Intriguing Camera Work in Zeffirelli’s Film, Hamlet

1217 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How does shakespeare characterize claudius

Intriguing Camera Work in Zeffirelli’s Film, Hamlet

The three-dimensional camera work of Zeffirelli in Hamlet emphasizes the surveillance methods and intrigues carried out by the forces of good and of evil.

In the opening scene, Elsinore Castle looms over the soldiers and people standing outside. The camera angle forces one to look up at the dark castle; then the camera surveys the people, revealing that the evil from witnhin the castle is not self-contained but looms over and affects everyone in Denmark.

Inside the castle during the funeral, Claudius, the man who exemplifies evil, is focused on several times by the camera. The first picture of him is from a short distance, minimizing his presence. As the funeral proceeds, however, three closeups make him appear more evil for there is no sorrow in his face, only a scheming, hawklike look as he watches every movement of Gertrude and Hamlet. The closeups also bring him from a distant observer to one that is in control, having taken the place of King by ruline over his dead brother.

As the King and Queen are sitting on the throne announcing their marriage, the camera gives a distant, roaming observer view by circling the room while continually having them, especially Claudius, as the focal point. This emphasizes once again that his evil ways are spread throughout the kingdom and aren't easily contained in one person or one location.

There are several times in the movie when the camera shows surveillance done by Hamlet, who represents good, of those who are opposed to him. The action of focusing on Hamlet from his vantage point also emphasizes that he's one step ahead of everyone else because of his insight, and this also helps him in his cause.

For example, when ...

... middle of paper ...

...ly. This will be the final test in the war between good and evil, though Hamlet doesn't have the advantage this time of knowing the depth of the plot, despite his suspicions.

After the fatally wounded Laertes points the finger at the king, Claudius, who has been a silent observer to Laertes' confession, backs up, trying to distance himself from being the focal point responsible for the evil that has taken place. However, he is unsuccessful, as a raging Hamlet follows him. The closeup of Hamlet killing the king twice amplifies his triumph.

After the final closeup on Hamlet lying in Horatio's arms, the camera draws back to include the whole company of people looking on what has just taken place. The viewpoint might be seen as that of heaven, emphasizing that though in the beginning evil had loomed over the kingdom, now righteousness has been restored in Denmark.

Show More
Related

  • Tragedy In Hamlet And Branagh's Hamlet

    484 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Hamlet is one of the world’s most famous tragedies. It describes the destruction of a royal family that results from Prince Hamlet’s revenge. By a dramatic and detailed presentation, Shakespeare reveals two main ideas of this play-one is “tragic hero”, and another is “civil strife”. In reality, the play “Hamlet” has been made to movies and even cartoons which convey these concepts in different ways.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Revenge In Hamlet

    2463 Words  | 5 Pages

    His father was killed by Hamlet and his sister was driven insane due to the series of events that took place because of Hamlet. Like Hamlet, Laertes wants to avenge his father by killing the man who killed Polonius. As described earlier, Hamlet is slow to act. Laertes, on the other hand, acts quickly and with precision, wasting no time in acquiring his target and formulating a plan. Robert Palfrey Utter, Jr., puts it best, Hamlet and Laertes both come to the same conclusion that murder must be carried out, but Hamlet reaches that conclusion only “after he has had a few minutes to think it over.” (140) Once Laertes finds out that the man who killed his father was Hamlet he is ready to charge in and kill him as soon as possible. He is only stopped by Claudius, who advises him on a more subtle approach. Straight off the bat it is clear how efficient Laertes is compared to Hamlet. Hamlet wastes a large amount of time scheming up complex ideas on how to get a confession out of Claudius and how to kill him. Laertes on the other hand wastes no time in getting a straight and to the point plan that he can execute immediately. After spending more than half the play watching Hamlet squirm around on the stage getting almost nothing accomplished, the audience would be acutely aware of the stark difference between Hamlet and Laertes even though they share the same motivations. Laertes has his speed but he shares in Hamlets lack of critical thinking when he gets hot headed. He is in such a blind rage that he doesn’t think on what he is agreeing to do with Claudius. Just like Hamlet, his brash actions cost those around him his life. In carrying out the plan, the King, the Queen, Hamlet, and he all die to the poison that was used in the duel. Hamlet was slow and reckless while Laertes was quick and reckless. Wilds sums up the relationship between Hamlet and Laertes perfectly, “Laertes and Hamlet have been foils to each other

