Queen Elizabeth's Personality and Reign reflected in Shakespeare's 'Titus Andronicus'

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,3, University of Augsburg (Philologisch-Historische Fakultät: Englische Literaturwissenschaft), course: Proseminar: Shakespeare and Metamorphosis Sommersemester 2008, language: English, abstract: There are about 2.800 books and about 47.000.000 web pages to be found today discussing Shakespeare's life and his works. In this literary and historical jungle it is extremely difficult to find a topic that has not been dissected, discussed and academically proliferated upon ad anfinitum. Nevertheless, today's inquisitive reader is still asking the same questions that have been asked over generations. One of these is for example. 'Was William Shakespeare only an excellent and renowned Elizabethan playwright out to entertain a public yearning for the latest sensationalist entertainment? Or is there a hidden, more subtle, political voice to be interpreted when listening to or reading his words'? This essay will attempt to analyse the possible social, political inferences in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus with regard to Queen Elizabeth the monarch and Elizabeth the woman. Furthermore, this essay will compare various contemporary political authors with the statements being made in the playwrights work.