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The essay of emotional development
Shakespeare drama literary analysis
Shakespeare drama literary analysis
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Kenneth Branagh’s version of the ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy, although slightly overdramatic, was superior in delivery and setting. First, Hamlet’s tone held a faint aggressiveness, which helped emphasize his growing dissatisfaction with his current disposition. The other films’ depictions of the scene were dull and lacked the proper emotion required to give life to Hamlet’s internal debate. In addition, the mirror Hamlet faces as he speaks alludes to the derivative and folly of his, and his father’s, vengeful pursuits. Hamlet’s obligation to fulfill his father's demands causes him to self loathe, which leads him to question his existence. As Hamlet approached the mirror with his sword drawn, both Polonius and Claudius flinched in fear,
Branagh is in a foyer of a palace, with bright lighting and mirrors everywhere. Behind one of the mirrors is Poloius and Claudius. In this version, Hamlet is dressed in a dressier attire, black suit with white shirt and cleaner fashion. Hamlet walks up to the mirror, the other two men are behind and starts the "To be or not to be," speech.
Different adaptations of William Shakespeare’s works have taken various forms. Through the creative license that artists, directors, and actors take, diverse incarnations of his classic works continue to arise. Gregory Doran’s Hamlet and Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet bring William Shakespeare’s work by the same title to the screen. These two film adaptations take different approaches in presenting the turmoil of Hamlet. From the diverging takes on atmosphere to the characterization of the characters themselves, the many possible readings of Hamlet create the ability for the modification of the presentation and the meaning of the play itself. Doran presents David Tenant as Hamlet in a dark, eerie, and minimal setting; his direction highlighting the
During class we have reviewed many versions of the play Hamlet. The two movie versions that I chose to compare on the play Hamlet are the David Tennant version and the Kenneth Branagh version. I chose these two versions because these were the two that most interested me. I believe that some scenes from each movie were better than the other, but overall I liked these two versions just as equally. The three main scenes that stood out to me that I will be comparing are ‘Ophelia’s Mad Scene’, the ‘Hamlet Kills Polonius’ scene, and Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ scene.
The soliloquy that appears in Act 3 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is easily one of the most popular speeches in English literature. It has been referenced to in Star Trek, Calvin and Hobbes and A Nightmare on Elm Street. However, this speech was not intended to be a lighthearted reference as indicated by Hamlet’s contemplative, philosophical, and bitter tones he uses while questioning the nature of life and death in this soliloquy.
This soliloquy takes place right after the first play Hamlet sees. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bring him to that play to cheer him up. These two are sent my Claudius and Gertrude to see the cause of his pain. Gertrude suspects that it is because of their rushed marriage and his fathers death, but no one is curtain. They hope he will at least see the play and get out of his depression/craziness. After watching the play he does not have a change of heart. Hamlet at this time is still pretending to be crazy, but his friends and family are not aware. Hamlet is also unpleased with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern because he knows they are not truly there to comfort him;their alliance is to the king, the new king Claudius. Polonius also attended, still
Hamlet -- “To be or not to be” Soliloquy. When the Bard of Avon created Hamlet, he simultaneously created the famous soliloquy ever uttered by English-speaking men. Thus it is that literary critics rank Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy as the most notable ever penned. Let’s examine in this essay how such a high ranking is deserved, and what the soliloquy means.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act III, Scene I, the title character, Hamlet, performs his most famous soliloquy, started “To be, or not to be….” This speech comes in the midpoint of the main action of the play. In the conclusion of Act II, Hamlet purveyed a more rational attitude and outlook, and this soliloquy contradicts such a persona. He seems to have reverted to his dark, contemplative state.
