In Fiction
Fictional portrayals of Walsingham tend to follow Jesuit interpretations, depicting him as sinister and Machiavellian. He features in conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Christopher Marlowe, whom he predeceased. Charles Nicholl examined (and rejected) such theories in The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe (1992), which was used as a source by Anthony Burgess for his novel A Dead Man in Deptford (1993).
The 1998 film Elizabeth gives considerable, although historically inaccurate, prominence to Walsingham (portrayed by Geoffrey Rush). It fictionalizes him as irreligious and sexually ambiguous, merges chronologically distant events, and inaccurately suggests that he murdered Mary of Guise. Rush reprised the role in the 2007 sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Both Stephen Murray in the 1970 BBC series Elizabeth R and Patrick Malahide in the 2005 Channel Four miniseries Elizabeth I play him as a dour official.
Read more about this topic: Francis Walsingham
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“One can be absolutely truthful and sincere even though admittedly the most outrageous liar. Fiction and invention are of the very fabric of life.”
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