Brenna Cole
3-8-2014
1000991510
Hamlet Essay
Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy is perhaps one of the most well known speeches in literature. It has been interpreted by countless actors who attempt to embody the emotions that Hamlet was trying to convey. The speech is extremely emotional and thought provoking and it is imperative to correctly portray Hamlet as he contemplates one of the biggest questions in the entire play: to die or not to die? Although many actors have played the role of Hamlet, there are a few who stood out to me. Mel Gibson, Derek Jacobi, and David Tennant. Through the use of undeniable emotion and passion, Mel Gibson and Derek Jacobi did a wonderful job at portraying Hamlet, while David Tennant’s performance left me extremely unsatisfied.
After analyzing the speech, I realized that the “To be or not to be” speech can be difficult to properly portray. There are so many emotions that occur and being a performer myself, I tend to be critical if, in my opinion, the performance is inadequate. Mel Gibson’s performance of the speech was by far the best of all of the actors listed. One of the biggest things I looked at when deciding my favorite performance was how the actor performed the “to sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub, for in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause” section. This is when Hamlet has a sudden realization that no one knows what lies in the afterlife. Who knows what kind of dreams one has when they die? What if being dead is worse than being alive? This section needed to be portrayed with despair and fear and Mel did a great job at this. Another part of the speech that I found that needed to have a lot of em...
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...in thought or truly contemplating. I think that if he had added a lot more emotion into each of the parts of the speech, his performance could have been the best out of all of the actors listed. He seems to have sadness in his eyes but neglected to show much emotion on his face or in his words.
Each of the performances listed had at least one thing in them that I enjoyed but my favorite was definitely Mel Gibson’s. The emotions written in Hamlet’s speech were very powerful and needed to have an actor that would do them justice. Mel Gibson did just that. He portrayed all of the emotions in each part of the speech, not just some. Derek Jacobi was entertaining as well but lacked the sincerity of it all that Mel had. David Tennant lacked emotion throughout most of his performance and failed to convince me that he knew what Hamlet was feeling at the time of his speech.
In Act III, scene i of Hamlet starring Mel Gibson, Gibson is in a dark dungeon looking area where his father's sarcophagus is. Hamlet is dressed in all black, almost in a knightly attire. The background shows skeletons and dirt floors with stone walls. Gibson moves about the stage and speaks as though he is confused and tormented during his soloquey. He kneels next to the sacophagus of his father during the speech about dreaming in death.
Instead of a grand tragedy of a royal house, the modern Hamlet is a detective story about a dead rich guy and his son the beginner detective. Yet, the acting of the actors and the special effects more or less manage to make up for the flaw. Bill Murray who plays Polonious is harsh and tight. Ethan Hawke is illustrated as a weak and normal prince. Julia Stiles does not do Ophelia any justice. Ther...
Hamlet Soliloquy Act 1, Scene 2. The play opens with the two guards witnessing the ghost of the late king one night on the castle wall in Elsinore. The king at present is the brother of the late king, we find out that king Claudius has married his brother’s wife and thus is having an incestuous relationship with her, and her love. We also learn that Claudius has plans to stop.
The interpretation of Hamlet’s, To Be or Not to Be soliloquy, from the Shakespearean classic of the same name, is an important part of the way that the audience understands an interpretation of the play. Although the words are the same, the scene is presented by the actors who portray Hamlet can vary between versions of the play. These differences, no matter how seemingly miniscule, affect the way in which someone watching the play connects with the title character. For example, one way that the Kenneth Branagh and David Tennant interpretations differ is in the speed and inflection of the soliloquys, as well as the ambient audio or lack of, in Tennant’s case, during the respective scenes. During the Kenneth Branagh portrayal of Hamlet, the speech is fast and in a forceful tone that gives a feeling that Hamlet is trying to make a point rather than understand the complexity of the situation in his own right.
After his father died, Edwin (who was living in San Francisco at the time) performed with local theater companies. On April 25, 1853 Edwin played Hamlet for the first time. Critics were impressed and forecast an impressive future for the budding actor. “We can even predict a high degree of success for the promising young artist when he shall have overcome a few disagreeable faults in intonation and delivery, and reached a profound conception of the part.” –Ferdinand C. Ewer for the Daily Alta California (G...
