“Aspects of Gunter’s behavior towards his daughter appear abusive to the modern observer, while it is not over imaginative to see in Anne’s attempts to comply with her father’s wishes a desperate effort by an unloved child to gain her father’s affection.” pg. 12

Although Brian Gunter’s actions were abusive, Anne so badly wanted to be accepted and loved by her father that she was willing to go through the torture so that he would love her and be happy.  It stated earlier how her father “disliked her so much” and when she was sick he didn’t even want to help.  Anne had to endure all this pain just to gain acceptance and could not go about it otherwise because she just wanted to please her father.  The abuse was the most amount of attention she had received from her father and it was better than being ignored and unloved again.

“I would rather be a beggar and single than a Queen and married” pg. 45

This quote from Elizabeth herself emphasizes the fact that Elizabeth never wanted to get married in the first place. Marriage was an important part in this time because it provided an heir and in Elizabeth’s case, provided a man to take Elizabeth’s position.  Queen Elizabeth participated in courtships but made it hard for an actual marriage to come about from it.  She taunted with the idea of marriage long enough to please some people but overall knew she would never get married because her power would completely diminish.

“As time went on, and relying on his innate intelligence, he became quite experienced in secular cases, and his precise mind was admired by everyone.” (pg. 31)

One of the reasons they picked Samson was that he was more secular than the other candidates for the abbott.  It was interesting that in his clerical position he was able to become more secular and less religious in his duties.  The church was highly corrupt and a reason for this could be because of their secular nature and making the church into a place of power instead of a place of worship.  He was well liked which also serves as a way for Samson to gain more power in the church.  Starting off as more of a common man allowed him to gain more power and more control over the people and the church creating more corruption throughout the book.