Read the words of king claudius in act iv of hamlet. come, gertrude, we’ll call up our wisest friends; and let them know both what we mean to do, and what’s untimely done: so, haply, slander, whose whisper o’er the world’s diameter, as level as the cannon to his blank transports his poison’d shot, may miss our name, and hit the woundless air. o! come away; how do his words reflect politics in shakespeare’s day?

Royal leaders were concerned about their public image.

Explanation:

William Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet" tells the story of how a murdered king's son avenged his father's death but also led to many more tragedies. The young prince hamlet had been advised by his dead father's ghost to avenge his death and bring the accused current king Claudius to justice.

Claudius had murdered his brother King Hamlet. He had also married his sister-in-law as his own wife. The whole plot revolves around the revenge plan. The lines given in the question are from Act IV scene i where King Claudius had been told by Gertrude about the way Hamlet had been acting strangely. The lines

"So dreaded slander—

Whose whisper o'er the world’s diameter,

As level as the cannon to his blank,

Transports the poisoned shot—may miss our name

And hit the woundless air"

shows his desire to be kept away from the bad name that will harm his reputation. This very want of being alienated from any negative press is also evident in Shakespeare's time, with politicians and rulers trying all sorts of things to not be associated with anything that will harm their public life.