The Subversive Power of Theater Revealed in Hamlet and Othello Theatrical performance is vital not only to the presentation of Hamlet and Othello, but is vital to each of their respective performances of the work stories. Several key characters control, manipulate, or write their own play. Through subtle suggestions and explicit or implicit narratives, Shakespeare's use of theatrical representation in his plays highlights the subversive power of theatre. It is no secret that Shakespeare incorporated subtle suggestions into many of his plays that were subversive to the thoughts and attitudes of the theater. time. Through the construction of the play within the play, Hamlet subverts the notion of kingship. In the play, without even speaking, Hamlet constructs a particular version of reality so chilling that Claudius leaves the theater. While this is obviously due to the striking resemblance Claudio sees between the play and his own life, the subtle idea implied is the idea that kingship can be simplified to nothing more than acting. If the roles of king and queen can be played so well that Claudius leaves the room, seeing the striking resemblance between the play and his life, then there is no reason why kingship itself cannot be played. This subversively delegitimizes the power of the throne. Furthermore, it is only in the mousetrap scenes that Hamlet shows signs of leadership. He says to the actors: "Follow it, friends. Tomorrow we will listen to a play... Could you of necessity / study a speech of a few dozen or sixteen lines / which I would write and insert, could you/no?" (Shakespeare II.2:546-553). He directs the action, asking the players' skill and telling them exactly what they should do. The fact that Hamlet, the man who would be king, is a leader in only one performance subverts the idea that leadership is something firmly rooted in the soul of a human being. It is instead replaced with the idea that kingship is not something that can be passed down from generation to generation, but something that can be acted upon, as if it could be turned on and off at will. The nobles and leaders of a country, therefore, are not inherently powerful because of their family origin, but have the same basis of human experience as the common man, an idea that would have been completely rejected in Shakespeare's time..