The cast did an amazing job of portraying their characters. Accents were polished and well added when they were needed, as well as dramatizing their lines to make a scene more lifelike and extreme. Obviously, these actors are well known for these skills, being that they are professionals. Winona Ryder’s character, Abigail, could have come off as flat, with little motives or reasons for her acts of attention seeking, but Ryder made her multi-dimensional. Daniel Day-Lewis’ character, John, may have seemed like a foolish man of disloyalty and hatred, but Day-Lewis filled him with raw emotion, and made him a character that the viewers could rally
Hamlet, one of the most intricate and influential plays by Shakespeare, debatably of all time. It has inspired not only appreciative readers and writing critiques but continuous generations of people. The inspiration led to the fabrication of many great movies, which wasn’t achievable until the 20th century. Before cinema was the prevalent method of sharing appreciation and spilling emotion for a specific subject, art portrayed what would fly through our minds such as the many interpretations of Ophelia’s death. With the imagery put into motion we can try and pick apart how certain people might view the play being portrayed and choose what best suits our expectation of this tragedy. Other things that only film has been able to present to us is the various camera angles, a setting that isn’t restricted to a stage and an audience that can be reached anywhere in the world. Also who is casted and how they will be dressed is crucial to the success of the movie although sometimes overlooked during the production process. Some movies represent these elements of mise-en-scene in an excellent matter such as the Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet, while others would seem to disappoint my expectations for a great re-visualization of our suicidal hero like Micheal Almereyda’s Hamlet staring Ethan Hawke. Admirably though every Hamlet film to date has its own unique style, something that will please all audiences, with its unique pros and cons.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the king of Denmark is murdered by his brother, Claudius, and as a ghost tells his son, Hamlet the prince of Denmark, to avenge him by killing his brother. The price Hamlet does agree to his late father’s wishes, and undertakes the responsibility of killing his uncle, Claudius. However even after swearing to his late father, and former king that he would avenge him; Hamlet for the bulk of the play takes almost no action against Claudius. Prince Hamlet in nature is a man of thought throughout the entirety of the play; even while playing mad that is obvious, and although this does seem to keep him alive, it is that same trait that also keeps him from fulfilling his father’s wish for vengeance
Hamlet’s first soliloquy takes place in Act 1 scene 2. In his first soliloquy Hamlet lets out all of his inner feelings revealing his true self for the first time. Hamlet’s true self is full of distaste, anger, revenge, and is very much different from the artificial persona that he pretends to be anytime else. Overall, Hamlet’s first soliloquy serves to highlight and reveal Hamlet’s melancholy as well as his reasons for feeling such anguish. This revelation in Hamlet’s persona lays the groundwork for establishing the many themes in the play--suicide, revenge, incest, madness, corruption, and mortality.
Both the Tennant and the Branagh version repeat the same soliloquy from the original Hamlet. However they are in different settings with different characters present. They also both speak in a slightly different tone in this speech. In Tennant’s version, Hamlet seemed more sad when giving the speech compared to Branagh’s version, who seemed more calm and relaxed. The Hamlet in Branagh’s version was holding a knife up to the mirror, looking as if he was debating or not to end his life, while the Hamlet in Tennant’s version was just staring off into the distance. They were both in a room, but the Hamlet in Branagh was looking into a mirror. Hamlet in Tennant’s version was by himself, while in Branagh’s version, there were two characters present behind the two-way mirror. I liked Branagh’s version more than Tennant’s version in this scene, because Hamlet’s character I feel fit the speech. It made it seem more interesting to me. With Tennant’s version, I feel it was a little boring because he was not really doing anything, just looking from behind a wall. This is why I like Branagh’s version better in this
Hamlet was able to play the part very well. He was sarcastic and had witty comments. The
This famous soliloquy offers a dark and deep contemplation of the nature of life and death. Hamlet’s contemplative, philosophical, and angry tones demonstrate the emotions all people feel throughout their lifetimes.
From the way people saw him they knew that any other actor that played this role was never going to capture the essence like Hal did in this film. This film gave people the opportunity to have a picture of Henry V in there head when reading about this story and the movie company picked a great actor the become that leader everyone was picturing in their head. He did a good job showing his emotions in this film, the audience could feel his emotions as he was acting and could feel what he was feeling. Basicly everything he was feeling the audience was feeling the same. When he was feeling mad the audience would understand why he was mad and support him in that situation by getting mad
Out of the whole play, the scene that struck me as the most memorable was the scene where Hamlet sees his father and makes everyone that is with him to swear that they won't speak a word of what they saw to anyone or anything. They are all sitting in a circle and Hamlet asks them to swear and then the lights dim and a red light turns on. Then a big ominous voice pounds down from above (it is hamlet's father) and commands them to swear. This happens many times until all the people say that they will swear.(it is also quite comical.). The scene where hamlet kills Polonious was just as I had expected it to be, where as the scene where hamlet makes his famous "to be or not to be?" speech was nothing like I had expected.
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?