known rather than wait for Hamlet to return from Wittensburg. A parallel could be drawn between Mary 1 and Elizabeth.The greater parallel is between James and Fortinbras. In the play Norway is seen as the sometimes troublesome neighbouring country, often quelled by Denmark. Scotland was as troublesome for England. The acession of James would see the two crown (and nations) united as Denmark and Norway were after the death of Prince Hamlet.
Posted by Mistress Kate on April 25, 1997 at 23:09:18
In Reply to "Succession and Elizabethan times relating to Hamlet" posted by Kristen on April 20, 1997 at 23:05:05
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