Title:
Your Most Affectionate Good Sister: Rhetoric, Diplomacy and Self-Presentation in the Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots
Creator:
Pehora, Bethany Mary
Date Created:
2021
Degree Awarded:
Master of Arts
Subjects:
European History Rhetoric and Composition Gender Studies
Geographical Focus:
Scotland
Supporting Materials:
n/a
Description:
This research essay examines letters of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, showing her as an accomplished rhetorician. Mary's letters have gone largely unexamined by scholars, despite the new interest in the writing of women in the early modern period. On her letters she used appeals to kinship, emphasis on rank, calls to shared religion and expressions of emotion in order to support specific objectives for her letters. The flexibility and variety of the rhetoric contained within the letters from across her life show Mary to be an accomplished and competent rhetorician. The epistolary exchanges examined in this thesis were essential in maintaining Mary's diplomatic networks both during her reign and after her abdication. The letters examined in this thesis come from both published collections of Mary's letters from the nineteenth century and from original transcriptions of archival material of letters than have not been previously published or examined.
Source
Preferred Citation:
Pehora, Bethany Mary. 2021. "Your Most Affectionate Good Sister: Rhetoric, Diplomacy and Self-Presentation in the Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots", Department of History, Carleton University
Link to this page:
https://cuhistory.github.io/grads/items/hist_5.html
Rights
Rights:
Copyright the author, all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.