Elizabeth the Golden Age

When I knew that we were going to watch "Elizabeth, the Golden Age", I was thrilled. To tell you the truth, I have watched the movie once and I do not mind at all to watch it again because the movie is AWESOME! The movie simply took my breath away. Great actors, majestic and breath taking display of history, plus being an epic freak myself, the movie easily became one of my favourites. It is one interesting way to teach people about history, without looking through history text books. At first I wondered, why do we have to watch this movie? I thought we were going to watch Oedipus Rex movie or something. At least there are connections with the plays we are learning. As we watch the movie (me for the second time), I felt there are relevance in watching the movie in relating it with Oedipus Rex play. Elizabeth is a ruler, so as Oedipus. And there is also irony in the story. In the beginning of the movie, Elizabeth says something like "I only punish people for their crimes, not their beliefs", when the advisors tell her to banish the people who still believe in orthodox teachings. But when the evidence to the conspiracy to assassinate Elizabeth between Mary, Queen of Scots, Jesuit group in London and King Phillip, found, Elizabeth is forced to punish Mary by death. Even though Mary is clearly found guilty, Elizabeth could not bring herself to agree to the punishment. During the execution, she grieves and pleads for the execution to stop (not to the executioner, but merely to her attendants). This shows the irony of Elizabeth not wanting to punish the crime committed by Mary, even though she once said "I only punish people for their crimes, not their beliefs", and even though she herself almost got killed during the attempt. Elizabeth also believe in prophecy, so as prophecy is portrayed in Oedipus Rex play. Elizabeth confides in her astrologer, Dr John Dee who predicts that his art shows that two empires will go to war. However, he cannot predict which will triumph over the other, leaving Elizabeth to ponder her fate and that of England. Unlike Oedipus, Elizabeth fights for hope and chances for success, as Oedipus runs from his fate. All and all, Elizabeth the Golden Age is really awesome. It made me stop and think, about the courage and strength possessed by a single woman who actually rule an entire kingdom herself.