Queen Elizabeth And The Fox Method Essay

756 Words4 Pages
Niccollo Machiavelli stated that to be a successful ruler, one must be able to utilize the fox method, very sly and cunning, and the lion, very brawn and uses force. Elizabeth I was able to use this strategy through her religious moderation, foreign issue management, and marital resistance. Queen Elizabeth was able to use Machiavelli’s advice regarding religious moderation to a high degree. With the “fox” method, which could recognize traps and used sly and sneaky methods to reach success, Queen Elizabeth was able to issue the Act of Supremacy through parliament. The act revoked all of the anti-protestant laws against Mary of Tudor. Queen Elizabeth was then made the governor of majority of the affairs. The Act of Supremacy led to the Act…show more content…
She used the “fox” method because she was very wily and sly to avoid all of the marriage offers. Elizabeth was very smart because she realized that if she had married, she would lose her power over her England. The power would lie in her new husband, the king. She was able to stall for a long time and even took advantage of it by accepting many items from men in hopes of a marriage. She was therefore able to maintain her power over England or a long time. Because she had not married, she was able to give the image and idea to her people that she was “married” to the state which made them like her that much more. It greatly benefits her resulting from the high degree use of the “fox” method. The use of the “lion” method was not used to any degree because it was not needed. Queen Elizabeth did not have to use force or brawn to avoid marriage because of her “fox” methods. Machiavelli stated that to be a successful ruler one must be able to recognize traps like the “fox”, and to scare of the wolves like the “lion”. Queen Elizabeth was successfully able to use these methods when needed which lead to her successful reign. By strong religious moderation, smart skills to protect England from foreign issues, and abstaining from marriage, Queen Elizabeth was a successful
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