Three Movies: Hamlet As An Insane Person

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Recommended: Comparing Hamlet to movie

Dhruv Kapadia
Hamlet in all three films share the same characteristics. In all three films, Hamlet is portrayed to be as an insane person. For example, in film one, Hamlet is a crazy person because he is on a cliff and looks like he is about to jump down. In this scene, Hamlet is seen to be talking to himself and is debating whether or not he should kill himself because he is extremely depressed. The cliff represents Hamlet’s mental state, as you go up the cliff, you are becoming more insane and in order to reach the bottom (sanity), you must kill yourself. In film two, Hamlet is also insane because he is always switching his emotions. For example, when he is talking to Ophelia, Hamlet started out by talking calmly. When Hamlet heard a noise …show more content…

For example, when Claudius is praying for forgiveness, Hamlet pulled out his sword and thought that it will be good to kill him at that instance. Hamlet started to think as to how he would kill Claudius and got a flashback of stabbing him in the head. This example shows that he is crazy because he is not able to control is id and wanted revenge right away. A sane person would not fantasize about stabbing another person in the head, especially when they are praying. However, all three films also differ greatly when portraying Hamlet as well. Hamlet is different in his personality when contrasting the three films. In the movie by Laurence Oliver, Hamlet is seen to be more of a dark and depressing person. His clothes are all dark and he is dressed formally which gives the impression of being a quiet person. An example of this is when Hamlet is on top of the cliff. When Hamlet decided not to kill himself, he starts to walk back down the stairs. The stairs are seen to be foggy and dark and this tells the audience of Hamlet’s personality, which is depressing. The effect that this had on Hamlet’s character is that it made him seem to be suicidal. Hamlet did not seem to be very revengeful and made …show more content…

Every version of the film showed Gertrude displaying different feelings for Hamlet in the climactic scene. To begin, in the first film Gertrude’s feeling towards Hamlet is neutral. For example, in the scene, tried to scold Hamlet and be very stern with him. Despite having a kiss, it is Hamlet who started and Gertrude did not really want to do it. The reason why Gertrude is having neutral feelings towards Hamlet is because she is trying to be commanding in front of Hamlet and scold him. The effect of this action shows the audience that Gertrude is a mother who does not have a close relationship with her son. On the other hand, in the second movie by Franco Zeffirelli, Gertrude is having lovey feelings towards Hamlet. To give an example, in the climactic scene, Hamlet’s mother is the one who initiated the action of kissing her son. Gertrude would have kept going if the ghost did not come. When the ghost came, Hamlet stopped showing attention to Gertrude. Gertrude showed these feelings because she also is having an unresolved “Oedipus complex” that is having to be fixed. The difference is that instead of the son having feelings for the mother, the mother is having feelings for the son. The effect of Gertrude showing feelings towards Hamlet is that it makes her seem more of a mother in the movie and makes her a person with more emotions. In the third movie, however, Hamlet’s mother is completely distanced from

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