Sample Solution

among the “heaven above”. The employment of mystical lexis which is typically transcendent – a talk of souls, the heavens – indicates that Elizabeth is now unattainable to Raleigh, and ‘fortune’ has played its part in this. The OED indicates how fortune, (defined as ‘chance, hap, or luck, regarded as a cause of events and changes in men’s affairs’) can also be personified as the goddess of fortune (Fortuna), a symbol of good luck; ‘the power supposed to distribute the lots of life according to her own humour’ (OED). The emblem of the wheel (rota fortunae) is indicative of Raleigh’s fall, after his rise – this is the fortune of life. It is inevitable that he will lose his love, (and in turn, his favoured rank), but as the dominant Petrarchan male he reaches for the ‘object’ of his desire in any case. As such, Elizabeth, as portrayed by Raleigh – the typical male, literary figure of the Elizabethan court – is feminised. This traditional approach is perhaps why the likes of Stephen Greenblatt have continued to shine a light on its work. It adheres neatly to the literary (and gender) norms. Elizabeth’s response, which strays from these lines is not wholly ‘Petrarchan’. She dismisses the romanticised notion that ‘fate’ has drifted to the two apart, jibing at the overly-precautious wording. Though I do not believe Elizabeth’s response is fully ‘defamatory’, it certainly deserves to be held in a higher regard than Greenblatt deems appropriate for its effective criticism of her audience at court, and patriarchal norms.

‘Ah silly pug, wert thou so sore afraid?
Mourn not, my Wat, nor be thou so dismayed;
It passeth fickle Fortune’s power and skill
To force my heart to think thee any ill.’

This opening of Elizabeth’s response is warmly ironic. There is a fondness to the terms of address