Comparing Frances Zefferilli’s Hamlet and Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Comparing Frances Zefferilli’s Hamlet and Shakespeare’s Hamlet

I believe Frances Zefferilli’s version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, made in 1990, is one of the best versions of the play to be put onto screen. The film, starring Mel Gibson as Hamlet, and Glen Close as Queen Gertrude, takes a different look to the play. Zefferilli explores the physiological stability of Hamlet very well, especially in Act 3, Scene 4. My interpretation of that scene in the text was different to the one given in the movie.

After reading the scene, I had the notion that Hamlet was already quite confused - he had just come out of a scene where he could have killed the king, but his blunted purpose gets in the way. The killing of Polonius in the text gave me the idea that Macbeth was anxious to find out who h...