Book excerpt: The visual images of Queen Elizabeth I displayed in contemporary portraits and perpetuated in more recent media such as film and television make her one of the most familiar and popular of all British monarchs. This collection of essays examines the diversity of the queen's extensive iconographical repertoire, focusing on both visual and textual representations of Elizabeth, not only in portraiture and literature, but also in contemporary sermons, speeches, and alchemical treatises. The collection broadens critical thinking about Elizabeth. Each essay contributes to the debate about the queen's developing iconicity not simply as a celebratory mode, but also as encoded criticism of her. Each of these essays explains the ways in which the varied representations of Elizabeth reflect the political and cultural anxieties of her subjects.