MovieChat Forums > Elizabeth I (2006) Discussion > Was Essex bipolar perhaps?

Was Essex bipolar perhaps?

posted 17 years ago by anneandwalt-1
9 replies | jump to latest

Watching Essex in part 2, I was struck by his moods swings, his shifts in loyalty, obsession with conspiracies plus the emotional outpourings. This behaviour seemed to go far beyond someone who was merely immature. I wonder if any historians have analyzed the Earl's flighty behaviour in the light of modern psychology.
One more thing with all deference to her reputation, her qualities as a shrewd manager of her kingdom seem suspect when she sends favorites such as Leicester and Essex on campaigns against the Spanish and Irish - when other leaders were much more qualified.
Fortunate that they did not sail against the Armada.
- Vlad

[–] persistenceofvision 17 years ago

That BBC serial, *The Virgin Queen*, had Francis Bacon talking about Essex's 'melancholy', which in the 16th c. meant any kind of mental unbalance. I read a book called *The Stuart Princesses* recently, which starts with a description of Essex's secret contact with the Scottish court, and talks about his 'wild paranoid scheming'. The idea that he was bipolar seems to hold a lot of water to me.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] My_Name_Is_Lydia 17 years ago

That theory makes more sense than my theory that he was a spoiled rotten brat! :-)

...a signature to be named later.

[–] syntinen 17 years ago

You need to factor in that it was an age of "shifts in loyalty, obsession with conspiracies, and emotional outpourings"; it was the style of his times. Also that in an age where (provided you happened to be the heir to an important title) you could wield serious political and financial clout in your teens. In our day you can't usually become important - e.g. in politics, business or the military - till you're 40 or so, and anybody who aspires to importance has to act mature. There was no such need back then.

One of the biographers of Mary Queen of Scots, I can't remember which one, noting the appallingly anarchic, selfish and inconsistent behaviour of the Scots Lords she had to deal with, remarked that the battle of Flodden, in which her father was killed, had also seen the deaths of a whole generation of Scots lords; nine earls and fourteen Lords of Parliament, I think. Thus, Mary's generation of lords had mostly inherited their titles very young; they had grown up without anybody to spank them, and had been their own masters from the age of fifteen. An interesting sidelight.

[–] eac1027 17 years ago

I personally am a fan of the spoiled rotten brat theory as well! He was probably so used to getting everything his way because he was so pretty!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] i_am_short 17 years ago

Although he was right about the whole Cecil writing to James thing.

Theres a scene which proves this which they deleted.

I think Elizabeth is definitely to blame for his change in character.
He did truly love her I think, shown with the poem at the end. And then because she kept favouring him over everyone else, she made him arrogant.

In the first episode you see how contrasted his chracter is.

[–] patronizing_bunnyrabbits 14 years ago

I had the same impression. Bipolar disorder would certainly account for the wild impulsiveness & pathological lies that Essex was prone to. Arrogance & mental illness need not be mutually exclusive, and in the case of Essex, they seem to have created a malatov cocktail. Dancy's portrayal definitely suggested some sort of disorder was present.

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."

[–] mlaiuppa 8 years ago

Maybe but what he was mostly was ambitious and reckless.