Hamlet prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare is probably one of the most studied fictional pieces in history. It has become the very pinnacle of literature, and despite the commonality of the play there are many renditions that offer a different artistic interpretation. One rendition, in particular is Franco Zeffirelli’s 1990 film translation starring Mel Gibson as Hamlet. Shakespeare’s original Hamlet follows the heartening life of young Hamlet in which he is often portrayed as a whiney young man that spends his time moping around the castle teetering on the brink of insanity. Zeffirelli’s departure from the norm brings to light a different side of the character that is often overlooked in mainstream productions. Choosing to create a visual Hamlet and heavily cut text has lead to some attention-grabbing changes in the plays structure. Franco Zeffirelli’s film is significantly different with the play. For example, he added the funeral scene at the beginning. He uses a different order with the scenes and parts of scenes, most long speeches are cut, and sometimes gives one characters lines to another. Even though these changes could offend the devoted Shakespearean researcher, they mainly are there to build up the action and cut down the plot.
Theatre is restricted to geographical span, whereas motion the opposite is true. In film the director has freedom to shoot each scene at different locations and at different times, later putting them together for the final product. The result for the movie is that the audience is easily able to recognize the time of day and place. Stage performances are less clear, and unless one is familiar with the play they must often simply wait for actors to deduce where and when the scene is t...
... middle of paper ...
...y.
Zeffirelli’s filmic Hamlet evidently interprets the original play especially considering Mel Gibson’s performance making it easy for the audience to understand Shakespearean dialect. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a man with friends who proves to be much more reserved, and manipulative than someone might imagine today. His hamlet is considerate in his plans, but with no tact interpersonally. Zeffirelli’s audience is required to focus on the troubles, and character of Hamlet, who is nonstop, and unfriendly, but a sensitive loner when the time is right. Zeffirelli accomplishes this mixture while staying faithful to his starting place my maintaining solid screenplay with a constant flow supporting his own take on the story. Concisely, Zeffirelli’s Hamlet is both a free and a loyal understanding of its source, which is, for today’s viewers, a Hamlet in its own right.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a play about a king that was murdered by his brother who then married the late king’s wife, thus becoming king himself. Due to the importance of this piece of literature, Hamlet has been adapted into various film reenactments of the play. Hamlet is one of the most popular works of William Shakespeare and has served as an inspiration for many directors, who try to make a movie as close as possible to an original play while trying to maintain the main concept. Hamlet started off as a play but has been adapted into many movie productions. Zeffirelli’s version of the play stars Mel Gibson as Hamlet, Glen Close as Queen Gertrude and Alan Bates as King Claudius. This 1990 production of Hamlet shares many similarities as the original play, but also has many differences.
Much of the dramatic action of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet is within the head of the main character, Hamlet. His wordplay represents the amazing, contradictory, unsettled, mocking, nature of his mind, as it is torn by disappointment and positive love, as Hamlet seeks both acceptance and punishment, action and stillness, and wishes for consummation and annihilation. He can be abruptly silent or vicious; he is capable of wild laughter and tears, and also polite badinage.
Goldman, Michael. "Hamlet and Our Problems." Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ed. David Scott Kaston. New York City: Prentice Hall International. 1995. 43-55
Franco Zeffirelli’s 1990 version of Hamlet however, greatly differs from that of Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 adaptation. While the two directors make many great changes with regards to the original text of the play, the other remains very true to the play, quoting Shakespeare’s words, word for word. However, not only do the two films contrast each other in their used of text, but as well they differ in setting, interpretation of characters and relationships between characters. In my opinion Branagh’s adaptation is much better than that of Zeffirelli in most aspects; it gives a truer likeness to the play itself.
