How would the Monarchy in elizabethan times effect shakespeare plays - like othello or hamlet?

Answer 1

Shakespeare had to make his plays appeal to the Queen... if he said anything to upset the Queen he would have to either redo it and apologize or he would be jailed... the monarchy was strict but the Queen had final say over the entertainment in her house

Answer 2

It's a pretty broad question. I think that the most important thing to understand is that, for the Elizabethans, the MONARCH was God's deputy on earth. It was a mortal chosen by the almighty to rule over his (or her) fellow men.

This essential belief allowed Shakespeare to ask some deep and probing questions about the nature of that mandate. Several of his plays, for example, pose the question: "What are the people to do when confronted with the actions of a BAD ruler?"

"Richard II" is the best example of this line of inquiry. Richard is an absolutely DESPICABLE King in the early stages of the play. It's not until he is deposed by Bolingbroke that he begins to acquire any shred of decency and humanity. But -- and this is the key -- the fact that Bolingbroke deposed Richard plagues Bolingbroke (later King Henry IV) for the rest of his life, and sets in motion a terrible course of events that won't be resolved until the end of "Richard III," which is years later. In this way, Shakespeare reinforces the notion that it's always bad business to take down even the worst LEGITIMATE ruler; in saying so, Shakespeare would certainly have been showing his support for the current monarch.