Grammatical Analysis of Queen Anne Document

After our discussion on Tuesday about document 9.11 (a correspondence between Queen Anne to Lord Treasurer Godolphin) and the significance of Queen Anne’s use of the word “slave,” I decided to go back and look the passage over because, in honesty, on my first read through I didn’t really give it much thought.

Though there was many interpretations of this passage from the rest of the class, one perspective that stuck out to me was that Anne was too removed from the slave trade to have proper understanding to use the word “slave” in its true, horrific and gruesome context. Though I don’t disagree with this assessment, I would like to add to the argument that her connotation of “slave” is more associated to an obedient servant; a servant who is so concerned with the care of her “master” (the Parliament and English people) that it constantly weighs upon her.

This argument may be a bit of a stretch as it may seem a bit unbelievable for a ruler to be that ignorant to the sufferings of so many, but continuing with the aforementioned interpretation, Anne could’ve been so removed in understanding the slave trade that she defined the term in a way that conveys the stress of the responsibility of her position as monarch. Though she was born into royalty, Anne’s education would likely not have centered around knowledge of history and current events because of her being a female therefore, she could’ve understood the term “slave” in context of Biblical references. And though there is great emphasis in the Bible of the suffering that a slave endures, it also implies that a slave is considered worthy of praise and admiration from a merciful master through attentive, dedicated service. I believe that Anne stating, “…though I have the name of queen, to be in reality but their slave, which as it will by my personal ruin, so it will be the destroying all government…,” could be interpreted that she was such a conscientious ruler to her people, that the constant pull between the Parliamentary parties weighed on her in such a way that she felt metaphorically “chained” to the politics of the English government and unable to serve her people as she wished.

As stated earlier, this interpretation may be a bit far fetched, but I enjoyed our discussion about this document and wanted to add my two cents. I would really like to hear what everyone else thinks about my theory.

Thanks y’all!

 

One thought on “Grammatical Analysis of Queen Anne Document

  1. I find this interpretation to be so interesting! Because she is a woman, she may well have been educated significantly more in religion and philosophy rather than militarily, like princes may have. And because she was educated religiously, she would have likely thought about slavery in the biblical sense. I find this argument extremely compelling, thanks for sharing!

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