APLaC 1
Queen Elizabeth I is a woman in a male-dominated world who speaks to her troops prior to
the impending Spanish invasion of England. Queen Elizabeth’s purpose is to encourage the men
to fight to protect English interests. Her impassioned tone is meant to motivate the men with
promises of rewards.
The queen addresses her “loving people” to immediately connect with them and express her
faith and trust in them despite the advice of some “to take heed how we commit ourselves to
armed multitudes.” She represents herself as a soldier in spirit if not in body when she says that
she will “live and die amongst you all,” thus establishing her credibility with her audience. She
finishes by promising the soldiers that they will receive rewards and by directing them to follow
her “lieutenant general,” who will lead them “in [her] stead.”
Queen Elizabeth’s carefully crafted diction generates pride in the
soldiers with selections such as “chiefest strength,” “safeguard,”
“loyal hearts,” and “good-will.” The queen shows that her ability to rule effectively is
reliant on them believing in her as a leader, thus she is placing “her chiefest strength” with the
people. She is entrusting them to have her best interests, and therefore the interests of the
country, at heart. She compounds this idea of her trust in the “safeguard” of the soldiers; she
knows that they will keep her and the country safe. She appeals to their sense of patriotism and
morality when she gives her safety to their “loyal hearts,” relying on their “good-will” to do what
is right. These words are carefully chosen to create a sense of honor, thus encouraging them to
take up arms.
Moving forward in her speech, Queen Elizabeth uses carefully crafted maternal
imagery in order to create confidence that though she is but a “weak and feeble
APLaC 2
woman,” she has the “heart and stomach of a king of England.” She anticipates the
soldiers’ concerns about her ability to lead due to her gender, and she forthrightly attacks that
notion in order to dispel it. She offers a contradictory definition of herself with visceral bodily
references with which the soldiers can identify; they understand that “hearts and stomachs” are
necessary for survival. They understand that her commitment to England, her “heart and
stomach”—her will—supersede the limits of her frail body. Her anger piqued, the queen is
incensed that the kings of Parma or Spain would dare attack her realm; she paints an image of
their wrongful thinking by addressing their “treachery.” By appealing to the soldiers’ sense of
nationalism and patriotism, she enjoins them to believe that their cause is just and good. They
feel obliged to protect their country because they have right on their side.
Having established her strength as a leader, the peroration directs the soldiers forward into
battle.
Her complex syntax, including anaphora and repetition, shifts the focus from her role as leader to their
role as soldiers.
The queen states: “…I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general,
judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field” focuses the audience on her role as
their commander through repetition, which emphasizes her commitment. The soldiers believe
that they will be paid in money and in honor.
Her role as commander cemented, the queen passes the
responsibility for winning the battle onto the men’s shoulders as evidenced by her parallel structure.
She
assures them that they will win “but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the
camp, and your valour in the field…” and further drives her point home by restating the fact that
right is on their side “over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.” There
is no way they can lose.
APLaC 3
Queen Elizabeth is highly effective in encouraging the men to fight for England. Presenting
herself as an eminent leader, she gives them their marching orders. Her sentiments appeal to the
soldiers’ sense of honor, and thus they will follow her commands because they are emotionally
moved to do so.
Strategy: diction
Queen Elizabeth’s inspirational diction rallies her troops to fight with choices such as “virtues,” “valour,”
and “victory.”
Revised sentence:
Queen Elizabeth’s carefully crafted diction generates pride in the
soldiers with selections such as “chiefest strength,” “safeguard,”
“loyal hearts,” and “good-will.”
Strategy: imagery
Queen Elizabeth uses carefully crafted maternal imagery in her speech to the troops at Tilbury in order to
create confidence that though she is but a “weak and feeble woman,” she has the “heart and stomach of a
king of England”; she demonstrates her devotion to the troops by forcing them to picture her “tak[ing] up
arms” as she herself becomes their “general, judge, and rewarder of every one of [their] virtues in the
field.”
Revised sentence:
Moving forward in her speech, Queen Elizabeth uses carefully crafted maternal
imagery in order to create confidence that though she is but a “weak and feeble
woman,” she has the “heart and stomach of a king of England.”
Strategy: syntax
Queen Elizabeth’s complex syntax, including antithesis and anaphora, reflects the charged circumstances
she faces in addressing military men as a female leader with sentences like: “…I know that I have the
body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of
England…,” followed by “…I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and
rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.”
Revised sentence:
Her complex syntax, including anaphora and repetition, shifts the focus from her role as leader to their role as
soldiers. … Her role as commander cemented, the queen passes the responsibility for winning the battle onto
the men’s shoulders as evidenced by her parallel structure.