Goth Challenge, Day 12

Day 12 – What's your Gothic inspiration?

I can't say there is one outstanding person from when I was in my formative Baby Bat years who made me think: "I want to be just like you," or "You've really inspired me to be the Goth I am." I've almost always done what made me happiest and most comfortable.

I have already addressed what drew me into the Goth subculture in Goth Challenge, Day 1.

As for inspiration... I can say I've always found inspiration in Queen Elizabeth I.

I greatly admire the determination, grace and will with which she lived her life in the face of so many seemingly insurmountable obstacles. She fought with every fiber of her being to gain and maintain her crown, then proceeded to become one of the greatest monarchs of her time: despite imprisonment; despite multiple attempts to dethrone, discredit, or assasinate her; despite the country being nearly penniless; despite the deeply divided and fighting religious factions.

She refused to be bullied by those around her who wished her to follow the more traditional routes for a woman - marry, have children, and let the men rule.

My Lords, do whatever you wish. As for me, I shall do no otherwise than pleases me.
Elizabeth to Parliament on the succession issue

She made the world stop and take notice of her. "She is only a woman, only mistress of half an island," marvelled Pope Sixtus V, "and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all".

Her reign became the idealized Gold Standard.

Elizabeth was also a great patron of the arts. During her reign, such greats as Shakespeare, Marlowe and Spencer rose, and literacy flourished.

She encouraged great scientific minds like Sir Francis Bacon and Dr. John Dee. And encouraged exploration by Sir Franscis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh, among others.

I try to be true to myself while striving to reach all of my goals in life without bending to the cries of society telling me I have to conform to their ways and norms. That includes living a goth lifestyle.

Elizabeth I, painted after 1620, during the first revival of interest in her reign.
Time sleeps on her right and Death looks over her left shoulder;
two cherubs hold the crown above her head