Hilary Mantel's attitude to monarchy

When you discuss Hilary Mantel’s attitude to monarchy, we advise you to look at the way she depicts the royal women in her speech, “Royal Bodies”. As you can see in your exam material, Mantel’s speech is focused on Marie Antoinette, Queen Elizabeth II, Lady Diana and Kate Middleton. Through the way she portrays them, Mantel displays an analytical attitude to monarchy, although she does not reject it.

First, note that Mantel does not criticise the monarchy, but analyses it and reflects on the way in which royal women have been changed by it throughout the ages. First, Mantel focuses on the French monarchy and on the last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, who was criticised by her subjects and mostly seen as a royal body whose worth only came from the clothes she wore. Through Marie Antoinette’s example, Mantel implies that the monarchy is often criticised for the wrong reasons and that royal women have to be seen as perfect or they will not be forgiven by the public (Marie Antoinette was executed during the French Revolution)....