Elizabeth I:Gender and Paradigm explores how Elizabeth I combined elements:male discourse,Elizabethan theatre,and the new Anglican church to maintain her power and rule for 45 years.The historical figure,Elizabeth,and her dramatic double,Rosalind,provide feminist studies with an insight into how British women of the 16th century used contemporary notions of masculinity and femininity to their advantage.Elizabethan studies and its contemporary plays offer examples of fluid gender identity used by females for safety,free speech,and self-determination.Elizabeth used the new Anglican church as divine validation for her rule and the fact that Elizabeth spoke directly to her people and her parliament and conducted international relations in at least six languages.Elizabeth I,and the theatre she so enjoyed,offer a dialectic for tracing the lineage of what is now referred to as feminism.