Hamlet
Literary Essay
The
tragedy, Hamlet, by Shakespeare is a dramatic tale of murder, jealousy and
revenge. Hamlet takes place in the late 1500’s in a castle of Denmark when the
protagonist, Hamlet, discovers that his father, the king of Denmark, was
murdered by his uncle. Hamlet creates an elaborate plot for revenge that
quickly turns sour. Hamlet’s plot for revenge leads to his traumatic downfall
because everyone who he had no intention of hurting dies, and so does he. Shakespeare’s
intent is to show Hamlet’s dynamic character development in which Hamlet
transforms from a sarcastic, mournful, and confused boy, to an arrogant, angry
and paranoid man because of revenge. Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation captures
Shakespeare’s intent best because of how he displays Hamlet’s traits of arrogance,
paranoia, and anger all of which bloomed from revenge. Branagh shows this in
the Mousetrap Scene, Spy Scene, and the Bedroom Scene best through setting
action, language and tone.
In Act 3.2, the Mousetrap Scene, Shakespeare shows Hamlet’s
traits of arrogance, paranoia, and anger through language and tone. For
example, when Hamlet says to Ophelia, “It would cost you a groaning to take off
mine edge,” this shows Hamlet’s signs of paranoia and arrogance because he
openly admits that he is on edge and arrogantly asks Ophelia for sex. Another
instance of Hamlet’s anger and arrogance is in Hamlet’s aside when he has his
first opportunity to kill his Claudius, he says “When he is fit and seasoned
for package… when he is drunk, asleep or in range or in th’ incestuous pleasure
of his bed.” This shows arrogance because he wants this murder of Claudius to
be grand, and therefore Hamlet ignores this opportunity reflecting paranoia
because he was hesitant. Additionally, Hamlet shows anger and paranoia when he
says, “as woman’s love” in response to Ophelia saying “tis short,” this reflects
his anger at the situation at the situation of his mother marrying his uncle,
but it also shows paranoia as it does not seem directed at Ophelia in their conversation,
it is said more to the air.
Similarly, in Branagh’s film adaptation Hamlet is shown
as a paranoid, angry, arrogant man, during the
Mousetrap Scene using tone, action, language and setting. The first example occurs
when hamlet arrogantly flirts with Ophelia, asking to put his head in her lap.
Branagh shows Hamlets arrogance when he portrays Hamlet narrating the play as
well as climbing over the seats to speak to
What seems like the
entire audience. Hamlet also shows anger with his tone and language when he
talks back with Gertrude and Claudius with rude remarks. This all shows how
Branagh uses language, tone, setting and action to show Hamlet’s arrogance, paranoia,
and anger.
Moreover,
in Act 3.1, during the Spy Scene, Shakespeare continues to show Hamlet’s traits
of arrogance, paranoia, and anger through language and tone. For example when
Hamlet says, “Ha, ha, are you honest?” to Ophelia this shows anger and
arrogance because he knows of Ophelia’s deceit and is aware that he is being
spied on so he arrogantly says this is his language and shows anger in its
tone. Later within the spy scene Hamlet openly says “I am very proud, revengeful,
and ambitious with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them
in”, this also shows anger, arrogance, and paranoia because Hamlet is
arrogantly admitting his traits all of which are expressed in an angry tone.
The quote continues with hamlet saying “What should such fellow as I do
crawling between earth and heaven?” this shows paranoia because Hamlet is
questioning the value of his life by comparing its value to that of a criminal,
furthermore he is alluding to Claudius criminal acts, which in return ignites
his traits of anger and arrogance as well.
In
analogous to Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation he
also displays Hamlet’s traits of arrogance, paranoia, and anger throughout the
Spy Scene using language, action, tone, and setting. This first happens when
watching how Hamlet gracefully walks towards Ophelia, in a longing passion, he
kisses her showing his passion while still aware of the fact that he is being
watched by Claudius and Polonius. This continues in Hamlet’s tone in how he
speaks to Ophelia, his words turn from loving to condescending, as he questions
Ophelia’s honesty, much like the text when Hamlet says to Ophelia, “Are you honest…
are you fair?” Hamlet also shows his when he arrogance anger and paranoia, in
his tone when he confesses his once pure love for Ophelia; this is emphasized
by Branagh’s music selection because it is sad and conveys a feeling of
sympathy for Hamlet, almost justifying his emotions. This all shows how Branagh
uses language, tone, setting and action to show Hamlet’s arrogance, paranoia,
and anger.
