Elizabeth I has been dead for more than 400 years, and Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded 16 years earlier in 1587. Yet today’s women still identify with these two powerful queens.
Elizabeth is frequently mentioned in opinion polls about great leaders, and many successful women have been inspired by her. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s self-willed cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, also has legions of fans. She is often cited as the ultimate romantic heroine who followed her heart and was undone by love.
Elizabeth and Mary were celebrity queens in their own lifetimes, and part of their enduring fascination is that they embody the female dilemma we all share—whether we should follow our head (Elizabeth) or our heart (Mary). Even today, we feel we have to choose between the two as it often seems impossible to reconcile demanding work and duty to others with expressing our needs for love and personal fulfillment.
Elizabeth and Mary’s lives as queens were rich, complex and erous, and the prize that divided them was nothing less than the English crown itself. Yet their opposing responses to love and loss, rivalry and er, hope and frustration of desire still strike a chord with 21st-century women.
Elizabeth was an intellectual and pragmatist (实用主义者) who was largely in control of her emotions, while Mary, a courageous woman of action, was a reckless romantic who followed her heart. Elizabeth made personal sacrifices in order to be a great queen and effective ruler. She never married, but often spoke about being "mother and wife" of her people. Mary, on the other hand, married Bothwell against all advice and faced the subsequent wreckage of her reign.
Mary was a reckless romantic but was by no means a fool. She was an intelt, respected ruler, but her failing was her lack of insight into the consequences of her actions. Her rashness left her vulnerable and. ually led to her downfall. On the contrary, Elizabeth was far more politically adept and knew how to play the . Mary’s primary concern was her own immediate desire.
Of course, it is possible that there’s a bit of both Mary and Elizabeth in every woman. Similarly, the queens’ public images were not always so clear-cut. Until the scandal following her second husband’s murder, Mary was considered the "good" queen, the woman who had done what was expected of her by marrying and producing a son. Elizabeth was generally considered wanton (放荡的人), with her bold flirtation () with Lord Dudley, her refusal to marry and her resistance to being managed by the men who surrounded her. Mary, though the tragedy of her death, became a Catholic martyr, while Elizabeth, leading her people against Spain’s great Armada, became England’s greatest queen.
Just as Mary and Elizabeth’s public images could be overturned by a murder and a marriage, or an execution and a naval victory, so we can be deceived about ourselves and others. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true