Queen Elizabeth's Use of Imagery and Language in The Doubt of Future Foes

Queen Elizabeth's Use of Imagery and Language in The Doubt of Future Foes

Queen Elizabeth persuades her subjects to be faithful and discourages her foes from the pursuit of her throne in the stark imagery of “The Doubt of Future Foes.” Elizabeth uses the three appeals of successful argument to evoke fear and respect in those that may attempt to challenge her position as Queen. The Queen captivates her audience with solid logical arguments and dramatic threatening language while establishing her credibility as a fearless powerful leader, utilizing the logos, pathos, and ethos methods of persuasion. Queen Elizabeth uses an authoritative courageous voice to evoke emotion in her audience, all the while presenting a solid logical persuasive argument to discourage the encroachment of her territory by power hungry foes.

By establishing a stark authoritative tone Elizabeth persuades her audience to obey her, thus effectively employing the pathos method of persuasion. The Queen targets her audience’s emotions in hopes of discouraging any future foes from challenging her position on the throne. Elizabeth speaks to her prideful and ambitious audience of potential rivals from a pedestal making haughty threats and criticisms to breed fear and submission. In the last two lines of the poem Elizabeth makes the most staggering threat of all, “My rusty sword through rest shall first his edge employ/ To poll their tops that seek such change of gape for future joy.” Although not normally prone to violence, Elizabeth proclaims her thirst for the blood of those that seek to challenge her. The Queen uses courageous, combatant language like that of rusty sword blades and headless enemies, to spawn feelings of fear and frighten her foes into accor...

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...ower is futile. The same joy that clouds the mind of eager men turns sour and forces them into repentance. Hollow pride and ambition is short lived and only brings heartache and woe. Elizabeth presents an argument with a logical flow: men covet power, coveting is punishable; men who covet will be punished.

The poet uses her intelligence and royal position to express her disgust towards covetous subjects in an argument that displays solid logos, pathos, and ethos aspects. Queen Elizabeth makes harsh emotional appeals through her use of imagery and language. Paired with beautiful poetic language and solid logic is the voice of a powerful queen struggling to cement her position as ruler of her loyal subjects. It is the well-developed, concise arguments and persuasive tools that make “The Doubt of Future Foes” as harrowing today as it was during Elizabeth’s reign.