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Hamlet Comparison Hamlet Is Arguably William Shakespeare's Essay
Pages:2 (737 words)
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Subject:Literature
Topic:Hamlet Laertes
Document Type:Essay
Document:#23686648
Hamlet Comparison
Hamlet is arguably William Shakespeare's most famous of his many still existing plays. Even people who have not read the play know the basic plot of the story. Prince Hamlet of Denmark is in mourning over the death of his father who, as it turns out has been murdered by his uncle so that Claudius can take over the throne and marry the queen, his brothers' widow. Hamlet decides to act crazy in order to determine if his Uncle Claudius is indeed guilty of the act. Over the course of the story, people die and the play's climax is the final duel between Hamlet and young Laertes where both men die as well as King Claudius and Queen Gertrude. There are countless film versions of the play which represent the attitudes and artistic styles of the filmmakers who created them. One of the earlier film versions created by Laurence Olivier is considered one of the best and two very different film versions from the same decade are the Hamlet by director Franco Zeffirelli from 1990 and Kenneth Branagh's 1996 version of the story. Each version shows a perception of the story unique to the director and actors as is exemplified in the way each shows the famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy delivered by Hamlet.
Olivier's Hamlet was the first English language version of the movie to have sound. In 1948 when the film was made, sound was a relatively new invention and this may explain the overly dramatic effect that the director makes. Preceding the speech itself is a long tracking shot up a flight of stairs followed by a shot over the back of Hamlet's head to a deep chasm. Olivier performs the soliloquy itself as if he were on a stage rather than in a film. This is allayed somewhat by the images of the sea but really the speech seems to be a filmed play rather than a living motion picture. This stilted quality is not helped by Olivier's delivery which is equally mechanical, as though he is speaking words he has spoken dozens of times and it seems to erase all meaning.
The Zeffirelli version of Hamlet is very…
Sample Source(s) Used
Works Cited:
Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Mel Gibson and Glenn Close. Nelson Entertainment, 1990.
DVD.
Hamlet. Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Screenplay by Kenneth Branagh. Prod. David Barron. Perf.
Kenneth Branagh and Derek Jacobi. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1996. DVD.
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