Shakespeare really
emphasizes Hamlet’s arrogance, paranoia and anger through language and tone in
the Bedroom Scene, Act 3.4. The first time this occurs is when Hamlet says to
Gertrude, “come, come and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I
set you up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you” this shows
Hamlet’s arrogance as he speaks to Gertrude in a condescending matter. This is
followed by more erratic language and the tone set by Shakespeare’s chose of
words, Hamlet begins to scold Gertrude when he says, “What devil was’t? That
thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind? Eyes without feeling, feeling without
sight, Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, or but a sickly part of
one true sense. Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?” Hamlet is
confronting Gertrude out of all the anger and arrogance in his heart, and when he
ask in an angry manner “…where is thy blush?” Hamlet is asking why Gertrude
isn’t embarrassed or ashamed of what she has done. Hamlet continues in a short monologue, “Not this, by no means, that I bid
you do—Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed, Pinch wanton on your cheek,
call you his mouse, And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses Or paddling in
your neck with his damned fingers, Make you to ravel all this matter out: That
I essentially am not in madness But mad in craft.’Twere good you let him know, For
who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise, Would from a paddock, from a bat, a
gib,Such dear concernings hide? Who
would do so? No, in despite of sense and secrecy, unpeg the basket on the
house’s top. Let the birds fly, and like the famous ape, to try conclusions, in
the basket creep and break your own neck down.” Hamlet says this out of
arrogance thinking that he can control his mother’s actions or as if he knows
what is best for her, as well as he shows anger through the language and
paranoia at the fact that he feels that she needs to be controlled, especially
after he murders Polonius.
In
cohesion with Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation he
also displays Hamlet’s traits of arrogance, paranoia, and anger throughout the Bedroom
Scene using language, action, tone, and setting. This first happens when Hamlet
angrily storms into the bedroom speaking to Gertrude in a dramatic tone that is
powerful but not overbearing. When Hamlet realizes that he has just murdered Polonius,
he shows a sadness or regret that he acted so furiously but this is immediately
followed by a change in tone and language as he no longer feels remorse but
anger once more, maybe at the fact that he did not just kill Claudius, but that
Polonius actually deserved this death. Hamlet then continues to throw his
mother forcefully on the bed, continues to speak at her in a lecturing manner,
angry and paranoid because his mother is
unaware of her actions and paranoid because he just killed someone outside of
his goal for revenge. These all show how Branagh
uses language, tone, setting and action to show Hamlet’s arrogance, paranoia,
and anger.
Some
may say that Branagh did not do the best job of showing Hamlet’s dynamic
character transformation from a sarcastic, mournful, and confused boy to an
arrogant, angry and paranoid man through setting, action, language and tone but
that Franco Zeffernelli more accurately depicts Shakespeare’s intent best. This
adaptation does in fact; display the theme of Hamlet visually beautiful. This adds to the medieval theme of Denmark,
and sets the mood for Hamlet well. Hal Himson from the Washington Post argues
that “as a director, Zeffernelli is better with furniture than after the camera.”
Throughout Zeffernelli’s film he eloquently recreates the depiction of Hamlet in
the text through the film through setting and set design, where as Branagh’s
art direction overly exaggerates the setting. However Branagh’s adaptation is
still best because Zeffernelli leaves out the subplots throughout the film
which loses the depth of the play. Zeffernelli attempts to make up for the loss
depth in the story, to recover through immediacy and action however the film
feels bare and the actors and actresses hold the film up rather than the
direction of Franco Zeffernelli.
Kenneth
Branagh’s adaptation portrayed Hamlet best in accordance to how Shakespeare
originally intended so. Branagh successfully captures Hamlet’s anger, paranoia,
and arrogance develops from mourning, confusion, and sarcasm because of revenge
through language, setting, action, setting, and tone on film. Other adaptations
fail to show Hamlet’s dynamic character development, portraying as irrational
and in experienced. At the beginning of the play, however, I viewed Hamlet’s action
and motives as it being justified. However, towards the end of the play, I
started to realize that while Hamlet’s original intentions for revenge were not
horrible, in context to what happened to him, what ends up happening at the end
of the play is worse than anything that Hamlet expected. This tragedy shows the
importance at looking at the whole picture before reacting, and that revenge is
definitely not the best solution.