    Read More

  • Hamlet: In Search of His Own Identity

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ut his lifetime. With all the events occurring, Hamlet goes through so much stress, pain, and suffering from which started with the murder of his father. He has tried to understand his position in life, yet every step he takes, someone always steps in front of him, and it puts him in a worst situation from which he started. A young man like he should be out studying and having fun with his friends, but his two non family related friends betray him, and follow King Claudius' ruling. His mother who he once loves dearly and felt so close to also betrays him by ending her mourn so soon and remarrying to Claudius. Everyone in Denmark has a problem, and the "unweeded" garden is not being kept in good hands, for which bad things have come. The evil in everyone has come out, and Hamlet searched and searched for a reasoning in life, to only come out with one thing, nothing.

    Read More

  • Deaths with Meanings

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    Claudius is the antagonist in this play, in easier words, the villain. He is the brother of the now dead King of Denmark, Hamlet. Claudius murders his brother and does it in a way that it seems as though death had claimed him in a natural way. He is then quick to marry Queen Gertrude, as a favor to the state of Denmark. Claudius throughout the play is calculating, and will do anything to stay in power: including murdering the son of his current wife, his nephew, Hamlet. During the play, Hamlet becomes a threat to the crown and power in his possession. To overcome this, Claudius confides in Laertes that Hamlet was the cause of Polonius’s death. In an act of revenge Laertes plans his act “I will do ‘t. And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of a mounteback, so mortal that, but a dip a knife in it, where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, collected from all simples that have virtue under the moon, can save the thing from death that is but scratched withal. I’ll touch my point with this contagion, that if I gall him slightly it may be death” (4.7.139-148). This works wonderfully in Claudius’s favor. With Laertes plotting to avenge his father, Claudius won’t have to get his hands dirty again, and...

    Read More

  • Sociological Imagination On Marijuana

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history people have used marijuana for its dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds to relieve pain, stress, and other medical issues from one’s life. Within the recent years it has become one of the most debated issues in the United States. In the 1930s, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics (now the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs) claimed that marijuana was a “gateway” drug and was a powerful, addicting substance. During the sixties marijuana became a symbol for rebellion against authority so it became very popular by college students and “hippies”. So in 1982, Drug Enforcement Administration increased pressure on drug farms and houses which decreased the use of marijuana. In the past twenty years marijuana has become a

    Read More

  • Legarization of marijuana

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    cannabis sativa widely known as Marijuana is an annual plant majorly used as medicine and as a psychoactive drug. It has great physiological effects like relaxation. Increased appetite and euphoria. Though having some positivity in the human body, it posses negative effects such as anxiety, dry mouth, decreased short term memory and impaired motor skills. It has been a great debate worlwide concerning the legalization of cannabis whereby other nations allow its use and others take it as a criminal act to posses or use marijuana. Marijuana can be consumed through edibles, cannabis tea, smoking and vaporizerization. It is presumed that marijuan is non-toxic and can not cause death even when in overdose unlike tobacco and alcohol that causes high number of deaths in a year. In the traditional times, marijuana was used to relieve pain until when new medicines were discovered and marijuana termed as illegal. The United States to enact criminilization of marijuana in 1973.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Insane In Hamlet

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    The impression made by a character in a play is one of its most complex and debatable components, for each individual, from the director to the audience, forms an idea based on their own interpretation of the work. Each character can be read differently, with each perception having its own implications beyond the text. The analysis of alternate perspectives of Hamlet can provide insight into possible hidden motivations and underlying plot elements invisible in the original text.

