The Renaissance Englishwoman in Code

I found a lot of really great stuff over the last few weeks, but I was unfortunately a little too busy with the paper to actually post anything. Here's something, though, that I thought was really interesting and that I'm toying with trying to work into my next paper.

The article is called "The Renaissance Englishwoman in Code: 'Blabbs' and Cryptographers at Elizabeth I's Court." It's by Elizabeth Mazzola, and it's about how women like Mary Stuart used their feminine image to encode messages in the court. Mazzola argues that, because men assumed that women were making spelling and grammar mistakes because of inferior intelligence, women could actually encode their messages easily (1). Mazzola also points out that Elizabeth didn't do this. It's especially interesting to me because my paper focuses a lot on how Elizabeth appeals to her femininity to get improve her image and subversively claim more power. I suppose, though, that there isn't anything for her to gain by seeming uneducated--she has enough power that she can say things more outright. It would be interesting, though, to compare Mazzola's ideas with Elizabeth while she is still a princess. During that stage, Elizabeth does seem to often downplay her own intelligence, as when she tells Katherine Parr that her translations aren't very good (Marcus, Mueller, and Rose 7). It's also interesting to think about how Elizabeth's projection of her own intelligence changes throughout her reign--her letters to James by 1593 are surprisingly snarky and forceful. It really illuminates a lot about power structures and who is allowed to have power in Renaissance England. Does Elizabeth have more power when she is falling back on her feminine virtue, or when she is projecting power outright?

I think a lot of us are writing about Elizabeth's construction of identity, so if anyone is interested in how women like Mary Stuart used stereotypes to send messages and "have a voice," then this might be a cool article to check out. Otherwise, I hope that everyone's research is going well!

Mazzola, Elizabeth. "The Renaissance Englishwoman in Code: 'Blabbs' and Cryptographers at Elizabeth I's Court." Critical Survey 22.3 (2010): 1-20. Ebsco. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.