Many writers have seen Vives as a malign influence on Mary's entire life. In effect, he has been accused of taking an intelligent girl and denying her the chance, through his theories, of developing as an independent, confident woman. This fits well with the long-held view of Mary as a victim; at the point in time when she began the more serious part of her schooling, she was trussed into the straightjacket of Vives's ideas and emerged permanently damaged, believing she was inferior to men and could not trust her own judgment. In this interpretation, she never stood the chance of being a successful ruler since her education had alienated her from the very qualities needed to become one. Nearly a generation later, her much younger half-sister, Elizabeth, benefiting from the new ideas that spread with the Reformation, was not so encumbered and was thus better equipped to take the reins of government.