    Read More

  • Effect of Marijuana on American Society

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    The effect of Marijuana on American Society has been a highly popularized point of concern and discussion for many years. This topic has become more frequent in the past months as two states voters have allowed its widespread recreational and medicinal use. This research paper will focus on some of the history of marijuana, details of this drug, and conclude with my findings of why this drug has become increasingly popular which may surprise the reader.

    Read More

  • Hamlet's Arrogance

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... of treachery and, luckily, Hamlet realizes the king’s subterfuge, crushing the plot and flipping it back on him. Claudius remains steadfast in his efforts to remove Hamlet, going so far as to set up a false fencing competition and foolishly pushing the poisoned wine without considering the suspiciousness of the action. In his short-sighted and rash decision making, Claudius shows that he allows his inflated sense of regality and self-worth to cloud his judgment.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Surveillance In Hamlet

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because of William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, I am more aware of my surroundings. Throughout Hamlet, the theme of surveillance reveals the true motives of characters. For instance, when Claudius and Gertrude are in Elsinore Castle’s Great Hall talking about Hamlet, Claudius pleads Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to “draw him on to pleasures, and to gather / So much as from occasion you may glean”(II.ii.15-16). The arrival of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz not only symbolizes the introduction to the theme of surveillance, but also highlights Claudius suspicion with Hamlet. Claudius’ true intentions are revealed, because he is worried that Hamlet may be uneasy with the sudden death of his father. Hamlet is unaware of what is going on behind his

    Read More

  • Immorality In Hamlet

    105 Words  | 1 Pages

    Beside the quite entertaining hangman's tree silliness of the gravediggers and a couple of other truly not really clever minutes, Hamlet is a dim play brimming with instability and suspicion. From the main line, "Who's there?" (1.1.1), we're dumped into a universe of instability, tension, and the manifestly obvious probability of apparitions.

    Read More

  • Hamlets Grief

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Clearly this shows Hamlet grieving his father’s death while showing hostility to the king and queen for being so deathly cold about the previous king’s death. Also the readers can also see in Hamlet’s opening dialogue, it shows that he still has not come to terms with his father’s death and is still in the state of shock when we first see him.

    Read More

  • Hamlet, A Noble Prince

    1585 Words  | 4 Pages

    Returning home for his father’s funeral, Hamlet encounters many problems with the family leadership. The exposition in Hamlet is full of information, because the audience needs to comprehend the situation surrounding Denmark to appreciate some of the characters’ motives. The setting takes place at the King’s castle in Denmark, after a short war with their rivals in Norway. The conflict between these two countries is the background context for the tragedies that follow in Denmark. King Hamlet kills the King of Norway in a single ambush and upon his retreat home dies from a deliberate poisoning by his brother. Fortinbras, the prince Norway, in turn makes his own plans for revenge. Fortinbras gathers a group of evil men and sets out to return to Denmark to revenge his own father’s death. Opening scenes around the castle reveal the Demark guards on duty day and night, in fear of attack from Norway. During their watch a ghost appears as a symbol of trouble for the co...

    Read More

  • Claudius in Hamlet

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...with the sharpness of an experienced leader and decisively acting on every issue of importance. Therefore, the actor must have an imposing and confident presence on stage, for Claudius dominates Elsinore and is in full control of Denmark. However, by the third act, the King must be depicted as a man who is growing increasingly fearful of Hamlet, and during the play, Claudius is so startled that he must appear as though he has seen the ghost of Old Hamlet. But in my opinion, Claudius’ defining moment comes during his lengthy soliloquy in which he acknowledges his guilt. As he mourns his condemned soul, he should seem so helpless that the audience views him with intense pity, for the character of Claudius, like Macbeth, is not intended to represent evil but instead to show the universal ability of power to corrupt and to destroy lives in the process.

    Read More

  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    There was not a "good guy" in Hamlet or a philosophy that the reader should be able to support, much like in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The end of Hamlet was surprisingly hopeful, in the way of how Fortinbras came in and took over leadership of the country. This change of power symbolizes how with the change of generations, the generation of thought changes as well.

    Read More

More about Intriguing Camera Work in Zeffirelli’s Film, Hamlet

Open Document