Franco Zeffirelli portrayed a more effective version of the famous to be or not be soliloquy by having it set below in the family mortuary. Having violently rejected Ophelia, Hamlet climbs down the stoned stairs of the medieval castle and into the cellar where all his ancestors’ burial tombs lie, including his father’s. Surrounding himself in tombs and skeletons, he intones the to be or not to be speech in isolation and darkness. Having this particular set design, Zeffirelli enhanced the scene by creating a cold, dark, and suspenseful atmosphere. The family mortuary set design was eerie and melancholic which added realism into the speech as it allowed the audience to really see the manifestation of death that Hamlet contemplated. It also added physical emotion into the soliloquy as the scene contrasted death and Hamlet so closely with all the dead royals in their tombs, showing how deep Hamlet’s thoughts on life and death were rooted in his mind. Therefore, Zeffirelli’s use of the set design helped to create a more intense scene that enriched the soliloquy.
Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing While Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing have the same author, they both have similarities and differences in themes. Some people live their life looking for love and never finding it, it is often said that you will find love when you least expect it. Both plays have common beliefs of love, marriage, however, death is viewed very differently. Love in Hamlet is often depressing, even though love is wanted by all. What is the point in loving somebody if they are going to die anyway?
Rosenberg, Marvin. “Laertes: An Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocrat.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: Univ. of Delaware P., 1992.
The relationships in ‘Hamlet’ represent the play’s universal themes that resonate through generations due to the ubiquity of human condition. Through the employment of the Senecan revenge tragedy and Machiavellian characters, Shakespeare depicts the Elizabethan social climate in Hamlet’s militarised relationship with Claudius as well as Hamlet’s altering inclination towards mortality and madness. Franco Zeffirelli’s artistic choices in his 1990 film adaptation of hte play re-contextualises the continuity of the themes in line with intrinsic human attitudes. Essentially, the dynamics portrayed in the text carry thematic significance in its ability to reflect the
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the best plays known to English literature. It presents the protagonist, Hamlet, and his increasingly complex path through self discovery. His character is of an abnormally complex nature, the likes of which not often found in plays, and many different theses have been put forward about Hamlet's dynamic disposition. One such thesis is that Hamlet is a young man with an identity crisis living in a world of conflicting values.
Michael Almereyda’s movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet brings about a new perspective through its performance. The movie adaptation, Hamlet (2000), retells the original play in a modernized setting, bringing out various different elements of characters, which highlights a new reading of these characters as individuals, and a newfangled reading of the play as well. Throughout the movie, Ophelia and Gertrude, the woman-leads, are advanced in a progressive manner compared to the original play. In particular, Gertrude from Hamlet (2000) is noticeably altered from Hamlet, the play. This new interpretation of Gertrude and the play created by the movie adaptation advances the position of Gertrude as a woman, as well as motifs of incest, misogyny,
In Hamlet Shakespeare is able to use revenge in an extremely skillful way that gives us such deep insight into the characters. It is an excellent play that truly shows the complexity of humans. You can see in Hamlet how the characters are willing to sacrifice t...
As the play’s tragic hero, Hamlet exhibits a combination of good and bad traits. A complex character, he displays a variety of characteristics throughout the play’s development. When he is first introduced in Act I- Scene 2, one sees Hamlet as a sensitive young prince who is mourning the death of his father, the King. In addition, his mother’s immediate marriage to his uncle has left him in even greater despair. Mixed in with this immense sense of grief, are obvious feelings of anger and frustration. The combination of these emotions leaves one feeling sympathetic to Hamlet; he becomes a very “human” character. One sees from the very beginning that he is a very complex and conflicted man, and that his tragedy has already begun.
It is a strong character that can hold up under a vast number of interpretations despite a seemingly endless barrage of critiques and analyses. However, the timeless character of Hamlet retains this quality as he is depicted in several film adaptations over time. His pinnacle moment however, ultimately changes as different people interpret it in different ways and alter the overall understanding in a minute yet meaningful way. It is this idea that Zeffirelli plays with as he develops his own Hamlet character. Through his 1990 adaptation of Hamlet, director Franco Zeffirelli opts to portray Hamlet by use of his surroundings, camera movements and the acting choices themselves that ultimately play on the mystery Hamlet sees in death and the ignorance
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print.
The perfection of Hamlet’s character has been called in question - perhaps by those who do not understand it. The character of Hamlet stands by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can be. He is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from his natural disposition by the strangeness of his situation.