Queen Elizabeth I reigned in England from 1599-1603. Her leadership as a woman, as a woman who had been considered illegitimate, her heavy influence on society, and religion has made her widely known throughout history.  Mary Crane’s, Sixteenth-Century British Nondramatic Writers explains how critics traced her role as an inspiration for works such as Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590-1596), and William Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1600) (par. 1). The Encyclopedia of the Renaissance acknowledges Elizabeth’s linguistic capabilities, academic achievements, and her settlement of religion which made her Supreme Governor of the Church (par. 6).

In Virginia Woolf’s Orlando the main character experiences many different eras and change in social structure based off of the current reigning monarch. Queen Elizabeth’s reign played a heavy influence on Orlando’s developing conformity to society's current structures. One example would be when the narrator states, “It was Orlando’s fault perhaps; yet, after all, are we to blame Orlando? The age was the Elizabethan; their morals were not ours; nor their poets; nor their climate; nor their vegetables even. Everything was different. The weather itself, the heat and cold of summer and winter, was, we may believe, of another temper altogether” and connects all aspects of emotion, nature, Elizabethan culture and standards to Orlando’s decisions to adapt to these changing standards (26-7)

Crane, Mary Thomas. "Elizabeth I." Sixteenth-Century British Nondramatic Writers: Second Series, edited by David A. Richardson, Gale, 1994. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 136. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1200002775/LitRC?u=sand 82993sid=LitRC&xid=e89c6871. Accessed 28 May 2021.

"Elizabeth I." Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, edited by Paul F. Grendler, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/BT2354100188/LitRC?u=sand82993&sid=LitRC&xid=0256276b. Accessed 28 May 2021.