Hatshepsut’s change in interpretation and image changed over the three stages of her life being as Queen Consort, Regent and as Pharaoh. These stages are shown through her change in titles and shifts in her physical depiction to the people of Egypt.
As the wife of Thutmose II and Queen of Egypt, Hatshepsut was given the traditional titles of the most powerful women in Egypt consisting of ‘Kings Great Wife’ and ‘Gods Wife of Amun’. These titles allowed her to undergo the conventional expectations of being a Queen entailing bearing children and being a passive visible complement to the King. The physical depiction of Hatshepsut being a Queen is one filled with femininity shown at the Black Diorite Statue at Karnak displaying feminine characteristics
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At this point Hatshepsut was in her late teens but immediately laid down her future ambitions in her use of titles modelled on previous pharaohs ‘lady of the two lands’. Whilst Thutmose III was young, Hatshepsut slowly reinforced her position by “drawing on kingly iconography, titular and actions” (G. Robins). These future ambitions came into fruition in the red granite statue from Deir-El-Bahri as here Hatshepsut is wearing a ‘nemes’, already showing a change in physical images in her early years of her regency. This transition was required if Hatshepsut aimed to fashion a difference between herself as Queen regent and the Pharaoh she aspired to be. To reinforce to her people that her claim to the kingdom was genuine, Hatshepsut needed to demonstrate to Egypt that she had an association with the Gods, and this was portrayed through the Divine Birth Scene. This is shown through the presentation by Amun to Hathor as a male, which is confirmed by the phrase “It is her whom I’ve engendered my son”. Although Gardiner and Breasted believe the “claim to the source to be blatantly fictitious propaganda” there is still no doubt it contributed to a change in the image of the Hatshepsut. During her reign, Hatshepsut experimented whether or not she could incorporate both male and female characteristics. Tefin believed in a gradual transition and Tyldesly thought most Egyptians were