Queen Elizabeth I: A woman transcending her gender

Historically, the actions of individuals in critical moments, and the consequences of those actions, have intrigued the American public. Over the last decade, Queen Elizabeth I, a woman of such intrigue, has captured a renewed and heightened curiosity for additional insights into her remarkable life. However, neither older works nor more recent publications converge on the study of Elizabeth I as a woman transcending her gender. Not only did Elizabeth survive during a pitiless and perfidious epoch as a woman; she left her imprint on an astonishing time during the English Renaissance.;This dissertation is a study of the unfolding of Elizabeth's life beginning pre-embryo to bastard baby to twenty-seven-year-old queen. This study seeks to provide an image of the person and of the persona of Queen Elizabeth and the answers to the questions that still surround her mystique: How did this queen boldly cut across the hegemonic status of women of the 1500s, in a world defined and dominated by man and the doctrines of the church? How did Elizabeth acquire her impressive Renaissance mind? To what extent did she enjoy life? Did Elizabeth have suitors? Did Elizabeth have a lover? Is there any documentary evidence that Elizabeth married? What evidence, if any, is there to suggest that she had offspring?;Additionally, this study examines how the law discriminated against and held hostage the lives of medieval women of the aristocracy. Life experiences of the women addressed in this study include the social norms; the prevailing practices on childbearing and childrearing; the education of aristocratic females, particularly of young Elizabeth.;In spite of the restrictive law, the victimizing aristocratic marriage market, and the prevailing patriarchal mindset in relation to the female gender, Elizabeth transcended an image epitomizing feeble, narcissistic femininity into one of strength in leadership and selfless service to England.