The soliloquy includes lines such as, “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,” which inform the reader that Hamlet has developed a low regard for living (1.2.32-33). The film was able to emulate this by physically having the camera angle of Hamlet be from beneath him. Hamlet’s thoughts of mortality are not the only subject of the soliloquy, as he also tells the reader of the anguish he feels towards his mother and the new king. As an effective acting choice, Kenneth elected to have dramatic shifts in facial expressions throughout the soliloquy, to make it clear when he was muttering to himself, or addressing the King and Queen. Another effective moment in the scene was Kenneth Branagh's brushing off of the confetti that rested on his shoulder. When the King and Queen entered there were cheers, and the confetti fell, so this moment represents how Hamlet wants to remove any aspects of his mother and the king’s lives together from his own. The coupling of successful technical elements and a clear performance brought the soliloquy to life, while clearly delivering the important information included in
“To be or not to be, that is the question,” the quote claimed by Shakespeare seems to have revolutionized the way people thought in the 17th century. After the death of his father, the king, Prince Hamlet takes up a vulnerable role in the text. Not only does Hamlet face the challenges of society by no longer having a father role and giving up his position to inherit the throne, but he also finds himself trapped at a loss of willpower when it comes to avenging himself for what Claudius has done. Although he seems to handle his situation well, his sanity is questioned after a series of murders at the finale of the text when Hamlet acts out on the anger that has been cooped up throughout the play. It seems that because of the lack courtesy on Claudius’ behalf, Hamlet is empowered to act. Hamlet’s indecision to act on avenging himself with King Claudius seems to be delayed and influenced by a cornucopia of factors that Shakespeare expresses throughout the text.
In this particular soliloquy in Act 4, Scene 4, your character Hamlet is reflecting on the reason as to why he is unable to take action against his enemy who killed his father and married his mother, like he is paralysed in doing so, when there is an army who is willing to die over a non profit piece of land that means exactly nothing to either side, risking there lives and leaving the comfort pf their homes.
In the first scene of the third act, Hamlet utters a thoughtful soliloquy regarding the matters of life and suicide. This soliloquy seems to be one of the most believable moments in a Shakespearean play, as every person faces at least one such dramatic, self-contemplative moment in a lifetime. The reader or audience is able to understand Hamlet's thoughts despite Shakespeare's thick and lengthy writing style. Hamlet here begins with the famous line, "To be or not to be - that is the question" (III, i, 64), a line quite often copied or even satired due to its candor and depth. Hamlet immediat...
Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy is arguably the most famous soliloquy in the history of the theatre. Even today, 400 years after it was written, most people are vaguely familiar with the soliloquy even though they may not know the play. What gives these 34 lines such universal appeal and recognition? What about Hamlet's introspection has prompted scholars and theatregoers alike to ask questions about their own existence over the centuries?
Continuing with the idea of madness is knowing the truth then one can determine that fighting against the falsities would make one even more mad. Emily Dickinson thought this as well in the poem when she wrote, “Demur-- you’re straightway dangerous - And handled with a chain”(Dickinson line 7-8). Dickinson described demurring from the majority would result in one being “straightway dangerous” and “handled with a chain.” Shakespeare shared this idea that people who are considered to be mad are handled differently, and perceived as more dangerous, than those who are not seen as so. Shakespeare shows this idea of danger throughout Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy. Within this soliloquy Shakespeare takes a different approach to illustrating this idea,
“The central dilemma in Hamlet is the character and life’s journey of a man whose mind is in paralysis.
"To be or not to be", is Hamlet's most famous quotation. Hamlet is the protagonist of Shakespeare's. His father, king Hamlet, killed by his own brother, Claudius, then Claudius marries king Hamlet's wife, Gertrude, and won the kingship. Prince Hamlet who suffers from Oedipal Complex, felling in love with his own mother and considering father as a rival to his love, can't make his mind whether to kill his uncle and take his father's revenge or not. And ask this question from himself, because in one hand he knows that if he kill Claudius, his companions will kill him, in other hand his father's ghost appears to him and ask him to kill Claudius. He was in a dilemma. Hamlet's tragic flaw is his procrastination, Hamlet procrastinated only because of his fear of intimacy with his mother, he knows that Claudius was the only person separating him and Gertrude. Now this question would come to our mind that why does Shakespeare give so much prominence to the delay without clearly presenting the reason for it? James k. Lowers in his Tragic Heroes argues that "Shakespeare's tragedy is a work of surpassing interest and genius, and the tragic hero is universally attractive and fascinating" (12). We must keep two things in mind. First, Shakespeare makes it clear that Hamlet is acutely aware of a delay. Second, Shakespeare also makes it clear that Hamlet himself is not sure why he delays. At the end of the eighteenth century, Goethe in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship proposed that Shakespeare means, in Hamlet, to "represent the effects of a great action laid upon a soul unfit for the performance of it"(152). Hamlet is not sure about ghost?s says, he wants to reveal the fact, and prove his father's innocence, because his ghost said to him that Claudius kill him to gain king ship and his queen.