Queen Mary of Scots: A critique

Most people conceive that a biography of a Queen could be very boring, but this biography is completely different from the ones you have read before. Mary Queen of Scots and her hopeless husbands is an engaging, well-written, and informative bibliography about Queen Mary Stuart’s life. It includes comics, which make her dialogues more vivid; pages of her personal diary; newspaper pages, which illustrate the situation at those times and the possibility to discover some prickly facts about the Scottish Queen and her hopeless husbands (and why they are called “hopeless”). As Simpson (2003) defined, “even though she is dead, Mary is still full of surprises”. (p. 209).

Simpson has divided the bibliographical entries into twelve chapters. First of all, there is a little introduction beginning with interactive questions about Queen Mary’s life and some funny pictures as well. The first chapter is entitled -Infant queen- in which the reader can learn how she became a queen. In the second Chapter, Queen Mary travels to France and the author includes some letters from Queen Mary to her mother telling her about her fiancé, among other important facts. Then, the author devotes the rest of the chapters to tell about Mary´s life through all the possible aspects and how her life came to an end. The last chapter is an epilogue which brings closure to the bibliography and the author reminds us why Queen Mary’s life is so famous around the world, as she states “she had been Elizabeth’s prisoner for 19 years, and though she had been Queen of Scots since she was one week old, she had actually ruled Scotland for only six of her 45 years.” (p. 206).

The strength of the book is that it offers, as mentioned, wonderful cartoons adding to the fun of reading and dialogues with an easy and entertaining writing. It may also be an engaging book for adolescents as it is especially focused on murder, prison, death and suspense which are most adolescents’ favourite topics. Moreover, young people can learn about the early history of Scotland through a compelling bibliography. This book shows, among other aspects, the real meaning of marriage at those times, as the Queen had to marry someone she did not even know or like, just because of royal allies with foreign Reigns.

On the other hand, this biography seems to be appropriate only for young people as it may be a little childish for adults because of the comics and simple comments. If the reader is more interesting in learning historical facts with details about dates and places, this is not the ideal bibliography. As I mentioned before, it is different from any other ordinary bibliography. That is why it may be appealing to adolescents. This book is more like a fictional book as it retells Queen Mary’s life as it was a story tale, which may be disappointed for those people who would like to read a pure historical bibliography.

All in all, the portrayal of Queen Mary and the humorous comments included in the book are very appropriate. Simpson (2003) could describe this queen as sensitive and innocent instead of as a cruel and mad woman as has been the case of many other authors. It is admirable how personal the bibliography is, as if the reader can get real access to her personal diary. Elizabeth I and her conquests is a similar book of the same author that may be also recommended.

Reference

Simpson, M. (2003). Mary Queen of Scots and her hopeless husbands. London, UK: Scholastic Ltd.